LAWS13012 - Succession

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit examines issues in Succession Law in Queensland. It covers the principles and practice relating to enduring powers of attorney, wills, testamentary capacity, intestacy, the administration of an estate (both testate and intestate) and family provision applications. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the relevant legislation, court decisions and statutory procedures to succession law practice and the unit offers insight into many of the practical aspects of practising in this area through authentic assessment tasks.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisite: 48 credit points of law units including LAWS12078 

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 2 - 2024

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Practical Assessment 40%
2. Written Assessment 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 3 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 72.73% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 33.00% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Reflection by Unit Coordinator and Learning & Teaching Coordinator
Feedback
Reduce the number of assessments
Recommendation
The number of assessments in the unit (currently four assessments) should be reduced to allow students more time to work on each assessment, particularly as T3 is a busy time of year.
Action Taken
The number of assessments was reduced from four to two.
Source: Student feedback, Unit Coordinator reflection
Feedback
Retain the authentic drafting task
Recommendation
Retain authentic drafting exercises that expose students to tasks they would be expected to undertake as a newly qualified lawyer or trainee working in a firm specialising in wills and estate planning.
Action Taken
This was retained and additional practical drafting tasks were included in the assignment.
Source: Emails, student comments in class
Feedback
Students were given 1 week to complete a written assignment, which caused confusion for some students who believed it was a take home paper
Recommendation
Review whether the final assessment should take place under take home paper conditions or whether a written assessment should be available for a longer period of time.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Communicate effectively in writing, including drafting legal documents in accordance with procedural requirements and drafting conventions.
  2. Critically analyse the facts and law to provide advice on both practical and legal matters with reference to relevant legislation and case law.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Practical Assessment • •
2 - Written Assessment • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Communication •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking •
4 - Information Literacy •
8 - Ethical practice •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10