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 LAWS11057 and 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 - 2026
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).
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
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: Emails, student comments in class
Students were given 1 week to complete a written assignment, which caused confusion for some students who believed it was a take home paper
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.
Assessment has been completely overhauled to remove a take-home paper and replace it with an interactive oral assessment.
Source: Feedback survey, individual emails from students
Interactive oral assessment was successful in reducing attrition and improving student satisfaction via immediate feedback.
Continue using an interactive oral assessment and report to the rest of the school about the successes.
In Progress
Source: Feedback survey, student discussion
Simulation based task was successful in cultivating an applied understanding of different testamentary instruments.
Continue to use this task.
In Progress
Source: Feedback, student emails
A shift in focus to practical aspects of succession was popular students.
The textbook has a focus on technical legal issues and appeal cases but fails to discuss practical issues facing executors. Materials have been supplemented to include practical aspects and examples.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Communicate effectively in writing, including drafting legal documents in accordance with procedural requirements and drafting conventions.
- Critically analyse the facts and law to provide advice on both practical and legal matters with reference to relevant legislation and case law.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment | • | • |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |