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Smarter Drafter Precedent Update September 2024

And that's a wrap. Check out all the new content that's been added to Smarter Drafter in the last month.

Welcome to the precedent update for September. This big update features an updated Legal Services Agreement for New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia, new forms for the Federal Circuit Court and Family Court, along with updates to Will documents and FLENA additions. In addition, we are rolling out the Clause Bank to all Smarter Drafter subscribers.

Let’s dive in!

Essentials

Content update: Legal Services Agreement (NSW, VIC, WA)

Our new Legal Services Agreement for the Legal Profession Uniform Law jurisdictions was released on 23 September and is now live in the ‘Law Firms’ category. A modern, clean and concise document, it offers a wide range of costs, disbursements, invoicing and security options and a streamlined data entry form. Click here for more details.

Content update: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

New forms

The following forms have been added to our FCFCOA suite:

  • Application - Enforcement
  • Notice of discontinuance
  • Reply

Form updates

The following forms were updated in line with new versions released by the FCFCOA:

  • Notice of Address for Service
  • Notice of Ceasing to Act
  • Parenting Orders
  • Property Orders

Content update: Wills

In response to your feedback, we have amended our wills processes as follows:

  • Last will and testament (short form) – substitution provisions for substitute beneficiaries of a sole primary beneficiary inserted. That is, in a typical scenario of an estate being left to a spouse, and then the children – the will now provides that if any of the children pre-decease the testator, their share will be divided among their children, and then their grandchildren, etc.
  • Express mirror wills – previously only drafted for a ‘husband and wife’ scenario, there is now the option to select ‘partner’ as the mutual beneficiary description or to enter your own description for each will. A non-binary option is now also available as the preferred gender pronoun for each of the beneficiaries.
  • Express Will – All to Children – duplicate of ‘Minor Guardian’ definition removed.
  • Last will and testament (long form) – backsheet added.

Content update: Other

In response to your feedback, we have also amended various other processes as follows:

  • Website Terms of Use – ‘Prices’ term amended to state that all prices are in AUD and are GST-inclusive.
  • Special Conditions QLD – amended to remove references to ‘exchange’.
  • Constitution – proprietary company limited by shares – definition of Legal Personal Representative now only included where clauses using that definition are selected for inclusion in the document.

Clause Bank

Our Clause Bank feature is available via the Smarter Drafter MS Word add-in, allowing you to save and reuse clauses rather than redrafting them every time! Click here for more details.

We have added the following clauses to get you started:

  • Execution clause blocks – an extensive range for individuals, companies and trustees and for both deeds and agreements
  • General commercial boilerplate clauses for both deeds and agreements

Updates from our content partners

Family Law Education Network of Australia (FLENA)

The following documents have been added to the FLENA Family Law Precedents under E. Special Release Precedents:

  • SP6A – Letter to client RE affidavit preparation document
  • SP6B – Affidavit preparation document


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Download the full Document and Precedent list

Those are the highlights from the past month, but If you want to see the full list, click the button below. 

Don’t forget to check out our blog to read more about exciting feature releases.
If you have any questions or feedback about this month’s release, please send us an email on team@smarterdrafter.com.au.