Laura Hanrahan

Expertise

Laura specialises in the areas of family business succession, estate planning and superannuation. 

Laura is listed in The Best Lawyers in Australia 2020 to 2023 edition for Trusts and Estates and Wealth Management / Succession Planning Practice. Laura is also recognised in the 2021 and 2022 editions of Doyles Guide as a recommended lawyer in Wills, Estates & Succession Planning in Queensland. 

Experience

Laura has over 16 years’ experience working with private clients and family businesses in crafting and executing succession plans.

Laura’s key focus is to understand each individual or families motivation for their succession planning and tailor an appropriate plan for the individual or family.

Laura’s areas of experience include:

• preparation of Wills including complex wills with testamentary trusts
• powers of attorney
• family discretionary trusts
• unit trusts
• private companies
• self-managed superannuation funds
• administration of deceased estates.

With a background that includes sociology, family law and taxation, Laura is experienced to deal with the variety of issues associated with working with families and preparing comprehensive succession plans for clients.

Laura’s recent experience includes:

• advising on all aspects and preparation of a comprehensive business succession and personal estate plan including advice on control of entities and competing interests on their respective estates for a husband and wife with a blended family with an unrelated business partner. The husband and wife had two children together and the husband had three children from a previous relationship. The couple ran a successful business and had a complex business structure of companies and trusts involving a business partner
• assisting a family to transition the family business from mum and dad to the children involving conducting family meetings and documenting the transition and new governance structure. In addition the preparation of a crisis management plan and personal estate planning for mum and dad and each of the children and their respective spouses
• acting on behalf of an independently appointed administrator in the Supreme Court of Queensland to administer a deceased estate. It was a complex estate which involved defending a family provision claim brought by an adult child and an application for rectification of the Will
• assisting a client to obtain a private binding ruling from the ATO which provided the client with the certainty in relation to the taxation of a gift received from a deceased estate.