Fascinated by colourful anecdotes of succession law, Dr John de Groot AM put pen to paper 40 years ago to write Wills, Probate and Administration Practice (Queensland).
This year marks the text’s 40th milestone and it was the first of its kind which has helped guide lawyers, students and legal educators through the ever-changing landscape of succession law practice.
The text has stood the test of time.
The Senior Legal Counsel at de Groots Wills and Estate Lawyers revealed the original text was planned to be an appendix to accompany Professor WA (Tony) Lee’s Manual of Queensland Succession Law.
However, with Tony Lee’s encouragement, the text “grew to a point” where they both agreed that a separate publication was warranted.
“There was nothing out there in the profession at the time – the early 80s,” he said.
For some time, he had been reading numerous files in the area and talking to experienced practitioners about the how and why of procedures that were followed.
“I really enjoyed reading and learning about how succession law was applied in the marketplace.”
John said the text had a clear objective – to provide practical guidance and support for lawyers managing the administration of deceased estates, the preparation of wills and other work required in the succession law space.
“From its earliest editions, I wanted it to offer a structured and user-friendly format with precedents, statutory extracts and commentary tailored to real-world legal practice,” he said.
“The last 40 years have seen significant change in the area. Throughout these shifts, the publication has grown in scope and depth, reflecting changes in the law as they occur.”
John said two of the biggest changes in this area of law were the prevalence of internet fraud and the challenges presented by artificial intelligence.
“In the good, old days, internet fraud was not a problem. There was no email traffic to potentially be corrupted. Today, significant precautions must be taken,” he said.
“The intrusion of AI into the practice of law is beginning in earnest and its impact will be massive. I’m hoping to utilise it in my service shortly but ‘restraining’ it to the universe of the text – so ‘hallucinations’ can’t occur. There are dangers and benefits to AI.”
In 2017 Dr de Groot published an adaptation of his Queensland text to New South Wales and since then, five update editions have been published.
When the first edition was released, it came in the form of a ring-bound binder. This format, standard for loose-leaf legal texts in the 1980s, allowed for regular updates while keeping the text portable and accessible for office-based practitioners.
As technology progressed, so did the publication. Over the decades, updates transitioned from physical pages to digital formats, culminating in an electronic version, while still maintaining the text in a hard copy form updated annually.
“I am very happy I have been able to do this for 40 years and look forward to continuing with this work.”
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