Queensland Estate Planning, Estate Administration and Estate Disputes
Little Estate Lawyers is a Brisbane law firm. We practise exclusively in Queensland succession law, and we have done nothing else since Danielle Little founded the firm in October 2018.
Succession law has two halves. The first is planning, which means deciding what happens to what you own, and who makes decisions for you if you reach a point where you can’t. The second is what comes afterwards, which means settling the estate and resolving the disputes that sometimes follow.
Most firms work at one end or the other. We do both, and the two ends inform each other in a way that matters more than it sounds.
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Estate Planning
We talk about estate planning rather than wills, because a will is one document inside a much larger set of decisions.
Superannuation often doesn’t pass under a will at all. Jointly held property may sit outside the estate entirely. Assets in a family trust or company aren’t owned by you personally, so a will can’t gift them. Then there’s who holds your enduring power of attorney, what your advance health directive says, and whether the way you own something is actually recorded anywhere.
A form can record your answers accurately. What it can’t do is notice the question you didn’t know to ask.
There’s a second thing a form alone can’t do, and it’s the part of our work that stays invisible until the day it isn’t. A will is a document, but if anyone ever challenges it, it also becomes evidence. When a will’s validity is questioned, the court isn’t primarily asking what the document says. It’s asking whether the person had capacity, whether they acted freely, whether anyone pressured them, and whether they understood what they were signing. Then it asks whether any of that can be proven.
So when we prepare an estate plan, the documents are only half of what we create. The other half is a file. Notes of conversations written at the time, an assessment of capacity, a record of who was in the room, and what advice was given. Most of the time nobody ever opens it. On the occasions when someone contests a will, that file is often the difference between a person’s wishes standing and their wishes unravelling.
Estate Administration
When someone passes away, an executor takes on real legal duties, often with no warning and no experience. Beneficiaries have entitlements they may not understand. Both can find the process opaque at the worst possible time.
We act for executors and administrators through the whole process, including applications for grants of probate and letters of administration, and estates where there was no valid will. We also act for beneficiaries who want to know where they stand.
Estate Disputes and Litigation
This is the part of succession law we’re best known for, and where Danielle’s experience is deepest.
We act for estates defending claims, and for people making them. That includes family provision claims, questions about whether a will is valid, disputes about capacity, undue influence, and whether a person knew and approved of what their will said.
Our
Services
We work across the whole of Queensland succession law. It’s easiest to think about it in three parts.
Estate planning is the arrangements you make ahead of time – so that someone you trust can step in if you lose capacity, and so your wishes are carried out smoothly when the time comes. It covers your will, but a will is only part of it. Superannuation, jointly owned property, family trusts and company structures often pass outside a will entirely, and a good plan makes all of it point the same direction.
Business and company succession is worth singling out, because it’s where we most often find a gap between what someone wants and what can actually happen. Someone tells us who should get the business. We read the company constitution, or the trust deed, and find it doesn’t allow for that – or that the asset isn’t owned by them personally at all, so their will can’t gift it. What people think their documents say and what those documents actually say are different more often than you’d expect. We read them.
Estate administration is what needs to happen to settle someone’s affairs and carry out their wishes. We act for executors and administrators through the whole process, including applications for grants of probate and letters of administration, and estates where there was no valid will. We also act for beneficiaries who want to know where they stand.
Estate disputes and litigation is the part of succession law we’re best known for. We act for estates defending claims, and for people bringing them – including family provision claims, challenges to the validity of a will, and disputes about capacity, undue influence and whether a person knew and approved of what their will said.
Danielle Little TEP
Danielle founded Little Estate Lawyers in 2018, and works exclusively in Queensland succession law: estate planning, estate administration, and estate disputes. Estate disputes and litigation are where her experience runs deepest, and that experience shapes how she approaches estate planning, because she has seen first-hand what gets challenged, and why.
She has worked in law since 1992 and was admitted as a lawyer in 2014 while working for a large multinational firm. Since 2017 she has practised in succession law and nothing else, helping clients with wills, estates and trusts, and acting in disputes on both sides.
Danielle holds a Master of Laws (Applied Law) majoring in Wills and Estates, and is a TEP – a Trust and Estate Practitioner recognised by STEP, the international professional association for the field. She has been recommended in Doyle’s Guide every year since 2023, and was named in the 2027 edition of The Best Lawyers in Australia for Trusts and Estates.
Brock Fisher, Business Manager
Brock runs the business side of the firm, so Danielle can focus on the law. He looks after the operations, systems, accounts and everything else a practice needs to run well, drawing on more than two decades in senior leadership and executive roles across some of Australia’s largest property management and property technology businesses.
He’s currently completing an Executive Master of Business Administration at QUT, is a Justice of the Peace (Qualified), and holds Diplomas in Business and Management.
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Our
Fees
Legal costs shouldn’t be a mystery. We know people want to understand what engaging a lawyer will cost before they commit, so we’re upfront from the first call.
If you’re dealing with an estate or a dispute, or you’re simply not sure whether you need a lawyer at all, start with a free 15-minute call. It costs nothing, and often it’s enough for us to point you in the right direction, including telling you if your matter isn’t one we can help with.
From there, most estate planning is quoted as a fixed fee, so you know the cost before you go ahead. Estate administration and disputes are less predictable by nature, so for that work we give you a detailed written estimate before we start.
On price, our focus is providing fair value for the experience and client service we offer, rather than simply competing to be the cheapest, because we also believe the best businesses for a client to deal with are sustainable and stable ones.
A general practice firm that does a bit of everything will usually cost less, but you’re paying for a generalist rather than someone who works deeply in this area. A large specialist firm will usually cost significantly more. We work only in succession law, so you get depth of knowledge and focus at a fair price.
Get in
Touch
Watkins Medical Centre, Level 6 / 225 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill QLD 4000
GPO Box 3063, Brisbane QLD 4001