At Queensland Public Trustee, we are here for everyone living in Queensland, and we understand that every family is different and unique. Mary* and Caroline* have been in a relationship since 1998, and in 2007, welcomed their son, Matthew* into the world. Due to the family laws in Australia at the time, Caroline was not legally recognised as a parent on Matthew’s birth certificate, as she didn’t carry him.
In 2009, a suite of family law reforms around same-sex relationships were passed in Australia, and while Mary and Caroline’s partnership was now recognised as a de facto relationship, Caroline was still not recognised as Matthew’s parent. This motivated Mary and Caroline to write a Will with the aim of protecting Matthew, in the unfortunate event something happened to either of them. They chose to work with our team at Public Trustee to write their Wills. While their families knew their wishes, they were not guaranteed their desired outcome in the eyes of the law and wanted to safeguard theirs and Matthew’s future, particularly while he was so young.
In 2010, Queensland law changes allowed Caroline to be formally recognised as Matthew’s parent, and in 2018, one year after the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia, Mary and Caroline were married. Given the significant change in their official relationship status, they recognised that this was time to make an update to their Wills.
While there were less complexities this time, they wanted their updated Will to reflect both the number of changes to the law, and to their personal life. Working with us, both Mary and Caroline found Queensland Public Trustee to be accommodating, understanding and helpful throughout the process. They provided us feedback around the appointment and mentioned that they feel reassured by having explored all their options so thoroughly.
*Names changed for privacy