At the recent Legalwise Personal Injury Conference in Sydney in March 2023, Sue Chennell, Director at Shared Safety and Risk spoke powerfully about the vital importance of managing the wellbeing and psychosocial risks of personal injury lawyers. Personal injury lawyers meet clients at a traumatic and vulnerable time. They take on the risk and responsibility of seeking justice within imperfect systems. Outcomes are uncertain and emotions run high. Here at Aeran, we interact with personal injury lawyers every day. We know the pressure they are under and the lengths they go to for their clients ..read more

Aeran is regularly contacted by lawyers located overseas and families located locally to discuss settlement and financial management options for Australians injured abroad. It can be a long and difficult process to pursue litigation overseas, so it's important to get local expert input before final decisions are made. Lawyers in the UK and US, for example, are generally unfamiliar with the highly tax-effective investment options uniquely available for personal injury compensation in Australia. Periodic payments are sometimes part of settlement negotiations in those jurisdictions, but the tax t ..read more

Last week, Aeran’s Jane Campbell and Simon McKeough attended the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) annual congress, held at the Adelaide Convention Centre. The congress was a 3-day event for FAAA members bringing together academics, thought leaders, seasoned professionals and emerging advisers to provide an opportunity to share knowledge and embrace growth in the profession. Jane said “Attending this event is part of Aeran’s commitment to keeping up with the latest financial advice rules and strategies for the benefit of our clients and the confidence of their referring lawyers”. S ..read more

Aeran’s Jane Campbell was pleased to be part of an Australian Lawyers Alliance delegation recently meeting with NSW’s Attorney-General, The Hon. Michael Daley.  This was a welcome opportunity to discuss the NSW Trustee and Guardian and its vital role in directly managing the funds of those without capacity and supervising other private managers. The ALA and Aeran understand the challenges arising from an inherited self-funding model, growing community need, and a complex legal environment. We thank the NSW Government for continuing to engage on matters so important to our clients.  ..read more

Each year, Financial Planning Week aims to raise awareness about the benefits of professional financial advice. New research data just released by the Financial Planning Standards Board makes clear that those who receive financial advice feel:   better about their health, connection, purpose and life satisfaction  more confident about their financial security and ability to achieve their goals   better about spending capability, risk management, and overall wealth  more optimistic about meeting their financial needs and achieving financial gains.  A ..read more

We’re very proud that Simon McKeough has chosen to join the Aeran team recently as our National Manager of Advice.  Simon has joined at an exciting time, as we expand our services in support of our trustee, legal partners and clients. He joins us after a successful career with Australian Executor Trustees.   Simon has a deep understanding of both the complex processes involved in having a private trustee company appointed as substitute financial decision-maker, and the roles of the trustee and financial adviser beyond appointment.  Simon is looking forward to meeting w ..read more

Plaintiffs who are receiving a personal injury settlement and do not have financial capacity to manage the money are not required to have their funds managed by the state government public trustee. Your client, or their litigation guardian, should be made aware that alternatives such as a private trustee company exist, and might better suit for a range of reasons. There are three main private trustee companies who specialise in providing a service as the substitute decision-maker (the financial manager), being Equity Trustees (who recently acquired AET), Australian Unity and Perpetual.   ..read more

The leading case on the calculation of funds management in Australia is the 2014 High Court decision in Gray v Richards. The law is clear that a financially incapable plaintiff should not have to meet the cost of funds management from the judgment sum. If no allowance is made for funds management, there will be a shortfall. Aeran’s Jane Campbell has written an article in this month’s Precedent Magazine (issue 176) to help personal injury lawyers claim appropriate damages for funds management and guide clients in selecting a financial manager. The full article may be downloaded here ..read more

On 18 May 2023, the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford PSM, released a report entitled ‘Managing the affairs of people under financial management and/or guardianship orders’. Unsurprisingly, she found the NSW Trustee and Guardian (NSWTAG) to be struggling to accommodate the growth in client numbers, particularly as it is considered to be a largely self-funded organisation - mainly funded by the fees it charges its clients. The NSWTAG doesn’t have the information to know if its direct management services are consistent with the legislative principles which prioritise the welfare and interes ..read more

All Aeran advisers are members of the Financial Planning Association of Australia, now combined with the Association of Financial Advisers and re-named the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA). We stay up to date and take a great interest in the ongoing reforms to improve the quality of financial advice delivered in Australia. We are proud of being independent, and remain of the view that ideally all financial advice should be impartial, unbiased, without any potential for conflict of interest and solely with the client’s best interests at heart. Unfortunately, not many advisers in ..read more