Explore 5 essential concerns in elder law at this must attend program. Receive fundamental tips from the Aged Care Commissioner about the Commission’s Monitoring Report. Gain a practical toolkit of your duties and the implications of failing them when preparing a Will, a guide to the practical considerations and ‘red flags’ in capacity and property considerations for your clients. Delve into an analysis of abuse prevention in aged care settings and possible solutions. 

Presenters

Ms. Jessica Buddendijk QSM, Owner/Operator, Jelica's Aged Care Advisory and Educational Services
Jessica Buddendijk has been in the health sector her whole working life, first in The Netherlands, where she did most of her training, and since 1984 in NZ were she found her passion for aged care. During her involvement with the aged care sector, as manager of aged care facilities and for seven years as a lead auditor visiting aged care facilities throughout New Zealand, she established many links with different groups and individual providers. After 7 years auditing, she became a sector educator and quality advisor and have been co-chairing an Aged Care Association for over 30 years representing the sector on many committees.


Ms. Bethan Read, Special Counsel, Morris
Bethan Read is a Special Counsel at Morris and leads the firm's advisory team. Bethan is qualified in both New Zealand and England and Wales. Bethan specialises in non-contentious private client advisory services and has extensive experience in estate planning and asset protection solutions including trust structures, wills, enduring powers of attorney and all other private client services. Bethan began her career at top tier firms in the Channel Islands and London, where she gained high-level experience in private client advisory matters. More recently, Bethan was a director and head of the trust’s legal team and director of an international trust company based in New Zealand and subsequently worked for a national New Zealand law firm, providing her with invaluable insight on the needs of both clients and trustees. Bethan is an affiliate member of STEP and holds a STEP Advanced Certificate in Trust Disputes.


Ms. Loren Gerbich, Solicitor, Hesketh Henry
Loren’s areas of expertise are trust management, personal estate planning, estate administration, elder law and retirement villages contracts, relationship property (pre-nups) and separations. She began her career working in residential and commercial property law and is able to utilise her property expertise in her trust management work and is skilled at financing transactions, especially in trust restructuring situations. Loren thrives on helping couples and families with their relationship property and structuring their long-term estate planning to achieve their vision for their future and legacy. She particularly enjoys working closely with her clients, getting to know them and assisting them towards the peace of mind that comes from having their affairs in place. Loren is an active member of the Estates and Taxation Planning Council.


Ms. Vicki Ammundsen, Director, Vicki Ammundsen Trust Law
Vicki is the director at Vicki Ammundsen Trust Law Limited, which she established in 2015, and the author of a number of books on trusts and trustees including Taxation of Trusts, ed 3, Trustee Liability and the Trustee’s Handbook, ed 4 (all CCH New Zealand Limited). She has presented at conferences in New Zealand and internationally on wills and estates, trusts and the law of equity. Vicki also produces the blog Matters of Trust as a resource to share up to date trust law knowledge. Vicki uses her day to day experience with trusts and estates and her deep knowledge of New Zealand and international case developments to underpin her practical, solutions-focussed approach to dealing with trust and family law issues. She firmly believes that trusts have an important role to play in inter-generational asset management, but that this is risked by a lack of understanding of effective or appropriate trust management that too often leads to misunderstanding or abuse.


Ms. Carolyn Cooper, New Zealand’s Aged Care Commissioner
Carolyn Cooper is an executive leader with extensive experience across executive management, aged care, rehabilitation and orthopaedics in both Australia and New Zealand. She has experience in key roles in district boards, and working as part of the public health system, in both Australia and New Zealand. Carolyn is regarded as an innovative leader with excellent relationship skills. She thrives on achieving results that are sustainable and delivered in a caring team environment. She is passionate about driving innovation and collaboration to achieve a great quality of care and quality of life for all older people.


Ms. Mary Joy Simpson, Partner, Hesketh Henry
A specialist in trust and estate planning law, Mary Joy Simpson regularly reviews and provides advice on personal asset management plans. She is experienced in navigating issues arising for clients and families as they put in place and act under enduring powers of attorney. Mary Joy is a partner with Auckland law firm Hesketh Henry, leading their private client team. Mary Joy has previously presented CLE papers on wills, trust drafting and enduring power of attorney.


Professor Kate Diesfeld, Professor of Law and Chair, Auckland University of Technology Ethics Committee
Professor Kate Diesfeld was a Court Investigator in Alaska before representing people with developmental disabilities in California as an attorney at Protection and Advocacy in Los Angeles. She has held academic roles at Kent Law School (England), the University of Waikato (NZ) and Auckland University of Technology (NZ). She was Director of the National Centre for Health Law and Ethics and Chair of AUT’s Ethics Committee. In England, she represented clients before the Mental Health Review Tribunal. She co-edited Involuntary Detention and Therapeutic Jurisprudence (2003) and Elder Law in New Zealand (2014). She held editorial board roles for the Journal of Legal Medicine and Psychiatry, Psychology and Law and LAWS. She is a Fellow of the American College of Legal Medicine and was awarded a Marsden Fund grant in 2022.