Dr Sarah McKibbin returns to unpack the nuanced world of equitable assignments: how rights and interests in property are transferred when legal formalities fall short.

Explore the distinction between legal and equitable assignments and discover how equity steps in to facilitate transfers of present and future property. Learn why intention is key, and how equity’s flexibility allows for assignments that the common law might reject.

Through cases such as Norman v FCT, Milroy v Lord, and Corin v Patton, delve into the rules governing voluntary gifts, assignments of future interests, and the critical role of consideration. Understand how equity balances substance over form, and why the rule in Dearle v Hall can upend expectations in priority disputes.

Whether you're navigating Torrens title, contractual rights, or equitable interests under a trust, this episode offers a practical framework for analysing assignments and their enforceability.

⚖️ Perfect for: Law students mastering property law, lawyers handling commercial transactions, and anyone curious about equity.

📻 Credits
Host & Producer: Dr Sarah McKibbin, University of Southern Queensland
Audio Production & Sound Design: Ben Meares

Dr Sarah McKibbin completes the journey through express trust creation by exploring the final hurdles: complete constitution, legal formalities, and vitiating factors that can invalidate even well-drafted trusts.

Learn why transferring property to a trustee is more than a formality, and how cases like Milroy v Lord and Corin v Patton shape the rules around proper constitution. Discover the fascinating world of secret trusts — where informal promises can override formal wills — and how courts prevent fraud while upholding testamentary freedom.

Uncover the legal and policy reasons why some trusts fail: from attempts to defraud creditors to conditions that violate public policy, such as religious coercion in Ebbeck. Understand how the rule against perpetuities has evolved in Queensland, and what the new 125-year vesting period means for modern trust planning.

⚖️ Perfect for: Lawyers and students seeking an entry-level understanding of trust validity and the practical challenges of trust administration.

📻 Credits
Host & Producer: Dr Sarah McKibbin, University of Southern Queensland
Audio Production & Sound Design: Ben Meares

Dr Sarah McKibbin unpacks the foundational requirements for creating a valid express trust — certainty of intention, subject matter, and objects — through a blend of legal theory, practical insight, and case analysis.

Explore how courts determine whether a trust was truly intended, even when formal documentation is lacking. Learn why vague language like 'in fullest confidence' may not be enough, and how modern courts apply an objective test to assess trust intention, as seen in Byrnes v Kendle.

Delve into the challenges of defining trust property, especially with fungible assets like shares, and how courts balance legal precision with commercial reality. Discover how the law distinguishes between fixed and discretionary trusts, and why identifying beneficiaries with certainty is crucial for enforceability.

⚖️ Perfect for: Law students mastering trust creation, legal professionals drafting or litigating trust deeds, and anyone interested in how equity balances formality with fairness.

📻 Credits
Host & Producer: Dr Sarah McKibbin, University of Southern Queensland
Audio Production & Sound Design: Ben Meares

Dr Sarah McKibbin demystifies the complex world of equitable interests and priorities in property law, guiding listeners through the nuanced hierarchy of equitable rights — from equitable interests to mere equities and personal equities.

Explore how equity distinguishes between legal and beneficial ownership, and why this matters when disputes arise. Through analogies and real-world examples, discover how equity protects rights that the common law might overlook.

Dive into landmark cases like Latec Investments v Hotel Terrigal and Commissioner of Stamp Duties (Qld) v Livingston to understand how courts classify and prioritise competing claims. Learn how concepts like postponing conduct, the better equity doctrine, and the role of notice shape outcomes in priority disputes.

Unpack the special rules for beneficiaries under trusts and how Torrens title interacts with equitable principles — especially through exceptions like fraud and the in personam doctrine.

⚖️ Perfect for: Law students grappling with equitable classifications, lawyers navigating property disputes, and anyone with an intellectual curiosity

📻 Credits
Host & Producer: Dr Sarah McKibbin, University of Southern Queensland
Audio Production & Sound Design: Ben Meares

Dr Sarah McKibbin brings trust law to life through the High Court case of Byrnes v Kendle—where an ordinary couple's property arrangements demonstrate how trust principles operate when relationships break down. Explore five major trust applications shaping Australian society: family wealth management, business structures, collective investments, testamentary arrangements, and charitable purposes.

Master essential trust classifications from express, resulting, and constructive trusts to the Quistclose trust. Learn to distinguish trusts from agency, debt, and charges—distinctions that can mean the difference between recovery and loss in insolvency situations.

Get an exclusive preview of Queensland's new Trusts Act 2025, representing the most significant modernisation of trust law in over 50 years, with enhanced beneficiary protections and mandatory trustee duties.

⚖️ Perfect for: Law students tackling trust classifications, lawyers handling family or commercial trust disputes, and professionals navigating the intersection of trust law with other legal frameworks.

📻 Credits

Host & Producer: Dr Sarah McKibbin, University of Southern Queensland
Audio Production & Sound Design: Ben Meares

Dr Sarah McKibbin begins an essential new module exploring trusts—equity's most versatile and far-reaching creation. Starting from medieval origins, this episode builds your understanding of what makes trusts unique: the remarkable separation of legal and beneficial ownership that touches everything from your superannuation to complex commercial structures.

Discover the four essential building blocks that create every valid trust, meet the key players in trust relationships (trustees, beneficiaries, settlors, and appointors), and explore how trusts can be created through declaration or transfer. Navigate different trust structures including discretionary family trusts, fixed interest arrangements, and sophisticated hybrid models that adapt to changing circumstances.

Through practical examples and clear explanations, understand why trusts have become cornerstones of Australian legal practice—and why the fiduciary relationship at their heart represents one of law's highest standards of care.

⚖️ Perfect for: Law students beginning trust law studies, lawyers advising on family wealth structures, and professionals wanting to understand how superannuation and investment trusts actually work.

📻 Credits

Host & Producer: Dr Sarah McKibbin, University of Southern Queensland
Audio Production & Sound Design: Ben Meares

Dr Sarah McKibbin continues the fiduciary obligations discussion with her two enthusiastic co-host students—Katie Forsythe and Matt Acheson—diving into what happens when fiduciaries breach their duties of loyalty. This episode examines the strict liability that can arise from conflicts of interest, unauthorised profits, and 'double character' situations—even when the fiduciary acts honestly and causes no harm.

Explore the limited defences available to fiduciaries, from fully informed consent to contractual variations, and discover equity's powerful remedial arsenal: accounts of profits, equitable compensation, constructive trusts, and more. The discussion extends to third-party liability through the two limbs of Barnes v Addy, examining when non-fiduciaries can be held accountable for 'knowing receipt' or 'knowing assistance' in breaches.

Through cases spanning centuries—from 1874 (Barnes v Addy) to today—understand how these ancient principles continue to evolve to address contemporary commercial challenges.

⚖️ Perfect for: Law students preparing for equity exams, practitioners dealing with fiduciary claims, and professionals wanting to understand the serious consequences of breaching duties of trust.

📻 Credits

Host & Producer: Dr Sarah McKibbin, University of Southern Queensland

Student Co-Hosts: Matt Acheson and Katie Forsythe

Audio Production & Sound Design: Ben Meares

Dr Sarah McKibbin is joined by two enthusiastic students—Katie Forsythe and Matt Acheson—to explore one of equity's most distinctive areas—fiduciary obligations. This episode unpacks what makes a relationship 'fiduciary', examining both traditional categories like solicitor-client and director-company relationships, and how courts identify fiduciary duties in new contexts.

Through landmark cases including Maguire v Makaronis, Chan v Zacharia, and Boardman v Phipps (an English case with a fascinating Toowoomba connection!), discover why equity imposes such strict duties on those in positions of trust. Learn about the 'no-profit' and 'no-conflict' rules, the prophylactic nature of fiduciary obligations, and why good intentions often aren't enough to escape liability.

Whether you're a law student, legal practitioner, or anyone working in a professional capacity, this episode provides essential insights into relationships of trust and confidence that permeate commercial and professional life.

🎯 Perfect for: Law students studying equity and trusts, legal practitioners, business professionals, and anyone interested in understanding duties of loyalty and trust.

📻 Credits

Host & Producer: Dr Sarah McKibbin, University of Southern Queensland

Student Co-Hosts: Matt Acheson and Katie Forsythe

Audio Production & Sound Design: Ben Meares

A special solo lecture by Dr Sarah McKibbin, recorded to ensure students have the essential material while our regular dialogue episode is still in production.

Sarah takes you on a journey through one of equity's most practical doctrines — estoppel. Starting with the story of David Stone, who worked a farm for 23 years based on a promise of inheritance, this lecture explores when and why the law holds people to their promises even without a contract.

This narrative lecture weaves together:

• Why William Money couldn't rely on a promise of debt forgiveness in the 1840s, and how that revealed a crucial gap in the law
• The wartime promise that launched promissory estoppel (and why Denning J's most important words were technically just 'obiter')
• How the Mahers' demolished building in Nowra changed Australian law forever
• The human story behind Kramer v Stone — substandard housing, holes in the roof, and a third of average wages for decades
• Why the High Court's 2024 decision in Kramer matters: when is a promise itself enough?
• Justice Gleeson's powerful dissent in Kramer and what it reveals about ongoing tensions in the law
• The difference between standing by silently (acquiescence) and making promises (encouragement) — and why it matters
• When courts award money versus making promises come true

Note: This solo lecture was recorded to support student learning while our regular conversational episode is being produced. The full episode with our student co-host will explore these themes through dialogue and additional examples.

Key points

• Duration: 15:06
• Format: Narrative journey through estoppel's development
• Focus: Making complex doctrine accessible through stories and clear explanation
• Essential listening before classes on equitable estoppel

Produced by Dr Sarah McKibbin for the University of Southern Queensland

Join Dr Sarah McKibbin and student co-host Katie Forsythe as they navigate the practical application of equity through two powerful doctrines that protect vulnerable parties from exploitation and overreaching.

This episode examines:

• The crucial distinction: Learn how unconscionable conduct targets exploitation of special disadvantage while undue influence focuses on overborne will — with guidance from the High Court's decision in Thorne v Kennedy

• The Amadio case: Follow the heartbreaking story of elderly Italian migrants misled into unlimited liability while their son's company maintained a 'façade of prosperity'
• Special disadvantage: Understand what vulnerabilities equity protects from limited English and old age to illness, poverty, and lack of education
• Categories of influence: Navigate the classification systems from actual versus presumed influence to modern understandings of proof methods
• Protected relationships: Explore presumed relationships including solicitor-client, doctor-patient, and religious adviser-disciple through vivid cases
• Real-world tragedy: Witness how equity responds when relationships cross boundaries, from elderly 'Rocker' relegated to a tent to the scandalous Bar-Mordecai case
• Third party implications: Discover when banks and other institutions can be caught by another's undue influence
• Rebutting presumptions: Learn what constitutes meaningful independent advice and when even emphatic legal warnings aren't enough

Perfect for understanding how equity intervenes to ensure fairness in transactions beyond mere legal compliance. The episode transforms abstract principles into practical tools for recognising and addressing exploitation in professional practice.

Key points

• Duration: 35:43
• Content: Suitable for legal education and professional development
• Format: Educational dialogue with landmark Australian case studies

Hosted by Dr Sarah McKibbin with student co-host, Katie ForsytheProduced by Dr Sarah McKibbin for the University of Southern QueenslandPost-production editing by Michael Fleming