Craig Birtles
Barrister
Craig was called to the Bar in May 2017. Craig is a member of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP) and the Succession & Elder Law Committee of the NSW Bar Association.
He is a co-author of C Birtles and R Neal, Hutley’s Australian Wills Precedents 8th Edition (LexisNexis Butterworths) 2013 and 9th Edition 2016 and C Birtles, R Neal and C Sims 10th Edition 2021.
Craig was named in the Doyle’s Guide as a leading New South Wales Estate Litigation Junior Counsel in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. He was also recognised in the 2024 Best Lawyers, Lawyer of the year in the Trusts & Estates practice area.
Before being called to the Bar, Craig was a solicitor at Teece Hodgson & Ward and was an Accredited Specialist in Wills & Estates Law.
Admitted to the Bar (New South Wales): 2017
Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales: 2008
Equity & Trusts
Family Provision Claims
Succession/Wills & Probate
As Counsel Craig has appeared in:
Ivanna Ann-Marie Ferenc Stojic v Simon Stojic [2017] NSWSC 1235 (12 September 2017)
Revocation of grant of probate
I L Pardey & Ors v A W Pardey [2017] NSWSC 1413 (17 October 2017)
Codicil with no operative effect
Stojic v Stojic [2018] NSWCA 28 (28 February 2018)
Appeal of probate proceedings – new trial ordered
Stojic v Stojic [2018] NSWSC 723 (8 May 2018)
Interim administration
Stojic v Stojic [2018] NSWSC 1268 (15 August 2018
Powers of interim administrators, judicial advice, voluntary administration
In the matter of Statewide Office Furniture Pty Ltd [2018] NSWSC 1393 (7 September 2018)
Restitution, enforcement, costs
Angius v Salier [2018] NSWSC 808 (31 May 2018)
Application by beneficiary for joinder
Gianna (Jenny) Angius v Gordon Albert Salier [2018] NSWSC 995 (29 June 2018)
Application by beneficiary for joinder, application by beneficiary for interim distribution
Estate Reid; Roberts v Moses and Palmer [2018] NSWSC 1145 (26 July 2018)
Construction and rectification of will
Egberts v Evans [2018] NSWSC 1974 (15 November 2018)
Settlement of proceedings, two beneficiaries do not consent
Katramados v Hasapis (No 4) [2019] NSWSC 846
Complex estate – trustee for sale – order for possession
Graeme Philip White as administrator of the Estate of Josephine Agnes Virgona v Attorney General of NSW [2019] NSWSC 917 (17 July 2019)
Cy pres scheme
Kelly v Kelly [2019] NSWSC 994 (8 August 2019)
Application for approval of release
Page v Rankine [2020] NSWSC 902
Notices to produce
Armitage v Fraser [2020] NSWSC 979
Family provision
Campbell v Campbell [2020] NSWSC 1797
Application to set aside notices to produce
Weiss v Weiss; Estate of Anita Hildegard Weiss [2020] NSWSC 1064
Intestacy, last will not propounded by beneficiary
John Campbell Nominees Pty Ltd [2021] NSWSC 233
Judicial advice
Alexakis v Masters [2021] NSWSC 158
Leave to file cross claim
Chant v Curcuruto; Chant v Curcuruto [2021] NSWSC 751
Testamentary capacity, knowledge and approval
NSW Trustee & Guardian v Reid [2021] NSWSC 1053
Construction of Will
Robertson v Barker [2021] NSWSC 1682
Contested probate – testamentary capacity – knowledge and approval
AG v JB [2022] NSWSC 326
Burial and funeral rights
Campbell v Campbell [2022] NSWSC 554
Trust, declarations as to ownership of trust property, application under s 86A Trustee Act 1925 (NSW) to vary trust deed
Fay Noble Dunn by her Tutor Monica Ross-Maranik v David Brenton Dunn [2022] NSWSC 1339
Approval of settlement where plaintiff is a person under legal incapacity
Daniel v Athans [2022] NSWSC 1712
Proprietary estoppel – dependent member of the household family provision claim
Estate Awad [2023] NSWSC 765
Family Provision
Re the Will of D (a pseudonym) v O (a pseudonym) [2023] ACTSC 123
Statutory Will
Craig has presented over 20 seminars since 2011 including
Will drafting from a litigator’s perspective, workshop for Blue Mountains Law Society Succession Conference: 8 September 2023
Everything’s not awesome – Let’s build it together, Construction and Rectification of Wills, paper presented for Macarthur Law Society: 13 June 2023; also presented for Southern Tablelands Law Society on 3 November 2023
Eligibility to make a family provision claim, paper presented for Succession Conference Bowral: 4 March 2023,
“When reading over is not enough”, paper presented for Succession Law Conference Bowral.: March 2022; also presented for Legalwise on 8 March 2023
“Family Provision Review 2020: The worm and the robin”, paper for the 18th Annual Succession Law Symposium.: March 2021
“Statutory Wills”, paper for Television Education Network Wills and Estates Masterclass.: September 2019
“Statutory Wills”, paper for Law Society of NSW Accredited Specialists Conference.: August 2018
“Family Provision: the worm turns again”, paper for St George-Sutherland Regional Law Society: March 2018
“Testamentary capacity and knowledge and approval”, paper for Legalwise.: November 2017
“Family Provision: the turning of the Worm”, paper for College of Law, Specialist Legal Conference: Wills & Estates.: May 2017
“Informal Testamentary Documents”, paper for UNSW CPD.: March 2017
“Statutory Will applications and the protective jurisdiction”, a paper by Craig Birtles and Hugh Morrison presented for the Blue Mountains Law Society at the Inaugural Succession Law Conference.: September 2016
“Testamentary dispositions”, seminar 3 in “Estate administration: Probate, Protective and Family Provision Jurisdiction” series co-presented with Michael Willmott SC for the NSW Bar Association and Law Society of NSW. This paper was published in a special edition of the Australian Bar Review: Estate Administration, Probate, Family Provision and Protective Cases (December 2016) 43 ABR 1.
CONTACT
+61 2 8915 2002
+61 2 9223 4204
[email protected]