- CPD Points: 1 [PS]
- Price: $89.00
- Area: Digital and Information Technology Law; Litigation; Wills
- Delivered: September 2025
Digital Content
- Recording
- No materials
To purchase login below
Description
This session which was moderated by Victor-David Murray, Barrister, Derwent and Tamar Chambers, was delivered by Melanie Holt, Principal Forensic Document and Handwriting/Signature Examiner, Documents in Dispute and Rosanna Celona, Forensic Accountant, Law Enforcement Australia into the 2025 Estate and Succession Law Conference.
Session Outline
- This session explores how forensic handwriting experts analyse writing, what materials are essential for examination, and how contextual evidence assists in confirming authenticity or detecting manipulation.
- It considers forensic accounting techniques for reconstructing financial histories, including identifying required records, their sources, retention issues, and practical challenges in obtaining complete documentation.
- It demonstrates how multiple financial documents can be assembled into a coherent history, revealing patterns of abuse, hidden transactions, or inconsistencies across accounts and institutions.
Key Takeaways
- Handwriting analysis relies on proper specimens, contextual materials, and a careful process, highlighting the importance of what documents practitioners collect and provide to experts.
- Understanding available financial records, their retention, and collection processes is crucial for effectively reconstructing financial histories in cases involving alleged abuse or contested transactions.
- Accurate reconstruction requires systematically collating records across accounts, tracing movement of funds, and interpreting financial patterns to support or challenge allegations of exploitation, abuse, or mismanagement.
- CPD Points: 1 [PS]
- Price: $89.00
- Area: Digital and Information Technology Law; Litigation; Wills
- Delivered: September 2025
Digital Content
- Recording
- No materials
To purchase login below
Description
This session which was moderated by Victor-David Murray, Barrister, Derwent and Tamar Chambers, was delivered by Melanie Holt, Principal Forensic Document and Handwriting/Signature Examiner, Documents in Dispute and Rosanna Celona, Forensic Accountant, Law Enforcement Australia into the 2025 Estate and Succession Law Conference.
Session Outline
- This session explores how forensic handwriting experts analyse writing, what materials are essential for examination, and how contextual evidence assists in confirming authenticity or detecting manipulation.
- It considers forensic accounting techniques for reconstructing financial histories, including identifying required records, their sources, retention issues, and practical challenges in obtaining complete documentation.
- It demonstrates how multiple financial documents can be assembled into a coherent history, revealing patterns of abuse, hidden transactions, or inconsistencies across accounts and institutions.
Key Takeaways
- Handwriting analysis relies on proper specimens, contextual materials, and a careful process, highlighting the importance of what documents practitioners collect and provide to experts.
- Understanding available financial records, their retention, and collection processes is crucial for effectively reconstructing financial histories in cases involving alleged abuse or contested transactions.
- Accurate reconstruction requires systematically collating records across accounts, tracing movement of funds, and interpreting financial patterns to support or challenge allegations of exploitation, abuse, or mismanagement.
Melanie Holt, Principal Forensic Document and Handwriting/Signature Examiner, Documents in Dispute
About the Presenter:
Ms Melanie Holt is a professionally trained forensic document examiner specialising in the comparison of handwriting and signatures as well as the detection of fraudulent document. She is a court recognised expert who has provided evidence in over 200 criminal cases. Melanie is also internationally certified by the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners. She has recently opened her own private forensic document firm, Documents in Dispute. Melanie is currently working for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia on a remediation program looking at past financial advice. She heads up a small team of forensic experts that determine the reliability of advice documents as well as investigate allegations of adviser misconduct. Melanie Holt holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) in Forensic Investigation from the Canberra Institute of Technology as well as a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing and Legal Studies from the University of Wollongong.
Rosanna Celona, Forensic Accountant, Law Enforcement Australia
About the Presenter:
Ms Rosanna Celona holds a Masters in Forensic Accounting and has an extensive law enforcement experience as an investigative Forensic Accountant covering 25 years. Her strengths are in fund tracing, uncovering the financial footprint in large fraud and money laundering matters, and presenting this evidence as an expert in Court proceedings.
,
About the Presenter:
,
About the Presenter: