Where there’s a will, there’s a way for family estate planning to go wrong. Avoid the pitfalls and conflict.
Will my family be OK when I’m gone? Can our kids handle their inheritance? How can I set up my will to ensure they can? Is my estate plan tax effective? How do family trusts work? From family estate planning through to family trust advice, planning and management, legacy planning and life insurance, we have the answers.
Good estate planning isn’t simple; but done well, those complex family relationships and financial affairs can be arranged to avoid conflict and costly mistakes. An estate plan normally includes a Will, enduring power of attorney and an enduring power of guardianship.
For many of our clients a family meeting is arranged so the immediate family has an opportunity to understand the wills and estate plan in advance.
For families with significant wealth, a positive legacy for children and grandchildren is often the most important goal, and let’s face it, we all want to be remembered for the happy memories, rather than for any mess we may leave behind.
A well-considered legacy plan will include a carefully prepared Will. This is the crucial document that determines whether your legacy is a truly beneficial gift, or a sad burden.
Your Will determines how your assets will be distributed after your death and done well it sets your loved ones up for a bright future. We take the complexity and jargon out of the process, lead the conversation, and ensure that you avoid misunderstanding and conflict down the track.
Life is uncertain and it’s possible that at some point in your life, due to illness or an accident, you may not be able to handle your own financial affairs.
An enduring power of attorney enables to appoint a trusted attorney to oversee your financial affairs – if you can’t. The person you appoint must be of the highest integrity so that you can be confident your affairs will be looked after. These documents are powerful, and in the wrong hands can have devastating consequences – the wrong person will have freedom to deal with your money while you’re not looking.
You will need to think through your options and ensure you appoint the right person. That’s where we help.
If you lose mental capacity for any reason, it’s not just your money that needs looking after. An enduring power of guardianship enables you to appoint the trusted person to look after you – your personal and lifestyle decisions.
The care you receive and where and how you live will be in the hands of a trusted guardian so it’s important to choose wisely.
A testamentary trust is a trust established by a Will and they can be very useful for asset protection, tax effectiveness and providing for minor children. The best thing about a testamentary trust is that you provide your future beneficiaries with many options around how your estate may be dealt with. Because the Trust is not established until death, there is no ongoing cost to having one in your Will.
This kind of trust enables an inheritance to be held on trust for a child until they are able to inherit the money in their own right. A child under the age of 18 can’t inherit, and in many instances it is prudent to defer the inheritance until the child is ready to receive it. During the term of the trust, Australian tax law views the child beneficiary to be an adult for tax purposes. This means the Trustee can take advantage of the marginal tax rate system to maximise the value of the estate and to minimise tax payable on income generated by the Trust. Each child under a testamentary trust may receive a tax free distribution of $18,000 each year.
A testamentary trust can be established to pass assets to a beneficiary at a certain age. For many people 21 is seen as too young, and for larger estates 30 is often considered appropriate.
Many people are simply not in a position to inherit large sums of money. Disablement, mental illness, drug dependency are just a few of the reasons why a protective testamentary trust can be appropriate. In this situation the Trustee provides for the care and lifestlyle of the beneficiary who does not have access to the capital.
Another reason to use a protective testamentary trust is if a beneficiary is a bankrupt, or where the beneficiary is in an occupation that has a high risk of being sued.
Insurance is also a vital part of the family estate and legacy planning conversation.
Many people want to include charitable giving as part of their legacy plan.
If you have business interests, it’s important to factor succession planning into your estate plan.
We leave no stone unturned in our quest to enable you to live your best life. So, don’t leave the future to chance. Arrange a no-obligation conversation with our estate planning advisers and put your mind at ease.
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