Approximately 40% of Australians die each year without a Will or any significant estate planning. Getting the right estate planning advice brings peace of mind for both you and your family. Let AMC Lawyers take the uncertainty out of the equation and provide clarity and confidence that your wishes will be carried out should anything happen to you.
Having a legal Will ensures your wishes for your estate are known and can be distributed to your beneficiaries as you want.
A Will is a legal document which sets out how you wish your assets to be distributed after your death.
Dying without a Will is considered as “dying” intestate”. This means your estate will be distributed in accordance to a pre-determined order by the law of New South Wales. It is therefore important to have a Will if you wish to have the power of the distribution of your assets
It is important to have an up to date Will. If any of the following circumstances change for you a new Will should be considered:
A Testamentary Trust is where the assets of the Will are held and managed by a trustee. These are beneficial if you have large complex assets and wish to ensure that certain conditions are met for their distribution. Please contact us for more details on how a Testamentary Trust can help you organise your affairs.
Testamentary Trusts can have the same beneficiaries that you have outlined in your Will.
Assets which can be included:
Some of the advantages include:
Superannuation and Insurance Proceeds
Implementation and ongoing administration costs can be onerous. Other disadvantages include:
A Power of Attorney (POA) is a legal document allowing you to appoint a person the power to do anything in law that you can do, e.g: pay bills, open and operate bank accounts, buy and sell real estate or shares, and enter into nursing home and hostel contracts.
General – power ceases when the person becomes of unsound mind.
Enduring – power remains even if the person making the appointment loses their mental capacity.
In NSW you can make a POA:
You must have ‘full legal capacity’ to be able to make a POA. This means you must understand:
A POA can be anybody you trust to manage your medical, personal and financial matters such as:
Yes, they can be. However, these are two separate documents – A POA only having legal effect during the principal’s lifetime, and the Executor only after the principal has died.
An Enduring Guardian is a legally appointed person able to make decisions about your health and lifestyle in the event you cannot make these decisions for yourself.
Your Enduring Guardian can only start making decisions for you when you are unable to.
An Enduring Guardian can only make decisions in areas that you nominate. These can include:
There some aspects which an Enduring Guardian can not make decisions on. These include:
No. You must appoint a Power of Attorney to make financial decisions on your behalf. This can be the same person as your Enduring Guardian but requires separate authorisation.
Probate is an order by the Supreme Court validating a deceased person’s Will to ensure that person’s wishes are carried out by their appointed executor according to the Will.
The person(s) named in the Will as the Executors are responsible for applying for a Grant of Probate.
An application for a Grant of Probate should be filed with the Supreme Court within six (6) months of the date of death.
The administration of the estate should be finalised and distributed to the beneficiaries within twelve (12) months from the date of death.
Ideally distribution of the estate to beneficiaries should take no longer than twelve (12) months from the date of death.
