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Wills and Estates
The Importance of making a Will
If you want your estate distributed in accordance with your wishes, you must have a valid legal Will. If you do not have a Will, you will be unable to:
• plan your estate to suit your needs
• or have your estate distributed as you would prefer.
• provide your family with the "evidence" required by everyone who holds your assets (eg. Banks, Insurance companies, Title Office, Share Registry) that your executor can deal with them.
How can we help?
Firstly, we will make sure that you understand that some, or even most, of your assets may be excluded from your Will. You can then consider the consequences of this and make adjustments.
We can prepare your Will to ensure all legal requirements are met. Most people can look this up in a guide, and many of them can draw up a legal Will. Whether you have been provided with all of the options open to you, and the consequences is extremely doubtful. The age, maturity, financial needs of your beneficiaries and their tax liabilities are important to some people. Others worry about beneficiaries who are spend-thrift, alcoholic, drug dependant, intellectually impaired or prone to lose assets in family court settlements. We can advise you on how you may deal with these issues.
Many estates are destroyed in relatives fighting over property in court. We can advise you on how to prevent or minimise the possibility of claims made against your estate by certain people (normally spouses, children or other dependants) if they claim they have not been adequately covered in your Will.
Other Items for Consideration
• To compliment your Will, an Enduring Power of Attorney is essential. A Will only takes effect on death. You can have an accident or suffer an unexpected illness, eg. a stroke. Refer to Powers of Attorney for more information.
• Certain events will affect the validity of your Will. These include marriage or divorce. You will need to consider legal advice if you have a will and any of these events occur.
Power of Attorney
A Power of Attorney is merely an appointment of an agent. It can be very restricted or it can be general. Eg. Sell my car, sell my car for $10000, look after all of my finances. There are some things you can't do through an agent. Eg. You must personally vote at Government elections.
Do you need a Power of Attorney?
There may be occasions in your life when you need an agent, simply because you are not present (such as being away on holidays, and you need to sign something but you are not physically here.) although you know what is happening. On other times you can unexpectedly lose legal capacity through accident or sickness. Eg. A stroke.
Everyone has the right to appoint an attorney. The main benefit to you is that you have peace of mind in knowing you have a person you trust, and understands your needs, to act on your behalf should you not be capable.
Unless you have appointed an attorney, the Public Trustee will look after your property, if you can't, through unexpected illness, and charge you for this service. The Public Trustee regularly makes a profit exceeding $10 million per year. It is a Revenue arm of the Government, and not a Social Security section.
General Powers of Attorney
General Powers of Attorney are restricted to dealing with financial matters only, however, should you become incapable it is no longer valid. Normally, the General Power of Attorney is used for a specific financial transaction or purpose. (eg. A house sale or purchase)
Enduring Powers of Attorney
The benefits of an Enduring Power of Attorney are that your attorney can continue making decisions on your behalf even though you may have lost the capacity to act for yourself, and you have saved the Public Trustee charges that you would otherwise have. You have the option for your Enduring Power of Attorney to cover the following:
• Financial Matters (any financial, investment or superannuation matters)
• Personal Matters (anything relating to your everyday issues, health and welfare)
• Financial and Personal Matters (combined)
Advance Health Directive
In addition to your Power of Attorney, you may find the benefit of initiating an Advance Health Directive or "Living Will" as it is also known. Basically, this is a document that allows you to provide directions about your health issues and special health matters for your future health care. For example, if you are in hospital, you can nominate that you do not want the life support machine turned on, or you want it turned off after a week, after a day, or whatever. You can specify what medication you want to receive and what medication you do not want to receive.
This right to create such documentation is a direct response to the euthanasia debate that is now raging. It does not condone euthanasia, but does allow you to take actions which will not prolong your death.
Testamentary Trusts
By having a Testamentary Trust in your Will, you can leave your assets in trust for the Beneficiaries who, by the powers granted to the Trustee, will have a large degree of discretion as to how and when the Trustee will distribute the assets in your estate.
If any of the following benefits are relevant to you, a Testamentary Trust could be of a major benefit:
• Asset Protection
• Protection of Assets from Family Law claims
• Income Tax benefits
• Protection of Assets from creditors
We can assist you in the preparation of an effective Testamentary Trust to protect your assets. |
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Speak to a Solicitor now:
Phone
07 4923 5400
Fax
07 4926 1835
Email
admin@colinfleming.com.au
Address
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1 Aquatic Place
North Rockhampton QLD 4701
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