WILLS

Has everyone got their Will sorted??

My mother passed away recently, it would have been an absolute nightmare if she did not have this sorted out.

I have a Will but it was one of those post office Wills, please don't scold me I have learnt the error of my way.

Am in the process of organising a Will, set a date with the lawyer in August.

Problem is our assets/liabilities keep changing, I am sure most are in this scenario, how does this work??

I am concerned about my children and I don't want them to end up dealing with a mess I left behind, when there is a solution.

MTR

 

Yes, have a lawyer written one dealing with my personal and trust assets, company shares, and a binding direction in my SMSF deed

 

While I'm not Will, my wife always tries to sort me out and organsie me as well.
Did you mean a will?

 

A will cannot deal will a binding direction in a SMSF deed. Not all lawyers know this and i have seen wills drafted with instructions for the the SMSF incorporated (which would fail).

 

Unless you want give specific gifts to specific people there may be no need to name properties or other assets in the will.

You could say something like "I give all of my real property to my children in equal shares".

This covers whatever property you own at death and it also allows for more children too

 

Its not in my will. Its in the SMSF deed.

 

If you want to protect the girls from gold digger husbands (or girlfriends if that is their choice) then have a think about Testamentary Trusts Testamentary Trusts » Australian Investors Association (I don't know if that is a good link but it explains it fairly well)
Our assets aren't listed due to them changing but are divided into equal shares into a testamentary trust for each child.
There are only a few things listed (jewellery, family heirlooms) which go to specific people.

 

Similar to you but also quite complex plus life interests calculations, then of course we also need power of attorney and enduring guardianship (one is for financial matters the other is for health matters). It took some time to setup but at least we can be assured if something happens to us our family is taken care off.
I think financial wealth creation should include estate planning, a vital component which many neglect to realise.

 

That is good.

 

There are 2 aspects
a) property of the marriage/relationship, and
b) a financial resource of one of the parties to a marriage/relationship

if the assets are gifted to the person directly it would become property of the marriage. If gifted to a trustee and held separately they are segregated from the other assets and in this case more likely to be a financial resource rather than property of the marriage.

This could result in different outcomes such as trust property not required to be split up and transferred but it could still be taken into account.

It would all depend on the facts of the case.

 

Writing a will should not be considered a one-off event.

Deal with the here and now, and foreseeable future. If things change, an update or new will should be considered.

Ensure that at all times your will reflects your wishes. One never knows.....
Marg

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

One thing my lawyer told me was to buy properties in separate names, and have life insurance policies each. This was to protect my kids, so that if my husband ever remarried after I died, then my kids would still get whatever I had left them and wouldn't face fighting it out with the new wife/wife's kids etc.
And then leave everything in my name to my kids
Hope it never comes to that but anyway!

 

I need to get my head around this.

My Will should be simple, split all assets equally between 2 daughters, regardless whether its in personal names, Trust or SMSF

I think where it gets complicated is a diamond ring, which they will both want

 

Impossible.

 

It depends on how you hold your life insurance. If held in your super it would be paid out as death benefits. Unless you had planned carefully it would end up in the name of your spouse and then their new partner would get their hands on it.

A better way would be to leave properties to a testamentary discretionary trust TDT - with any new spouse of your spouse excluded as a beneficiary. perhaps 1 trust per child and per spouse. And also incorporate a superannuation proceeds trust to keep super segregated if it does get passed to your estate.

 

your could incorporate an equilisation clause so if one takes the ring the other gets something else. This can work well with super too, what if one child can obtain it tax free and the other cannot it would be better for the super to go to the younger one so as to save tax and the older one can get a large portion of the non-taxed stuff.

 

Any recommendations for Lawyers who are good in these matters and charge reasonable fees.

Thanks

 

Read my legal tips - written a heap on wills and testamentary trusts.