Excellence in Estate Planning.

It's the rule book or roadmap that you create to manage the stuff that you own, when you die. A Will can only gift what you own in your own legal name. You can put wishes in there too. Wishes are not binding (don't have to be followed) and are more about letting your executor know what you would like to happen.

If your Will is like a rule book, your executor is the person who follows the rules in the rule book to create your desired end result.

When you Estate Plan, you do it now but it is for the future. With your Will, the things that you own may have changed and so unless you have really specific gifts, we try to keep the terms of the Will non-specific, for example in percentages or parts. With some other documents such as your Power of Attorney, it is good to get detailed, but don't worry, we will help you through it. Detailed doesn't mean headache.

Testamentary Trusts protect assets from attack, so yes, almost everyone should have a Will that gives the option of creating a Testamentary Trust.

Put simply, this is a trust created by a Will and upon the death of the Will-maker.

This is the document in which you appoint the person to make decisions about your legals and finances if you are not able to do so. It is good to get specific here.

This is the document that you create in which you appoint the person to make decisions about your health and well-being if you are not able to do so.

An Estate Plan is the mechanism that turns your wishes into legal documents. These documents should include a simple will or a will with testamentary trusts, an enduring power of attorney, appointment of enduring guardianship, a binding superannuation death benefit nomination, clear instructions for executors, and all the right tools for estate administration. The purpose of the Estate Planning documents is to appoint the people you need to carry out your wishes and give them the tools to do so.

Each state and territory in Australia has a Family Provisions Law. In NSW, certain persons can expect to benefit from your Will. These persons are called eligible beneficiaries and include your spouse, de facto partner, children, dependants, persons with whom you live in a close personal relationship, and former spouses. An eligible beneficiary left out of a Will or insufficiently benefited from a Will can claim against the Estate. Win or lose, these claims can drain the estate of substantial funds.

Your Estate Plan should consider all eligible beneficiaries.

Mostly, you come across the term “joint tenants” when buying a house, apartment, or land with another person, or when opening a bank account.

Joint tenants means that, upon the death of one tenant, the entire asset belongs to the surviving tenant or tenants.

The trap here is that the asset, or what you thought was your share of the asset, can’t be gifted in a Will because when you die, you don’t own it anymore.

An Enduring Guardianship is the person you nominate in a properly drafted document who makes decisions about your medical treatment, living arrangements, lifestyle decisions, and the care you receive if you can’t make these decisions for yourself. You can use this document to express your wishes regarding future health care, limit the powers of your appointed Guardian, and provide specific health care directives.

However, drafted incorrectly, this document can be problematic. It is better to seek proper legal advice for appointing an Enduring Guardian.