It's what we call "Advance Planning"

Passing away without a will, with a poorly prepared will, or a will that is out of date can cause considerable emotional, legal and financial difficulties to your beneficiaries and those who need to administer your estate, in an already difficult time.

Regardless of the size or nature of your estate, it is vital to document your wishes, so you get to decide how your property is distributed. Otherwise, those you leave behind may face additional expense in administering your estate and be forced to follow the government’s prescribed rules on how property should be distributed, rather than distributing your estate in accordance with your wishes.

A Will is only one aspect of the estate planning process. Effective estate planning ensures your business and estate assets, are distributed as per your wishes so consideration also needs to also be given to passing control of trusts, corporations, superannuation and even how your business is to be managed.

Our estate and succession planning services include wills, superannuation beneficiary nominations, enduring powers of attorney, enduring guardianships, and elder law advice.

We work to ensure the best results for your estate.

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Wills

When you work hard to build your assets, it makes sense to take the same care in ensuring your loved ones benefit when you are gone. By having a plan now, regardless of your stage in life, you make sure your estate ends up where you like it to go.

Everingham Solomons solicitors specialise in wills and estates and will work with you to ensure every step of the planning process is smooth.

Making a Will is an extremely important process. After all, you are dealing with all your assets, so don’t leave it to chance, prepare your will & other advance planning documents now.

If your estate assets consist of not only personally held assets but also assets held by companies, trusts and self-managed super funds, then the importance of having a properly prepared estate plan including not only your Will, binding death benefit nominations, company powers of attorney and trust directions, becomes of vital importance.  Otherwise, you risk your assets or only part of your assets passing in accordance with your wishes.

Careful planning ensures your estate is distributed to your beneficiaries the way you wish. It is more than simply making a will; there could be taxation and financial management implications to be considered.

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Power of Attorney

Another important decision is whether to appoint a power of attorney, to manage your financial matters, whilst you are still alive, should you become incapable of doing so. If you are incapacitated, it can be a slow, costly and complex process to appoint someone or the Public Trustee to help manage your financial affairs. By arranging this now, you can avoid delay, cost and difficulties later. You can select someone you know and trust to look after your financial affairs, where you are unable to do so.

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Enduring Guardianship

An enduring guardianship appoints a chosen person to make decisions, when you are incapable of doing so yourself, regarding lifestyle decisions, such as where do I live, what healthcare services do I receive, consent to medical and dental procedures etc. You can also include directions as to whether life-support is to be terminated in certain circumstances.