We provide tailored estate planning advice to individuals, couples and family groups who engage us either directly or via their accountant or financial planner.
Our lawyers advise on strategies and draft or review your estate planning documents. We prepare simple or sophisticated Wills and, where necessary, make changes to your superannuation, trusts, companies and other structures.
Our aim is to help ensure your money and assets go to who you want, when you want, tax effectively.
We help plan for incapacity, not just death, which includes implementing Enduring Powers of Attorney.
Our Services Include
- Simple Wills
- Sophisticated Wills, including testamentary trusts and trusts for vulnerable beneficiaries
- Powers of Attorney (financial, personal and medical)
- Business succession
- Arrangements regarding loaning money to family members
- (Early) inheritance strategies
- Inheritance management
- Succession strategies for blended families
- Charitable giving and philanthropy
- Self-managed superannuation funds and trusts
- Estate planning strategies addressing incapacity (including dementia planning)
- International Wills
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a Financial Power of Attorney and how can I protect against elder abuse?
One of the most important documents a person can make is a Financial Power of Attorney.
While a Financial Power of Attorney can operate immediately, most clients direct that it only operates when they lose the capacity to make financial decisions.
If a person has lost capacity to make financial decisions, it follows that they would be unable to properly monitor the actions of their financial attorney. For this reason, it is imperative that careful consideration be given to who you nominate as your financial attorney. As a general proposition, greater security can be given by nominating two or more people to act jointly.
We sometimes see instances where a child, as attorney, believes they are entitled to give themselves an “early inheritance” from their parent’s assets. This can lead to bitter disputes between children when the parent dies.
It is important that you consider your choice of attorneys carefully, whether they can make decision solely, by majority or jointly and whether you want them to be able to enter transactions that benefit them in any way.
The professional team at Wills and Wealth can lead clients through this discussion helping to ensure that all their documents are appropriate to their circumstances.
Will my family have to pay tax on my superannuation after I die?
Many people assume that their superannuation will be paid out free of tax after they die.
This is not necessarily the case.
The rules can be confusing. As a starting point, look at your annual member financial statement from your superannuation fund. It will show your account balance and then divide that balance into two components – a tax-free component and a taxable component.
The taxable component generally represents money paid to the fund for which someone received a tax deduction (such as your employer contributions) plus the earnings in the fund.
As a summary, it is usually the case that:
- Any payment to a spouse is free of tax;
- Any payment to a minor child is free of tax;
- Payments to independent adult children will be taxed at 15% of the taxable component;
- Payments of insurance proceeds to independent adult children might be taxed at 30%.
As a simple example, if Eveline died and her $1.6 million superannuation was taxable and paid to her independent adult children, tax of $240,000 would be payable!
Wills and Wealth’s professional team can explain the tax consequences and provide strategies to ensure you are not paying tax unnecessarily.
Who can contest my Will?
As a part of our premium service, we often advise clients on who can contest their Will and make a claim for a greater share of their estate.
In 2015, Victoria introduced changes that narrowed the class of persons who can claim against an estate. This welcome change made it more difficult for distant family members (such as nieces and nephews) and others (such as “friendly” neighbors) to contest.
But many people remain concerned about the possibility of a claim by partners and step-children.
When making a Will, it is important to understand the risks of a challenge and the potentially significant costs of defending any Will challenge. There are usually strategies that can be adopted to reduce these risks.
Wills and Wealth’s experienced team can assist you to avoid disputes.
If you are an executor or beneficiary involved in a dispute, our experienced litigation team can act for you to help get the best result.