Good estate plans include things like making sure your assets go to people who care about you, such as your spouse or children. You should include instructions telling how you want your money spent. Your will should be written up before you die, and signed by witnesses. This document should also include information about funeral arrangements.
Planning Your Estate
Estate plans cover what happens to your assets when you die. You can specify who should manage them while you’re alive, and who should manage them after you die. You can also nominate people to manage your health care or finances. Your wishes should be considered carefully and you need to know who you want to make decisions about your life. You may need to get professional help deciding what to do with your property, assets and savings. It’s important to decide how much money you want to leave to charity or relatives. Plus, you need to decide whether you want to leave anything to your spouse or children.
This boils down to: you need to consider how you want to distribute your property after your death. It’s vital that your will should include what you want done after you die. You might also want to write down your wishes about who will care for your children if you’re not around. This document could also help your heirs decide how to divide your estate.
Estate plans that work should include medical directives and care instructions, wills, power of attorney forms, living trusts, and other important documents. These documents are essential for ensuring your loved ones receive what you intend them to get. In addition, these documents help reduce taxes owed by your beneficiaries. SR Wills make estate planning easy to understanding. If you’re looking for estate planning examples or to create a printable estate planning checklist, there are numerous options for online estate planning including this one from Westpac.
Who Should Make Your Will?
You can get your will written either by a solicitor or by a public trustee. A public trustee may not charge if you are a pensioner or an older person, or if you nominate him/her to carry out your instructions. The rules vary, so check the public trustee website for your state. You should always check if your will is valid before using it. If you don’t do this, then your will may become invalid. If your will isn’t done correctly, it could cause problems later on. Additionally, your will must be kept somewhere safe and you need to tell people about it.
How Often Should You Update Your Will and Estate Plans?
You should update your will every 5 years. This means that if you want to make sure that your money goes to your children after you die, you need to write down the new information about them and put it into your will.
Superannuation and Your Will
Super funds are run and owned by trustees. This means you can’t just leave your superannuation benefits to someone in a will. You can choose who gets your money when you die but you need to put this into a binding nomination form to let the trustees know of your wishes. You can also change this decision at any time, if you want.
Wills and Family Trusts
A family trust is an important part of estate plans. You can leave money to whoever you want, but the law requires certain things to be done. Your children must get an inheritance before any other people. There are many ways to set up a trust.
Testamentary Trusts
A testamentary trust is a type of trust established under the law. It is created when someone dies, and it is managed by a trustee appointed by the person who died. Trustees manage money and property for people who are unable to do so themselves. There are two types of trusts: discretionary trusts and non-discretionary trusts. Discretionary trusts give trustees freedom over how to use the funds. Non-discretionary trusts require the trustee to follow a strict plan. Trusts are considered when you want to protect your money from your relatives. You might want to create a trust for children who are minors or have diminished mental capacity. Or, you could set up trusts for people who aren’t using their inheritances wisely. Testamentary trusts can be an important part of your estate plans.
What are Powers of Attorney?
A power of attorney is a legal document where you give someone the authority to act on your behalf. You should choose someone who is trustworthy, financially responsible and likely to be around.
Why Do I Need a Power of Attorney?
A power of attorney is a legal document giving someone else authority over your affairs if you become unable to manage them yourself. You should make sure that this document is valid, up-to-date and signed by an appropriate person. Injury, illness and disability can occur at any time, so it’s important to have this in place so your wishes are considered.
How Do I Use My Power of Attorney?
An Enduring Guardian can be appointed by the Court to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated or otherwise unable to make them yourself. In NSW, your attorney can only make legal and financial decisions for you. For lifestyle, medical and healthcare choices, you need to appoint an “Enduring Guardian”.
How and Who Should I Choose as My Attorney?
The person you choose for your attorney can be a close friend, family, NSW Trustee or Guardian or a trustee organisation. You can also choose a specialist wills and estates lawyer to act on your behalf.
The person chosen to take your Power of Attorney must be trustworthy, honest and reliable. They must also have enough time to give your case the attention it needs. Choose an attorney who is willing to work hard for you and has your best interests at heart. They must be financially savvy and know how to handle taxes and other financial matters. Additionally, they should respect you and your decisions and opinions. They must be prepared to act within the law and follow any rules and conditions you place on them while being capable of managing your affairs.
An Enduring Power of Attorney allows you to name someone as your legal representative if you become incapacitated or unable to make decisions. You should also have a Will because it is very important to know what happens to your property when you die.
Whether you want to make a Will, create a Trust, give someone power over your finances, or write down what your wishes are about medical care, we can help.
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