Looking after your assets
A good estate plan should take into account both your personal and financial goals. For example, some families may need a trust to manage and distribute assets to minor children.
To ensure asset protection, minimisation, deferral and avoidance of tax liabilities, succession strategies for family businesses, our dedicated Estate Planner, Bill Ellis has the depth of experience and knowledge to create an estate plan that will validate your preferred outcomes.
As holistic advisors we feel we operate professionally under a duty of care to ensure that clients Estate Planning works with the structures they hold assets in and earn income through. The Will is crucial in determining how much of your estate the ‘tax man’ will get after death. Our ongoing professional work as a client’s advisor is often focused on ensuring they are best placed to take advantage of lowest tax and best flexibility not only on a year to year basis but also with spouse and intergenerational wealth transfer.
Estate planning is often something that we often ‘put to the side’, or leave for another day, or just plain ignore. Some of us will have a current Will which we may or may not have been recently updated – but how many of us know and understand that most Wills don’t and can’t deal with the assets we have in superannuation and family trusts? The fact is that a simple Will often prepared by your ‘local’ solicitor provides no tax saving or asset protection benefits.
Good Estate planning will allow the transfer of wealth - so that it “stays within the family”, is protected from the legal claims of spouses and creditors and is taxed effectively. A properly drafted and thought out ‘Will’ generally requires drafting with creative flair and with high levels of flexibility to allow tax saving strategies to work effectively.
The Will should incorporate creatively drafted Testamentary Trusts, Enduring Powers of Attorney & Binding Health Directives, a proper exercise of Power of Appointments are Family trusts, appropriate Superannuation Death Benefit Nominations, appropriate Insurance Nominations and ensure a clients tax affairs are in order and all records available to the Executor.
Further, many Wlls will need to incorporate a suite of optional testamentary trusts (beneficiary discretionary trusts, protective trusts and Super proceeds trusts) in order to be optimally tax effective.
Oher documents usually required in addition to a Will are as follows:
1. Power of Attorney
2. Appointment of Enduring Guardian
3. Appropriate Super death benefit nomination
4. A Business “Will”
5. Family Trust and SMSF Deed amendments
6. Memoranda of wishes
7. Insurance nominations
Our Legal team has extensive experience in drafting Wills for businesses and superannuation related clients. Nic Ellis is a practicing SMSF specialist advisor - experienced with complex intergenerational wealth transfer issues.
Many lawyers who draft Wills don’t have specialised Tax and Superannuation knowledge. Making Wills up until recently was easy for the local suburban or rural solicitor - as a persons home was usually their major asset. Now days this has changed – there is much more wealth in trusts and the superannuation system. Without the knowledge of current setups and tax planning and without the specialised skills to provide flexibility and best tax outcomes – these solicitors may fail in their attempt to best represent your desired outcomes……
To find out more please contact our team or complete the estate planning questionnaire in the attachments section on this website and e-mail, fax or mail back to one of our offices.
Estate and Controlled Assets Planning Flyer
Click here to download : Estate Planning Questionnaire - PDF
OR
Click here to request a mailed copy: Estate Planning Questionnaire - Mail
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