Tying up loose ends after a divorce

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Kenneth Ti

A divorce is never pleasant, and even less so if there was protracted conflict over the course of finalising the divorce. But even after finalising the divorce, there are possibly a few loose ends that you need to tie up – and this includes reviewing and re-drafting your Will.

A Will is not necessarily revoked after your divorce has been processed by the Court. The only parts of the Will which are revoked are those parts that benefit your former spouse. As you can imagine, this can create confusion in relation to which parts are still in effect and which parts have been revoked.This also may create a situation where your estate may be distributed in a manner which you did not anticipate.

In addition to this, there may be other documents that do not revoke themselves after the finalisation of your divorce. These include documents such as your binding death benefit (for your superannuation), a power of attorney, as well as an enduring guardian.

It is therefore critically important that you review all of these matters after finalising your divorce, and making sure that you tie

up all loose ends to ensure that your wishes are properly followed.

Want to know more about estate and succession planning?

For more information regarding our estates and succession planning services, including will preparation, powers of attorney, enduring guardianship, obtaining probate or letters of administration, and managing deceased estates, please use the quick enquiry form found on this page or call our office on 02 9687 8885. Our experienced estates lawyers look forward to assisting you with your estate and succession planning requirements.

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was posted by Kenneth Ti, associate solicitor at Phang Legal.

Tags: benefit, binding death benefit, death, divorce, drafting, enduring, estate, loose ends, marriage, Probate, review, revoke, supreme court, will, wills, Wills & Probate

Appointing the Public Trustee

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Kenneth Ti

We often receive many enquiries about the advantages and disadvantages of appointing the public trustee as an executor and trustee in Wills. In this article we will explore briefly some of those advantages and disadvantages to help you make a decision when it comes time for you to make your Will.

In NSW, the public trustee is now called the NSW Trustee and Guardian – a merger between the Public Trustee NSW and the Office of the Protective Commissioner (1 July 2009).

The NSW Trustee and Guardian have four main roles, being:

Will Making
Estate Administration
Corporate and Individual Tasks
Powers of Attorney.

The NSW Trustee and Guardian can assist

you with drafting your Will for free so long as they are appointed the executor and trustee in your Will. As they have been around for a long time they are well experienced in drafting Wills. There are also benefits associated with them being your executor and trustee – as they are not related to you or your beneficiaries, they are more likely to be impartial and will follow your Will to the letter.

However, allowing the NSW Trustee and Guardian to draft your Will and appointing them as your executor and trustee does have its disadvantages. The primary disadvantage is that as they are your executor and trustee, they are entitled to be reimbursed for their costs in administrating your estate. Some of these costs will depend on the value of your estate, and are assessed at a percentage of the value of your estate. Naturally, some of these costs may be saved if you appoint a beneficiary or a person related to you as the executor or trustee of your estate.

Having an impartial organisation administrating your estate can also be disadvantage in some situations, as they may not understand your underlying intentions or your family situation when drafting your Will. It is in such situations that having a family member as your executor and trustee, a person who understands you and your particular way of thinking, will certainly be more beneficial than having the NSW Trustee and Guardian administrate your estate.

In summary, the advantages of having the NSW Trustee and Guardian appointed as your executor and trustee are:

Free Will drafting
Experience in managing estates
Independent and impartial

The disadvantages of having the NSW Trustee and Guardian appointed as your executor and trustee are:

Costs based on a percentage of your estate
Not likely to understand your particular family situation

When drafting your Will you should take all these matters into consideration. To find out more about Will drafting please give us a call or use the quick contact form located on this blog.

Want to know more about estate and succession planning?

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was posted by Kenneth Ti, associate solicitor at Phang Legal.

Tags: administration, beneficiary, costs, drafting, estate, executor, family, free, guardian, independent, lawyers, legal, nsw trustee and guardian, person, phang, Probate, Public Trustee, solicitors, trustee, will, Will Drafting, Wills & Probate

Appointing Guardians for infant children

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Ern Phang

Why appoint a guardian for your children?

If you have young children, have you ever thought who would look after your children after you pass away? Even if you have a partner, or your children have another parent, there is always the possibility that both of you pass away at the same time – and then what happens?

Estate planning for people

who have young children often focuses on appointing a guardian. You may already have other family members in mind, or maybe a close friend who you can trust to have your child’s best interest at heart. The issue of appointing a guardian to look after your child is a very important consideration, not just from a legal perspective, but also from a social perspective.

Your child will be a minor until they turn 18 years old, and only then will the law recognise them as an adult together with all the legal rights and responsibilities as an adult. If you pass away before your child becomes an adult, it is likely that you will need to appoint a trustee to look after the financial aspects of your estate (possibly for the benefit of your child) and a guardian to care for your child’s welfare and upbringing. These appointments should be properly addressed in your Will.

Aside from appointing a guardian, your Will may also include directions for guardians with regards to place of residence, academic and/or religious upbringing, health and medical issues – basically, any matter that would otherwise normally concern a parent. Ensuring that your testamentary wishes regarding your child and appointing a guardian is properly documented hopefully will lower the likelihood of disputes over who should be responsible for your child – either through choice or circumstance.

Life is full of twists and turns, however with some planning in advance you can ensure that the children that you leave behind are in good hands and are cared for by the right people – people that you trust.

So why delay? If you are interested in drafting or reviewing your Will and what it says, give us a call or use the quick contact form to get in touch with us.

Want to know more about Wills and Estate Planning?

For more information regarding our estates and succession planning services, including will preparation, powers of attorney, enduring guardianship, obtaining probate or letters of administration, and managing deceased estates, please use the quick enquiry form found on this page or call our office on 02 9687 8885. Our experienced estates lawyers look forward to assisting you with your Wills, and your estate and succession planning requirements.

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was posted by Ern Phang, director of Phang Legal.

Tags: benefit, children, drafting, estate, family, guardian, legal, planning, testamentary, trustee, will, Wills & Probate

Planning for the future

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Kenneth Ti

Estate planning can help avoid complications that can arise following the death of a loved one. With an ageing population in Australia, proper estate planning is critical to ensure that your loved ones are adequately taken care of and have directions as to what to do when you move on.

Estate planning can include the following matters:

Having a Will
Having adequate life Insurance
Making sure your superannuation benefits go to the right people
Having a list of all your assets and liabilities
Having an enduring power of attorney
Having an enduring guardian
Having an Advanced Health Directive

Estate plans should never be considered permanent as considitions, whether financial or personal, change. Your plans should be reviewed perhaps every five years or so, or whenever there has been an important or significant change in your life, such as the acquisition of a significant asset or liability, or the birth, death, or marriage of someone in your family.

We can help you

review your estate plans – and where possible, help you transfer your assets to the next generation in the most effective way possible. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us using the quick enquiry form on this blog.

Want to know more about estate and succession planning?

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was posted by Kenneth Ti, associate solicitor at Phang Legal.

Tags: administration, assets, death, enduring, estate, estate planning, estates, guardian, legal, marriage, phang, planning, power of attorney, review, solicitors, superannuation, update, wills, Wills & Probate

Estate planning for the holiday season

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Ern Phang

Finding an excuse to discuss your Will over the holidays

An interesting observation of human nature is that there

is a noticeable increase in enquiries for Wills and estate planning services during the period leading up to the holiday season around Christmas and the New Year. Why is that?

Some clients explain that it’s the thought of traveling and the risks associated with traveling. Others just worry about what will happen to them while they’re away or far from home. Others consider it a time for reflection and family, and realise (shock) that their affairs aren’t in order and it’s time for them to do something about it. They know they should have done it before, but just never got around to it (see our previous poll on why people don’t have a Will).

Whatever the reason may be, it shouldn’t take something like the holiday season or a trip away from home to prompt people into thinking about their Will or their estate planning requirements. The possibility or probability of passing away without a Will is the same if you don’t have a Will regardless of whether you’re staying at home singing Christmas carols, sipping cocktails and relaxing on some tropical beach, or enjoying skiing on a mountain top resort. If you don’t have a Will, you don’t have a Will (see our previous post on intestacy).

When the family comes together to celebrate the holidays, maybe that’s an opportunity to discuss some of the key issues related to your Will or your estate planning requirements – after all, those discussions generally involve or affect those closest to us, right? Is it an appropriate topic of discussion? Maybe not, you’ll need to decide that – but consider what other opportunities will you have throughout the rest of the year to have these conversations. When do most people get together? Maybe it’s weddings, funerals, birthday parties or key festive dates. It’s not easy and it’s probably uncomfortable as well – but that’s life, and should be doing something about it because before you know it another year will have gone by.

What we do know for a fact is that once you’ve done it, you’ve prepared your Will and you’ve stored it away, there is a sense of relief and accomplishment. It’s done! That’s the reward for not procrastinating any more. Sure, you might still have to review your Will from time to time, but that’s another issue for another day. For today, it’s done.

Then you can enjoy the rest of your holiday and the (hopefully) many more to come.

Want to know more about Wills and Estate Planning?

For more information regarding our estates and succession planning services, including will preparation, powers of attorney, enduring guardianship, obtaining probate or letters of administration, and managing deceased estates, please use the quick enquiry form found on this page or call our office on 02 9687 8885. Our experienced estates lawyers look forward to assisting you with your Wills, and your estate and succession planning requirements.

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was posted by Ern Phang, director of Phang Legal.

Tags: estate, estate planning, family, passing away, planning, review, will, wills, Wills & Probate

How can a Parent Care for their Disabled Child after their Death?

Posted on October 17, 2011 by David Hazlewood

If you are the parent of a child requiring ongoing care as a result of a disability, planning for their care in the event of your death is a major issue. One of the vehicles that can help manage their financial well being is a Special Disability Trust.This structure allows you to nominate a person (or more than one person) to act as trustee and manage the financial affairs of your child. The trust is allowed to invest the funds for the purpose of paying for the care and accommodation of the principal beneficiary – your child. This may include purchasing and owning a suitable property for them to live in.

There are significant Centrelink concessions available with these arrangements. Firstly, assets up to $563,250 (indexed each year) are exempt from the assets test, and if a property is owned by the trust and used as the beneficiaries home, this is also exempt. In addition to this, Centrelink does not assess any income or distributions from a Special Disability Trust. These concessions may not be not available to beneficiaries of a normal trust (family/discretionary trust, testamentary trust), and may mean you can leave significant levels of assets for the care of your child and they can still be entitled to government assistance.

For parents above Age Pension age, there is also the opportunity to gift funds to a Special Disability Trust. Ordinarily Centrelink would regard any gift above $10,000 in a financial year ($30,000 over a rolling five years) as an attempt to deprive yourself of assets to increase your pension entitlements, and accordingly they would continue to assess these gifts as your assets. In the case of gifts by eligible family members however, up to $500,000 (combined) can be gifted to a Special Disability Trust for the care of your child and Centrelink would no longer count this as your asset. This could potentially make you eligible for Centrelink Benefits, or increase your entitlement to them.

There are a number of conditions that must be met to receive these concessions, and this article just provides a broad overview.

Want to know more?

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was written by David Hazlewood and edited by Kenneth Ti, associate solicitor with Phang Legal.

Tags: assets, beneficiary, centrelink, david hazelwood, estate, family, Financial Planning, guardian, guardianship, planning, testamentary, Trustee Duties, trusts, wills, Wills & Probate

How can a Parent Care for their Disabled Child after their Death?

Posted on October 17, 2011 by David Hazlewood

There are a number of conditions that must be met to receive these concessions, and this article just provides a broad overview.

Want to know more?

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was written by David Hazlewood and edited by Kenneth Ti, associate solicitor with Phang Legal.

Tags: assets, beneficiary, centrelink, david hazelwood, estate, family, Financial Planning, guardian, guardianship, planning, testamentary, Trustee Duties, trusts, wills, Wills & Probate

Good Will Week 2011

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Kenneth Ti

Don’t put it off – set some time aside to

write or review your Will

Everyone aged 18 years and over should have a Will – however the NSW Trustee & Guardian’s statistics show that over 45% of people in New South Wales do not have a Will!

Between 18 September 2011 and 24 September 2011, the NSW Trustee & Guardian will be running Good Will Week, its annual education campaign to encourage adults in New South Wales to have an up-to-date and legal will.

We will also be encouraging our clients to review their existing estate and succession plans and to prepare or update their Wills.

Not having a Will, or having a Will that is invalid or incomplete can result in intestacy and further complications for your family and loved ones that you leave behind in dealing with your estate. Those complications are unnecessary and can be avoided with a few simple steps – starting with having your Will prepared for you by a suitably qualified professional.

Want to know more about estate and succession planning?

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was posted by Kenneth Ti, associate solicitor at Phang Legal.

Tags: 2011, drafting, elders law, estate, estates, family, good will week, guardian, intestate, lawyer, legal, nsw trustee & guardian, nsw trustee and guardian, phang legal, review, solicitor, trustee, update, will, wills, Wills & Probate

45% of Australians don’t have a Will!

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Ern Phang

Statistics for Wills in Australia

The NSW Trustee and Guardian (the replacement of the NSW Public Trustee) indicates that 45% of Australians don’t have a Will. Compared to the reasonable assumption that 100% of people die, that’s a glaring statistic showing an imbalance which then begs the question “why is there a section of the

Australian population who don’t have a Will?”

We’ve created this quick poll using some statements that we’ve heard over the years. So if you also don’t have a Will, let us know why.

On 19 August 2011, we’ll be running a free information session on Wills and estate planning at the Harris Park Community Centre as part of Will Awareness Day. Come along and you’ll find that writing a Will isn’t as difficult as it may seem, doesn’t cost as much as you thought, and doesn’t take a lot of time to do right (especially with professional advice and guidance).

A Will is probably one of the most important documents you’ll ever write in your life, and while you’ll never be around to regret not writing one, your family and loved ones that you leave behind will.

Want to know more about Wills and Estate Planning?

For more information regarding our estates and succession planning services, including will preparation, powers of attorney, enduring guardianship, obtaining probate or letters of administration, and managing deceased estates, please use the quick enquiry form found on this page or call our office on 02 9687 8885. Our experienced estates lawyers look forward to assisting you with your Wills, and your estate and succession planning requirements.

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was posted by Ern Phang, director of Phang Legal.

Tags: buy, estate, estate planning, family, free, guardian, information, nsw trustee and guardian, planning, trustee, will, wills, Wills & Probate

Will Awareness Day 2011

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Ern Phang

On 19 August 2011, the Law Society of NSW will be promoting Will Awareness Day – an initiative focused on providing the community with free legal information on Wills and other estate planning matters, all in the name of increasing awareness of the importance of Wills.

Having a legally valid Will helps you to decide how your possessions will be distributed after you die, which can be an important consideration especially if you leave behind family, friends and other loved ones. If you do not have a Will, do not assume that your possessions will be distributed according to your wishes. Under current legislation, if you die without a Will, your estate will be divided according to a Government formula which may not reflect what you really want.

Choosing to write your will is one of the most important decisions you will ever make and it is important to seek proper legal advice so that your financial and personal circumstances are covered.

Phang Legal will be

holding a free information session at the Harris Park Community Centre on 19 August 2011 at 10am. The Centre is located at 11 Albion Street, Harris Park NSW 2150. All are welcomed to attend.

Want to know more about Wills and Estate Planning?

For more information regarding our estates and succession planning services, including will preparation, powers of attorney, enduring guardianship, obtaining probate or letters of administration, and managing deceased estates, please use the quick enquiry form found on this page or call our office on 02 9687 8885. Our experienced estates lawyers look forward to assisting you with your Wills, and your estate and succession planning requirements.

This website is proudly supported by Phang Legal. This article was posted by Ern Phang, director of Phang Legal.

Tags: 2011, estate, estate planning, free, information, law society, legal, planning, will, wills, Wills & Probate

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Parramatta Law Firm assisting with Probate, Administration and Estates

Tag Archives: estate

Tying up loose ends after a divorce

Want to know more about estate and succession planning?

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Appointing the Public Trustee

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Appointing Guardians for infant children

Why appoint a guardian for your children?

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Planning for the future

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Estate planning for the holiday season

Finding an excuse to discuss your Will over the holidays

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How can a Parent Care for their Disabled Child after their Death?

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How can a Parent Care for their Disabled Child after their Death?

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Good Will Week 2011

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45% of Australians don’t have a Will!

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Will Awareness Day 2011

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