Wills and Asset Protection

We will help you plan ahead and clearly express your wishes by documenting arrangements to protect your family's future assets, as well as contingency plans should you lose the capacity to manage your own affairs. Our services include:

Estate Planning, together with your financial adviser
Preparing your Last Will and Testament
Powers of Attorney
Guardianship Appointments
Administration of Estates
Assisting executors with obtaining grants of probate from the Supreme Court
Establishing and documenting Family Discretionary Trusts and Unit Trusts.

Wills FAQs

Should I prepare my own will? Why get a solicitor to prepare my will?

In short, a will prepared by a solicitor is the best way to ensure your estate is divided according to your wishes rather than the fallback statutory rules of intestacy discussed below. Home-made wills can result in the executor of your estate applying to the Supreme Court to determine your true intentions at the time of making of your will. Your estate would be reduced by legal costs. In a worst-case scenario, a will prepared incorrectly by yourself would be invalid leaving you with no will and having died intestate. For further discussion of this topic, please see our Free Legal Tips by clicking here.

What information do you need to start preparing my will?

Basically, the starting point is to list your assets and your intended beneficiaries i.e. the people you wish to inherit your estate. When preparing your will we generally ask further questions to ascertain how your affairs are structured. Depending on the complexity of your financial affairs, we may recommend you seek input from a financial adviser or your accountant to ensure your affairs are managed tax-effectively. A useful starting point for us to prepare your will is for you to complete our Wills Questionnaire. For a free copy please click here and go to Our Free Forms .

Why should I have a will?

If there is not a valid will when you die (i.e. you die intestate), there are statutory rules as to who is entitled to inherit your estate. If you have a partner and children and they survive you, the first $200,000 of your estate will go to your partner and the remainder of the estate will be divided in half, one half to your partner and the remainder divided between your children. Your partner can elect to take the matrimonial home as his or her share.

Without a valid will in place however your estate may not be quickly wrapped up and your dependants may be left waiting whilst an application is made to the Supreme Court for grant of letters of administration.

If you die intestate with no children and leaving no partner, the statutory rules of intestacy set out the order of distribution of your estate to your relatives or distant relatives. This means relatives with whom you may have had no real connection during your lifetime stand a real chance of inheriting from your estate, rather than close friends.

Also a dependent or family member who believes they did not inherit adequate provision for proper maintenance and support may make a claim under the Family Provision Act (NSW) 1982 to receive a bigger share of your estate. The best way to limit the possibility of disputes arising between family members about your estate is to have a solicitor prepare your will.

The stress caused by you dying intestate would be even more acute if you are a sole director/ shareholder of a company. Your company would be unable to trade whilst there is no director and it could take some months before the Supreme Court grants letters of administration for someone else to manage the estate. In the meantime, staff and suppliers may not be paid and the value of the company will be less than if its trading was uninterrupted.

It can also seriously complicate your company's affairs and inconvenience your business associates to be left dealing with strangers unexpectedly becoming shareholders in your company when you die.

Making a valid will is the easiest and most sensible way of ensuring your assets are distributed according to your wishes and minimising potential inconvenience to your business associates.

I have a will in place but my business partner does not. Should I be at all concerned?

If one of your business associates dies without leaving a valid will (i.e. intestate) you could find yourself co-owning your company with complete strangers. The message for co-owners of any business is: don't leave your business partners or associates in the lurch. If possible, work out a business succession plan together including who are to be the beneficiaries of your shares when you die.

If you are in a business partnership, it will automatically be dissolved by legislation upon the death of one partner, unless there was a Partnership Agreement between you stipulating otherwise. It is far better for you to have a written Partnership Agreement in place which sets out the arrangements which are to be followed in the event that one partner dies or leaves the business, including possibly continuation of the business in another form. To minimise the possibility of disputes arising between you and the beneficiaries of your business partner's estate, your partner should have a will prepared which is consistent with your written business succession plan.

N.B. These FAQs are general information only and are not intended to be definitive advice on the subject area. For legal advice pertaining to your particular situation, please contact us today and talk to a business lawyer.