What you can't give away in your Will and why?

To give something away, you need to legally own it first.
You'd think this would be kind of straightforward, well think again.

Now I'm not talking about the neighbour's cat who has lived with you as your adopted fur-child for the past two years or the trailer your adult son still parks at your home for temporary safekeeping, 5 years ago.

I'm talking about bigger value items we sometimes own with others and often believe we can simply give them away in our Will. (And if you don't have a Will we'd love to help you out with that too.)

A problem arises when we share ownership of assets with another party.

Are you part of the 30% of Australians who have remarried and now have adult children from a past relationship?

It's a common fact of modern life, people live longer and have more relationships.  It's not uncommon for many parents today to be part of a blended family and to each have older (and often soon to be adult) children from a former relationship.

And when it comes to making a Will, how can you be sure you're kids are not cut out of their inheritance by your new partner? Here's a strategy that might be what you're looking for.

How to leave an inheritance to your Grandchildren, but not your adult children?

The reasons why you may wish to leave an inheritance directly to a grandchild and not your adult children are as wide and varied as the motivation to do so.

Just leaving money via your Will for a grandchild to be held in trust until they reach 21 is fraught with risks; from of a challenge to your Will through to concerns of the effects of addiction, divorce and financial mismanagement.

So to help you better understand your options, here are three key phrases you need to understand.

Creating wealth and prosperity is extra hard work, and here’s why

Welcome to a New Year, and a New Decade 2020

Have you felt the fashionable pull to publicly commit to a New Year Resolution?

Has your social news feed been flooded with images of bottles of Champaign, Wealth and high Fashion photos that only makes you feel isolated, or even bad about yourself?

Welcome to the annual New Year advertising splurge designed to separate you from what's left of your money, before you can really think about it.

Welcome to a new year (and a new decade). Remember old habits don't usually take us to new places.

Hopefully this the year you’ve decided to set some family goals and get a little more proactive on achieving some saving goals. One of the challenges of a busy life can be we keep our ideas and hopes about our personal money goals locked in our head, rather than writing them down where we can see them, talk about them and maybe even ask about our progress to achieve them.

Supporting the siblings of people living with a disability or chronic health condition

Today there are 2.1 million Australians of working age (15 – 64 years) who are living with a chronic illness or have a disability; from mild to profound.

So it's fair to assume there’s also a lot of siblings of those same people living with a disability or chronic illness.

We often forget that for every person with a disability, there’s probably a sibling or extended family member helping support them or who act as the financial backup for that person too.

The hidden victims of our road toll

We all read about the terrible road tolls that affect our modern life.

Every day the same stark reality of yet another death on the roads tempts us to look away, forcing advertising agencies to use increasingly violent images to get our attention.

But today with modern technologies and advances in trauma medicine, more people now survive car accidents. The cost of surviving can be devastating to the survivor and their family in both personal and financial ways.

The question every blended family wants answered is often

Does a child in a blended family lose their rights to an inheritance if their step-parent dies?

A Contractual Will Agreement might provide the answer to this difficult question.

Many blended Australian families wanting greater certainty in their estate planning choose to make a mirror Will with their spouse - effectively leaving everything to each other.

Severity based insurance (SBI) is a more comprehensive high-grade alternative to the traditional 'all or nothing approach' to Crisis/Trauma and Income Protection insurance.

How is it different to traditional Crisis/Trauma and Income Protection insurance policies?

A new disturbing risk to business is the evolving financial effects of prostate cancer surgery and its unpredictable effect upon ongoing cognitive ability

Many Business Owners and Business Investors have begun using the same solution to reduce their exposure to this risk.

Experiencing prostate cancer has a significant impact upon a man's personal, work and family life. The sobering fact is 1 man dies every 3 hours from prostate cancer in Australia.

What happens when the one you’re caring for, outlives you?

The #1 question of parents and siblings with a special or additional needs child or sibling is usually:

Who will look after them when we’re not there?