Basic Rules for Modern Estate Planning & Wills for Families
Don’t know where to start?
Here are some basic guidelines to follow when getting your Family's Estate Planning and Wills sorted.
Over time, most people will have amassed a significant list of valuable assets during their lives, but when they are first starting out, they may use a Life Insurance policy to create an immediate inheritance available now, until their assets increase in value later.
01
Get your Power of Attorney sorted first
The beginning of all good Estate Planning starts with understanding why everyone needs a Power of Attorney document so you have somebody legally authorised to make financial decisions for you if you're unable to because of a sickness, injury, or absence.
02
Power of Enduring Guardianship sorted next
While this document's name is slightly different in each Australian state, the intention is the same - to legally appoint somebody authorised to make health and lifestyle decisions for you, if you're ever unable to because you lose mental capacity. While there is a legal hierarchy of who medical staff must consult first to make life-saving decisions about you, you may not wish to give away that power to someone you would not choose yourself. Choose and legally nominate your own ‘Responsible Person’ with a Power of Enduring Guardianship document.
03
Know who you want to leave your assets to upon your passing
Think about your long term picture. Do you have dependent children? Are your children now adults with their own families? Is your family more a family of choice than a biological one? Do you wish to leave your assets only to a handful of specific people and restrict who can make a claim on your Will?
04
Know who you do not want to leave your assets to upon your passing
Do you suspect certain people may contest your wishes in your Will? Do something proactive about that and make sure you include a ‘Considered Person Clause’ in your Will to help identify and exclude them. Take action today. Remember only Estate-Assets are transferred via a Will, so learn about Non-Estate Assets.
05
Is it possible future beneficiaries of your Will may face Divorce, Bankruptcy or Addictions?
Looking into the future and covering all possibilities is impossible, but we can use a Protective Will to address the top 5 risks that future beneficiaries and their families may face - the need for protection for Bankruptcy, Divorce, Addictions, Superannuation Proceeds, and Vulnerable Beneficiary Maintenance Trusts. There are clearly some life events that may unexpectedly affect us all later which could interfere with receiving and keeping a future inheritance. Take action today through your Will to safeguard any future inheritance.
06
Appoint Guardians for your children under 18, just in case
Possible future Guardians for Children can be nominated in your Will. While such nominations if ever needed must ultimately be approved by the Family Court, your legal nomination of them in your Will now has significant sway with the court's final decision later.
07
Make sure you fund potential future guardians to care for your children adequately
If you have children or frail-aged parents that require looking after in the event you unexpectedly pass away, make sure you leave sufficient funds (or leave a dedicated life insurance policy for this purpose alone) to fund the care and provision of the vulnerable people in your life.
08
Insist upon safe storage of Wills & Legal Documents in a Safe Document Service - No exceptions
Make it known to your family and Wills Executor all your original Key Legal Documents are securely stored and held in trust in a dedicated legal document storage facility and that access will require 100 points of ID and a death certificate. Remove any question of lost Wills or assertions of ‘possible tampering with a legal document’.
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7 Myths About Modern
Estate Planning
For Families
Modern Estate Planning — the backup plan for modern families
Many people mistakenly believe estate planning is simply about making a Will. They forget (or ignore) that Modern Estate Planning involves creating three key legal documents, all designed to help you maintain your independence, nominate a person ahead of time you true to make decisions for you when you can't, and provide for others of your choosing, when you pass away.
It's really about protecting and providing, and creating the Ultimate Plan B: and if you're over 18 years, you need one.
Nobody plans to suffer a serious sickness or injury; nobody plans to pass away. Sure we all like to think, "It won't happen to me", but the unfortunate reality is the facts show it could happen to anyone. We all risk getting sick or injured and needing another to make important decisions for us at sometime. And nobody gets out of life alive.
Family life is never a simple life
Newly partnered couples like to believe their personal financial affairs, responsibilities and assets are simple – and they might be today. But this will change quickly tomorrow. This is why Modern Estate Planning is about making flexible legal decisions today that last into tomorrow – like learning a helpful new skill before you may actually need them.
When is the best time to learn a new skill or have a legal Personal Plan B in place? - Before you actually need them.
Couples and families have multiple future to manage
If there is one thing people are quick to learn when they partner up, is that it doesn’t just add another single person to their circle or responsibility: they can find themselves inheriting their partners entire family structure too.
When it comes to people with kids, in laws (outlaws) and the occasional uncles and aunties suddenly appear too. And if you’re part of Australian new blended family structure – welcome to Modern Life – its complicated.
- That’s why we made a Free Downloadable Family Tree worksheet to help us keep track of our blended families responsibilities. You can download your free PDF version copy too to help you begin to see who you’re responsible to protect and provide for.
If you are part of a Stepfamily, Blending family, perhaps you're Co-parenting or in a Polyamorous relationship with others or something more complicated – we can help you out. Everyone is welcome here.
When to start thinking about Modern Estate Planning?
- Do you have a Partner?
- Do you have Kids?
- Do you own assets with another
- Do you have anyone else who is depends on you?
- Do you owe money to another (because debts do not always die with us)
Everyone's situation is different so whoever you call family (whether that's biological or logical), we say love makes a family and protects a family.
Why Couples and families need to get their Modern Estate Planning sorted
For many couples and families, modern estate planning is a way of planning their care for each other and providing certainty with a back up plan for each other, just in case. safeguarding their own decisions about who and what is a priority, to them.
Thinking about protecting and providing for a partner who may be independent or for growing families and children who are still dependant, takes some effort. This is because our exposure to risks and the Numbers of Life are increased when more people are involved in our lives.
Sharing life and love (and maybe business) with another brings another level of complexity. This is because creating legal documents that gives another person legal rights to make emergency decisions for you, requires a bit of additional thinking about what's important to you, who in your family structure is capable of making decisions for you under pressure and who you need to care and provide for, in case life does not work out the way we hoped.
Honest conversation with solutions
Talking to friends and family about estate planning and its not long before someone probably tried to stonewall the conversation by saying,
‘It will never happen to me …”
We believe that by having realistic conversations about life, love and business we can all better plan for the unexpected and our partners and families can have greater certainty about their futures and less anxiety of wondering ‘what will happen if it did happen to me?’
The two questions couples and families need to answer today:
If you’re in a relationship or part of a family, here are the two key questions we all need answers to.
- Who is legally authorised to make serious health and life extending decisions for you when you can't, in a medical emergency?
- Who will inherit (and how) your estate assets and any insurance payouts should you unexpectedly pass away?
Modern Estate Planning documents everyone needs
The essential 3 Key Legal Estate Planning documents everyone needs.
- A Power of Attorney – a document where you authorise ahead of time a person of your choosing to legally act on your behalf and make financial and practical decisions for you, if you cannot because of sickness, illness, or absence.
- A Enduring Power of Guardianship – a document where you authorise ahead of time a person of your choosing to legally make medical and significant lifestyle decisions for you, if you cannot because you've lost your mental capacity.
- A Simple Will or Protective Will – a document to make your instructions clear and legal about
- who should receive your estate assets and entitlements when you pass away, and
- who should not,
- how those beneficiaries can be protected, and
- a nomination of a children's Guardian for any dependent children you may have.
Additionally people usually follow-up with
- A Letter of Wishes – where you can record additional instructions to your Wills Executor about the care of pets, gifts and related details that change often.
- Using Secure Document Storage for all legal documents
When it comes to Modern Estate Planning, there is no such thing as average. No two set of circumstances, backgrounds and needs are identical, nor are their plans for how they protect and provide for themselves and those they love.
You can purchase all these documents through Sapience Financial with the assistance of your financial advisor.
Why we provide this service
For most of our Life Insurance clients, getting their Modern Estate Planning sorted is the natural next step to having all their important documents of life, love and business all in one place.
- Putting your Life Insurance and Estate Planning documents together makes good sense and means updating them when major life changes occur, easier.
- Your family's estate planning is too important to leave for a DIY approach on a lazy weekend, or when you have time ... sometime... next year, maybe.
Some unique values we bring to Modern Estate Planning
Flexibility
Whether you just need a simple Power of Attorney, a Power of Enduring Guardianship or a Simple Will for a person just starting out in life and keeping their options open – we can help you out.
If you're needing something significantly more powerful with a future-looking Protective Will with built-in features like;
- Super Testamentary Trusts – that seeks to reduce a non-dependants tax rate to zero
- Divorce Protection Trusts – that helps protect the assets from the Family Court
- Maintenance Trusts – to protect beneficiaries under 18 years of age or unstable or living with addiction
- Bankruptcy Trusts – that protects assets from a future beneficiary who may be in bankruptcy at the time of your death
– we can help you out.
Legal Confidentiality
We work with an actual national law firm, (not a marketing agency with little more expertise than a slick website) so you are protected by their Legal Professional Privilege and their Professional Indemnity Insurance on your estate planning conversations and documents with us.
Discretion
We understand sometimes in smaller communities (or remote towns), there are times when we all need the anonymity of a big-city professional and the discretion of a financial advice team familiar with the unique challenges and needs, of being part of an underserved community. We've in your corner.
Commerciality
If you are the Director of a company or a Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) we can help with your Corporate Powers of Attorney (yes they are different from people Powers of Attorney), Confidentiality Agreements, Buy & Sell Agreements, Partnerships Agreements and so much more. For the important stuff of life, love and business you need to make it legal and in writing,
Happy leaving your money to the government?
Every year, Australian tax payers voluntarily pay the Tax Office millions of dollars in “Death Taxes”. Capital Gains Tax earns the Australian Federal Government more money on deceased estates in a single year than in the cumulative history of death duties. Are you going to be one of them? Proper Estate Planning ensures that your estate goes to those you care about, and not the Tax Man.
How we can help
All modern families need Modern Estate Planning in place today. It's a vital part of protecting your family and business interests from the financial ruin that can be living (and dying) without the right legal protections in place. We can help you get this finally sorted today.
Contact us for a confidential chat about your needs.
