May
17
With the advent of an aging baby boomer population and a better general understanding of the need to have your affairs in order, many of us will be asked to be an Attorney for parents, other family members or friends. An Enduring Power of Attorney gives someone else the power to make personal or financial …
May
10
An Attorney is someone you appoint to make personal and/or financial decisions on your behalf if you lose capacity or are overseas and not available to manage your affairs. Being an Attorney is an onerous responsibility. Your attorney has the same legal power regarding your affairs as you, the donor of the Enduring Power of …
May
01
Many of us will be asked to be an executor of a family member or close friend’s Will. This is often a time consuming and complex role. Even the simplest of estates take time and effort to administer – nothing is ever simple any more. If you need help with estate administration or obtaining a …
Feb
18
A recent New South Wales decision in November 2012 emphasises the need to regularly review your Will. In that case the Will maker had left one half of his estate to “Save the Children” a charity which had been deregistered since the Will had been made. The Court had to decide whether another similarly named …
Jan
07
The “Succession Act” provides that a Beneficiary named in a Will must survive the Testator for a period of 30 days. This Rule can be excluded in your Will however typically, it is not – because it provides a protection against rapid double succession which can defeat the original Testator’s wishes. Beneficiaries who die without …
Dec
11
Executors are the persons who you appoint in your Will to be the financial administrators of your Estate. Their role is to instruct solicitors and other consultants (accountants and financial advisors) to do the necessary work to gather in the assets, pay the bills and distribute your Estate in accordance with the terms of your …
Nov
02
A recent article by Leisa Scott in the Sunday Mail Queensland Weekend Magazine highlighted some very sad stories of Elder Abuse. To encapsulate this increasing phenomenon and because I cannot express it any better than this. I will directly quote from that Article – “it’s Elder Abuse, and it’s growing – it’s ugly and harsh …
Oct
11
Circumstances can occur where it is difficult for a Testator to give effect to their wishes in their Will without raising the possibility of a claim being made against their Estate. Such claims can be very expensive and because all parties’ costs are often awarded against the Estate, modest inheritances can be decimated in the …
Sep
24
Yes you can, under certain circumstances and this can have desirable taxation consequences. This is because, under the existing legislation, if a death benefit pension is paid, it continues to have the same taxation status as the Deceased’s pension account. If the SMSF is deemed as being in “pension phase”, the Fund pays no tax …
Sep
04
There are formal requirements for a Binding Death Benefit Nomination to be valid. It must: 1. Be in writing; 2. Nominate dependants or a legal personal representative of the Deceased Member (the definition of “dependants” is a technical one); 3. State the proportion of the death benefit payable to each nominated beneficiary; 4. Be signed …