Simple Will

A “simple will” is suitable for only a few situations in today’s world. If houses were worth only $30,000 and our watch car and teapot made up the rest of our estate it would work. But… That’s rare for most of us. We have superannuation, insurance, addicted or vulnerable family members, divorce, gold-diggers, estranged relatives and potential creditors to take care of.  And, even a there’s just hint of sibling rivalry it can spell disaster.

A “simple will” determines what happens to the assets in your deceased estate at the time of death. Assets held outside of your estate are not dealt with. For example superannuation, property held as joint tenants, insurance benefits, or your family trust usually isn’t included. Often steps need to be taken to ensure all assets in your ownership or control flow to your beneficiaries like you hoped, if not a simple will is a good choice.

Smart Will

A “smart will” and an “Estate Plan and associated documents” are made for modern life situations. Many of us have challenging family situations and a range of assets like property and superannuation to deal with. A Smart Will is the thoughtful Legacy Leaver’s best friend. It is a will containing “special trusts” that come into effect after you die.

It offers a range of tax benefits and asset protection opportunities. A great decision for hard working people who accumulated even moderate wealth they’de like to pass on without their loved ones losing chunks of it. Here’s what it does.

• Gives beneficiaries and the flexibility to manage inheritance in their favour
• Offers special tax concessions available to beneficiaries  to legally minimise the tax payable on their inheritance year after year (this can add up quickly)
• Enables asset protection by ensuring a beneficiary’s inheritance is unavailable to creditors that make a claim against the beneficiary
• It helps keep a will-maker’s assets in the family by shielding a beneficiary’s inheritance from claims by their estranged spouse or partner, or potential gold-diggers
• It can ensure a vulnerable beneficiary (for example a spendthrift or drug dependent person) only has limited access to their inheritance to ensure a long-lasting nest egg is preserved
• Creates superannuation proceeds will trust and keeps the control in the will-makers hands at the time of distribution.