(02) 9555 1350
Caputo Lawyers can assist you with all your estate planning needs:
- Wills
- Testamentary trusts
- Powers of attorney
- Enduring guardianship
We recommend keeping your will up-to-date as it makes distributing your estate far easier on your beneficiaries in what is already a difficult time for them.
What is a will and what are the benefits of having one?
Your will is one of the most important documents that will be prepared in your lifetime. Regardless of age or assets, a will is necessary to allow you the allocation and distribution of your estate, and the responsibility of guardianship of your children if they are still minors.
Your estate includes items such as your home, bank accounts, car, boat, personal jewellery and even your pets.
In order to ensure the validity of your will, a will must be prepared by a solicitor to ensure it will operate the way you want it to. There have been cases of people attempting to draft their owns will – in some circumstances, these will have been held unenforceable by the grieving family and the person dies intestate (meaning they had no will).
Dying without a will is set to cause trouble for your loved ones and unnecessary delays in obtaining funds. This will cause them to have further additional expenses and distress during the administration of your estate.
Your will, your way. Do it today.
Do you have a will? Everyone should have a will. It’s more than a transfer of assets – having a plan in place helps ensure that your estate will end up in the right hands.
Among other things it is a document that allows you the following powers:
- To choose who receives your belongings and assets
- Select who will be responsible for managing your estate
- Decide who will be appointed as the guardian of your children
- Leave particular gifts/items to certain people such as a particular item of jewelery to one of your children
- Provide for children of a previous relationship
- Provide for a defacto or same sex partner who may not be automatically entitled to your estate
- Appoint a trustee for money and assets you leave to minors
- Deal with blended families
- Leave money to charities
- Provide information about what you want for your funeral
What happens if I don’t make a valid will? If you die without making a valid will, you leave what is known as intestacy.
Your assets will be distributed according to a legal formula.If you don’t have a will, your assets or children may not end up with the person you chose. You also do not get the power to choose who distributes your assets.
Have you checked your will lately? Can you find it? You should check your will every three years.
Our circumstances are constantly changing so there are probably many reasons why you may want to make changes to your will. These can include getting married, entering a de facto relationship, getting divorced, having children, gaining a substantial increase in your assets, disposing of assets in your will or the death of a beneficiary or executor of your will.
Wills can be simple or complicated, but their value is priceless – your family is always better off if you have one.
How do you prepare your will?
Stop delaying and submit a will questionnaire form on this page or call our office completely obligation free to speak to a solicitor about your will today and ensure that you make a valid will.
Power of attorney
A power of attorney is a document which provides someone else with authority to deal with your financial affairs. A power of attorney can be drafted to either operate at any time required by you for example if you are going overseas and/or when you do not have capacity to manage your finances (enduring power of attorney).
They are extremely important documents in certain situations and will avoid court orders for someone to manage your affairs in the event that you become incapacitated with no next of kin.
Choosing the right person is important and we do recommend in some instances that you appoint two attorneys who are to act jointly on decisions which gives you peace of mind. Please bear in mind that when you no longer have capacity you cannot sign a power of attorney so it is crucial that a power of attorney is prepared before such time.
Call our office today to arrange your enduring guradianship or contact us by submitting your contact details on the right hand side of this page and we will call you to discuss.
Enduring guardianship
An enduring guardianship is similar to a power of attorney however it deals solely with your health and is used when you can no longer make medical decisions on your own. Like a power of attorney, you cannot sign an enduring guardianship if you do not have capacity.
You decide who makes the medical decisions on your behalf. Enduring guardianships can be of great assistance especially when you have no partner and have children. Each child may have a different view on your health and decisions needing to be made. This way you decide who has this control.
We can also draft your enduring guardianship with specific direction in relation to life support etc so you make the decision and not the guardian. This prevents the guardian from wearing the burden of making a difficult decision on their own they will always wonder if they made the right one.
Call our office today to arrange your enduring guardianship, or contact us by filling the form on the right. A member of our friendly team will call you to discuss.
Let us assist with your life-changing decisions today and find out more about our competitive fees by phoning (02) 9555 1350 or contact us here today.