Law

Essential Will and Estate Planning 

 

Anyone who writes a last will and testament has made the wise move of enabling their dying wishes to be carries out after they have passed away. In this situation a will provides two purposes. Firstly, it allows you to detail how your assets will be distributed amongst the people and causes that you are about. The terms assets can include money, property possessions, investments, basically anything of value that you own. Secondly a will allows you to appoint persons that you trust to carry out your wishes. As an authoritative record, a will is one of the most important documents that any adult can create, and realistically your affairs can be put in order at any point during your life, not just at a future date when your health is not what it used to be. 

Nearly everybody has an obligation to somebody, be it their life partner or spouse, their children, grandchildren, companions, and some of the time this list will also include causes for social good such as charities and trust funds. With a Wills and Estates Lawyer Brisbane people can also choose specific individuals to be liable for a business at their bequest, when they’re no longer around to do it themselves. The duty of the will exectoris to guarantee that your assets are is shared out to your requirements, and that they are effectively distributed among those persons (or causes) that you wish to inherit your cash, property, or valuables. 

The premise of the will itself is to detail what items and amounts goes to whom and where. Its sole purpose is to guarantee that satisfactory arrangementsare made for relatives and companions following the demise of the person who made the will. The reality of the situation is that when someone dies and they haven’t made a will, which can of course happen suddenly no matter what a person’s age, either through illness or a mishap, this can make challenges in the distribution of their assets beyond the ability of most people’s comprehension. For instance, in certain countries the Government tax collection on a deceased property is bigger when the bequest has not been anticipated in a Will. You may be familiar with the term ‘inheritance tax’ but have never really encountered it before of considered what it entails. Whilst Australia hasn’t had a death tax for a long time now, there are as yet different assessments and factors that can be levied upon an individual who acquires something from another person, depending upon what they plan to do with the things they acquire. Wills and estates are a very complex form of law and subsequently can present a lot of pitfalls. The best advice anyone can offer in this area is to consult an expert wills and estates lawyer. 

On many occasions, even when a Will has been created, the contents of the Will can be disputed by people involved in the process and indeed by persons that may not have been mentioned, but feel as though they have legal entitlement to some of the estate. This could for example be a previous partner, or a stepchild, yet commonly it’s an individual who feels that it’s their entitlement to challenge the will. 

Other problems can arise when people that feature in the will feel that they have not received as much as they expected to get. This can prompt cases honing-in on the fact that the will probably hasn’t been appropriately executed and is potentially invalid. Indeed, even agents have been known to be questioned by individuals named in the Will who suspect that they haven’t been apportioned the full extent of their inheritance. In these situations, it is in-fact possible to have an agent convicted, when proof is provided that they have not been acting to the greatest interests of the individual who originally made the will. 

An experienced wills and estates lawyer is definitely someone who will best understand the majority of the above described, situations so it makes good sense to find for a decent one when the time comes to make a will of your own.