What Assets Can You Leave by Your Will?

Posted by - & filed under Will & Estates.

The first step in deciding how and to whom you wish to leave your assets is to identify what your ‘assets’ are. Broadly speaking, they can be divided into ‘estate assets’ and ‘non-estate assets’. Only the former can be left by your will. This is a short list of some estate assets: personal effects; a…

Reducing the Risks of a Challenge to Your Will

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We have written on previous occasions about how a person can challenge a will under the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1972 (SA). When drafting a will it must be borne in mind that the members of the will-maker’s family will not always agree with the intentions of the will-maker as expressed in the will and that an…

Protecting At-Risk Beneficiaries with Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs)

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Sometimes a gift in a Will fails to provide the intended benefit. The possibility of this happening needs to be considered when the will is being drafted. Those beneficiaries most likely to lose or not benefit from an inheritance are known as ‘at-risk beneficiaries’. Some examples include— beneficiaries who may have personal liabilities (for example,…

Divorce & Child Maintenance Trusts

Posted by - & filed under Family Law.

It may be good and well to cope with a disappointment, but it is better to take advantage of it. Death and taxes, so the saying goes, are two of life’s certainties. And for an indeterminate 40% of the married population, so too is divorce. Although death has become less expensive with the abolition of…