Everyone with assets to distribute should have an estate plan. And while you may believe you’re just not wealthy enough to justify the time and cost of setting up a plan, this is where you need to realise that you may be wealthier than you think.
Take for example, a couple with $500,000 of equity in their home. If they both have a million dollars in life cover and $100,000 in super – which isn’t unusual – their assets would total almost $3 million.
Amounts such as these are becoming common, especially as property prices skyrocket, and it’s important you have a plan for what happens to your assets once you die as they could easily end up in the wrong hands.
In some cases, you may feel all you need is a Will. But Wills can be challenged, and the plans you had in place for your assets may not eventuate. An estate plan – unlike a Will – is a strategy to ensure wealth is distributed according to your wishes, while keeping tax to a minimum.
It also covers more than your Will does – for example, did you know that your super is not automatically part of your estate to be dealt with by your Will? If you have a business, or an investment trust, these are also not automatically part of your estate, and need to be considered and dealt with as part of your overall strategy.
Such a plan can also set out preferences for your financial affairs, medical treatment and lifestyle if you should ever lose the ability to make those decisions for yourself.
Importantly, thinking through what you want and making plans now will save your loved ones a lot of stress and heartache at what is probably the worst time of their life, so show your love for them by making it as easy as possible and giving them certainty.
We utilise LightYear Docs for document templates that can be tailored to your needs, and all are written by Abbott & Mourly Lawyers, who are also available for document reviews or to answer questions about your specific circumstances and ensuring the documents are appropriate for your needs.
We also gift our clients their own Wealth Vault, a military-grade encrypted online vault powered by BePrepared.io, to keep your digital estate safe such as online account login details, cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, social media accounts, photographs, important documents, etc. You can use it now as a password keeper and to facilitate secure exchange of information with your trusted advisors, and you can set who has access to deal with your digital estate when you lose capacity or die.
Let’s chat about your situation and develop a plan specifically for you, to protect your future and also for your loved ones.