Everything You Need to Know About Estate Planning

Have you ever thought about what will happen to your asset after your death? Of course, this’s not something you’re looking forward to. But, things can go wrong at any time. Life is uncertain, and we have witnessed it since the outbreak of the Corona Virus. You should be proactive and be prepared for the worst.

If you haven’t thought much about protecting your assets, it’s time for estate planning. Estate planning is much more than preparing a will. It actually helps protect your estate, keeps your finance in order, and, more importantly, ensure your family is protected from all financial odds.

So, Who Needs an Estate Plan?

Everyone! Yes, everyone who has assets must have their finance in order to pass it down to their family. It’s impossible to know when you might become incapacitated and what will it happen in the future. It’s better to be safe than feel sorry later. You might be hesitant to hire a lawyer, but the assistance of estate planning lawyers Perth is invaluable. Deciding to hire trust lawyers Perth is one of the best ways to deal with your financial affairs.

What are the Benefits of Creating an Estate Plan?

Save Money

Do you know where most of your money goes if you don’t have a proper estate plan? To the court and lawyer’s fees. When you die without protecting your assets, the court is forced to handle everything, including the guardianship of your children, distribution of property, and the dissolution of your business. This is called probate, and it can be quite expensive that can exceed thousands of dollars for even modest estates. That money could be used for your family’s living expenses.

Pass Your Property to Your Loved Ones Quickly

If you have a proper estate plan, your family will get the money they need to pay bills, pay for your funeral, outstanding bills, and anything else immediately after your death without any delay. If not, your family has to wait for several months to get your assets legally.

Reduce Taxes

There’re many tax reduction strategies that you can save for your money family. The key is to start planning your estates sooner, and not to wait until it’s too late.

Key Things to Consider When Planning Your Estate

Value Your Assets

Have a personal balance sheet that includes stock, bank balances, real estate, collectibles, liabilities, and vehicles. Keep this sheet updated.

Medical Decisions

This includes deciding when you’ll move to an assisted living, how much and what kind of care you wish to receive, and who can make medical decisions on behalf of you.

Divide the Assets

Decide on how you want to divide your assets. Unless you set up an irrevocable trust, these decisions can be changed. By doing so, you can avoid probate, and your assets go directly to the beneficiary.

Create a Plan for Your Business

If you run a business, it’s a good idea to create a plan for future ownership and who’ll manage your company.

Hire a Lawyer

Estate planning is a complex subject that requires a lot of information and careful planning. No matter the size of your asset, you’ll benefit from working with estate planning lawyers Perth.

Need help with planning your estate? Our estate planning lawyers can help. Please get in touch with our team.

Do I Need An Estate Plan?

While it depends on the size of your estate and other factors, in most cases, it’s essential to have a well-planned estate plan. Estate planning is often an overlooked part of financial planning. It’s easy to procrastinate estate planning. But, have you ever wondered what will happen to your assets and loved ones after you die? Probably you haven’t taught much about it. However, people with assets and a family should execute a will.

What Is Estate Planning?

You work so hard to build your assets and ensure financial security and safety for you and your loved ones. But, what can happen to your assets on your sudden demise? No one wants to think or talk about the possibility of dying and what can happen to their loved ones and assets. Of course, it’s a sensitive subject. But, lack of planning and not securing your finances can cause your loved ones to be caught off-guard if something bad occurs to you. This is when estate planning comes into the picture.

There are many elements to consider when it comes to estate planning, including:-

·         Cash
·         Jewellery
·         Cars
·         Investments
·         Houses
·         Properties
·         Savings
·         Retirement accounts

However, you need to conduct a comprehensive review of your finances and make sure everything is included in your will. Trust lawyers Perth  can help you with estate planning.

Why Is It Important?

Establishing a good estate plan with the help of estate planning lawyers Perth and adjusting it as needed throughout the life can help you prepare for the unforeseen futures, secure your finances and investments, minimise probate process and its expenses, delays, and more importantly, leave a legacy for the people you love so much.

Avoid Probate

Probate is the legal process of validating a deceased person’s assets, properties, and placing the value on their assets, paying the taxes and bills, and distributing the remaining to the beneficiaries. Avoiding probate is one of the major reasons why you need to consider estate planning.

Protect Beneficiaries

Protecting minor and adult beneficiaries from outside influences, bad decisions, creditor problems, and much more. A well-established estate planning can help protect your beneficiaries after your death.

Protect Assets

Protecting your assets is one of the significant reasons why you need to consider estate planning. A sound financial plan with a comprehensive estate plan can help protect your assets throughout and after your life.

If you don’t have an estate plan, you’ll be falling into the default rules in the particular state you’re residing. Estate planning isn’t something for the rich and to be considered post-retirement. There’s no right or wrong time to plan your estate. Speak to your estate planning lawyers Perth and get it done today!

Why Should You Establish a Trust for Estate Planning? 4 Reasons

One of the most common questions that lawyers get asked is whether a trust is necessary or not. Just in case you didn't know, a living trust gives more control over your assets in the event of incapacitation or death. This means you will have more control or power over how your assets are distributed amongst children or your preferred beneficiaries. There are also other important reasons as to why creating a trust makes sense. Reputable estate planning lawyers in Perth list out the following benefits:

Avoid probate:

Probate is a court-led process, which is complex and time consuming. During the probate process, the court will be examining all the provisions and assets included in the will. There will also be a waiting period, during which the beneficiaries will have no access to any of the funds or properties in the estate. When you have a living trust, you can avoid probate. Your family members don't have to go through the hurdles of this process, thus letting them save their time and money.

Incapacitation:

Another benefit of having a trust is that it can be imposed when you are incapacitated. During such circumstances, a trustee will control your assets and manage them just the way you wanted. 

According to the estate planning lawyers in Perth, your trust should specify in detail how your assets must be taken care of when you are incapacitated, and what needs to be done after your death. However, this is not the same as a power of attorney. Married couples can also establish a trust in order to set aside assets for the surviving spouse.

Protect Your Assets:

Having a trust will secure your property from creditors or lawsuits. If a beneficiary of your assets has a lawsuit filed against them, your trust will help protect your assets and keep them inaccessible to creditors.

Flexibility to Manage Assets:

Having a trust lets you decide how your assets must be distributed under different circumstances. There are different types of trusts available for you to consider. The most common types include revocable and irrevocable living trusts. 

A revocable living trust, as the name suggests, is a trust that can be changed or revoked by the grantor any time they want. An irrevocable trust remains fixed. Another popular type of trust is the income-only living trust. Get in touch with the certified trust lawyers in Perth, in order to know how your assets must be managed. Simply put, having a trust gives you the flexibility to manage and distribute assets as per your requirements.

Save money and protect your property by establishing a trust for estate planning. To get useful guidance and assistance in this process, hire a good law firm of a recognised migration lawyer in Perth today.