New Years Estate Planning Resolutions

So, you thought New Year’s resolutions were for losing weight and giving up cake. Nope! January gives you the opportunity to organise your Estate Planning and take control of your affairs both during your lifetime and on death.

Proper Estate Planning means you have control over what happens as you get on in years, who would provide appropriate support and assistance, and what happens on death. It is not just limited to preparing a quick Will online and hoping for the best. Estate planning should be as much planning for life: retirement, illness, disability, and children. 

The phrase Estate Planning includes a wide suite of documents that may be appropriate to your personal circumstances, such as:

Appointment of an Enduring Power of Attorney:

This document operates during your life and allows you to appoint someone you trust to manage your legal, tax and financial matters in the event you are unable to manage them yourself.

Appointment of an Enduring Guardian:

This document operates during your life and allows you to appoint someone you trust to make decisions regarding your health and welfare if you become unable to make the decisions yourself. The types of decisions they can make include where you receive it. 

Will:

This document operates only on death, and its main function is to distribute your assets to nominated beneficiaries or structures. However, Wills can do so much more than just distribute assets, so it is important to seek specialised advice when preparing one.

Superannuation:

Superannuation’s, whether self-managed or retail/industry, are useful tools when Estate Planning. We work with your financial advisors and/or accountants to ensure that any nominations are current and accurate and reflect your intention considering your retirement needs.

Insurances:

Insurance can be tied up with your superannuation, or you can have a standalone policy in place. Regardless, these will form part of your Estate Planning and should be frequently reviewed. We work with your financial advisors to ensure appropriate policies are in place for your circumstances.

Retirement Planning:

Estate Planning also considers your retirement plans and what structures you have in place to support retirement. Again, we work with your financial advisor and/or accountant to ensure that appropriate structures are in place to make retirement seamless, no matter your stage of life.

Family Trusts and Companies:

If you have family trusts or interests in companies, these interests will not be disposed of by your Will. Careful consideration will be needed to ensure that assets pass down accurately, and positions of control such as trustee and appointor are protected as they pass to another either on your death or during periods of incapacity.

Make it Happen in January!

January 1, 2024, might be a little too ambitious depending on how you spend New Years Eve, but spend January collating details of your assets and interests, what you want to achieve during your life and on your death, and make an appointment to see our Estate Planning Team at Solari & Stock Lawyers.

Start the year as you mean to go on!

Article written by Rebecca Exley
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