Estate Planning

A properly constructed estate plan should integrate all your legal and financial matters. At MV Law, we can help with:

• straightforward wills and codicils.
• complex wills.
• testamentary trust wills.
• special disability trust wills.
• superannuation death benefit nominations.
• structure reviews of family trusts and companies.
• Powers of Attorney and Enduring Guardians

As the estate planning specialists in Canberra, we have a better perspective and well-rounded knowledge than other general firms. This means that we can foresee, identify and address potential issues that arise, that other law firms might miss, because they don’t have any experience in disputes or litigation.

From developing plans for highly complex situations involving multiple entities, businesses or blended families, to administering estates and handling disputes, our highly experienced and knowledgeable team offer a comprehensive range of estate planning services and expert advice.

Working in collaboration with you and your trusted advisors, we take a holistic and tailored approach that considers every aspect of your current circumstances to ensure that your estate planning objectives are fully achieved.

And because we understand that estate planning can be a confronting process, our supportive team will help you feel completely at ease from start to finish, whilst providing practical, plain-English advice that discloses all legal costs up-front.

Estate Planning is the process that you go through to establish how your estate should be dealt with whether you are alive or dead – estate planning is the wholistic process of looking at your assets and liabilities and how they should be dealt with when you are alive but are unable to make your own decisions (i.e. you might prepare an Enduring Power of Attorney and/or an Enduring Guardian document), and when you die (i.e. you might prepare a Will as well as other documents such as beneficiary nominations for superannuation and life insurance interests, deeds to pass control of family trusts, business succession agreements, company powers of attorney, etc).

A good Estate Plan will cover all scenarios, whether you become incapacitated through accident, injury or illness or if you die.

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Estate Planning is important for several reasons. Firstly, without good estate planning, your assets could go to people you don’t want them to, or hadn’t considered were even eligible. Secondly, it can create a headache for your spouse or adult children trying to administer your estate. Having a good estate plan gives you increased comfort and control knowing how your assets will be dealt with when you die, or if you lose capacity. It also streamlines the process of administering the estate once you die, which also makes it more cost effective.

A Will is part of a good Estate Plan, but Estate Planning encompasses much more than just a Will. A Will is a document that tells people what you want to happen to your estate when you die. Generally, a Will appoints an Executor and disposes of your estate. Other documents will form part of your Estate Plan such as an Enduring Power of Attorney and/or Enduring Guardianship. Your Estate Plan would also consider any superannuation nominations, companies you direct or have shareholdings in, or any existing Trusts.

Whilst you can create a Will without a lawyer, you run the risk of it not being legally valid, and you also lose the benefit of expert estate advice. Estate Planning specialists are experienced in their area of law. You should engage an Estate Planning specialist to assist you with estate planning because they often know things that you might not think of considering if you did not have their advice.

Estate Planning specialists will ask you questions that make you think about scenarios that if they did arise, could cause havoc for your estate when you die if you haven’t taken them into account when preparing your Will and/or Enduring Power of Attorney.

Estate Planning specialists work with you to tailor your estate plan so that it is specific and right for you. We see all too often the consequences of what happens when people try to prepare their own Wills and/or Enduring Powers of Attorney without seeking professional advice.

Often, Estate Planning specialists will work with accountants and financial advisors to create a holistic Estate Plan.

A Will and Enduring Power of Attorney and/or Enduring Guardianship are essential Estate Planning documents, to plan for your death or loss of capacity. Other estate planning documents may include Company Powers of Attorney and Superannuation Binding Death Benefit Nominations.

It is a good idea to review your Estate Plan every 5 years or if you experience significant change/s to your circumstances, for example, if you get married, divorced, buy/sell property, start a company, or if your children are now grown up and have their own families.

Whilst Estate Planning specialists cannot give tax advice, we can work with your accountant and financial planners when doing estate planning.  Between us, we can ensure that estate planning will take into account issues such as tax on superannuation death benefits, stamp duty exemptions and capital gains tax implications when gifting property.

It is almost inevitable that different people will judge ‘fair distribution’  in different ways – what one person thinks is fair might be completely unfair to another person. So there is not a clear-cut answer to this question.

The best that a Will maker can do is talk honestly to a solicitor about their financial situation, their family and the history of relationships, what their wishes and intentions are, and then listen to impartial advice about what might be considered to be ‘fair’ in that situation. A Wills and Estates solicitor has experience in seeing how particular Wills in particular families have been received, so they can advise a client about the potential for their own Will to be considered unfair by all or some of their family.