Wills, Testamentary Trust & EPOA

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Wills, Testamentary Trust and Enduring Power of Attorney (EPOA).


It's the conversation that nobody want to have, yet everybody must have. What will happen to you, your loved ones and your assets if you become sick or die?

We don’t have answers to these questions but what we do know is that it is vital to ensure, while fit, competent and able that you safeguard your financial affairs by giving a spouse, relative or close associate your enduring power of attorney (EPOA). 

This enables your EPOA to act on your behalf if you become sick, are quarantined for a long time or become incapable of managing your financial or health affairs.  In addition, your EPOA may be given the power to take your position as trustee of a self-managed super fund if your deed allows.

Each State has its own EPOA legal requirements which we are fully aware of.



As accountants & financial advisors we are best placed to truly understand your personal and business structure to discuss with you your wishes, identify a tax efficient strategy for your estate planning, and ensure this is all correctly articulated to the lawyer so that your will truly reflects your intentions.

What is a Will? A will is a legal document that sets forth your wishes regarding the distribution of your property and the care of any minor children. If you die without a will, those wishes may not be carried out. Further, your heirs may be forced to spend additional time, money, and emotional energy to settle your affairs after you're gone.

What is an EPOA? An EPOA (Enduring Power of Attorney) is a legal document that lets you appoint someone to make decisions about personal or financial matters. This person is called an attorney. The power endures - or continues - if and when you are unable to make decisions. An individual may create an Enduring Power Of Attorney over one or more aspects of their lives including acting as a Replacement Trustee of a SMSF. It comes into effect when the individual either triggers it or loses their mental capacity.


What is a Testamentary Trust?  A testamentary trust is a trust that is created on the death of a person and is for the benefit of a specific set of beneficiaries. This provides more control over your estate, can provide family asset protection and potentially substantial tax savings. If you have young children, or even young adults, the testamentary trust will allow you to give people appropriate control if they are young or do not have good money managing skills .

How we can help you.

SMART Business Solutions strongly advocate the implementation of a Will, Testamentary Trust and EPOA.

We have teamed up with lawyers and specialist estate planning advisers to provide an EPOA, Testamentary Trust and Wills package.  

As your adviser we recommend that together we undertake a fast and simple three step process to implement your EPOA, Testamentary Trust and Will:

  • Complete a quick data capture questionnaire. We'll then send this to the lawyers to draft your EPOA, Testamentary Trust and Will
  • We will get together and review the EPOA, Testamentary Trust and Will to ensure it is tax efficient and covers all the bases
  • If need be, depending on your family circumstances we may need to have a meeting or teleconference the lawyers to check the EPOA, Testamentary Trust and Will, plus witness the execution of the Will.

Appointing an Executor.

The person who you nominate as your EPOA can also be the Executor of your Will to ensure safety, certainty, security and continuity.  It may be more than one person – known as joint EPOAs and Executors.  
After appointing a chain of Executors to manage your estate, the next step is to guide your Executor with your desire to make a specific gift to a spouse, child, grandchild or other person.  Once this is done and the gifts are made, anything left over forms the remaining estate which may be passed in its entirety to a spouse or children individually or to be shared. Importantly, specific gifts rank higher in importance than the remaining estate, so we recommend spending time on planning your specific gifts. 

The more specific gifts you appoint will ensure your requests are executed easier and faster.


EXAMPLE 1: "My investment property at 28 Sunny Beach Way, Mornington, Vic, is to go equally to my three children, Ben, Sam and Max."
EXAMPLE
2: "My friend Sarah Smith is to receive $100,000."
EXAMPLE
3: "All my estate is to go to my wife, Jackie." 
EXAMPLE 4: "Donate $50,000 to my favourite charity, Beyond Blue."

Get started.

Since everyone's needs are different, we'll build a package and quote for the level of protection best suited to you.

Just call us on 03 5911 7000 to get the conversation started.


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