Bendigo Lawyers & Conveyancers
Wills for couples with children from previous relationships – using a life interest to balance out competing interests. Couples who have children from a previous relationship are often faced with the challenge of how to draft their...
If a beneficiary of your Will would benefit from assistance to manage their inheritance, for example due to a disability, a spendthrift nature, or substance addiction, it is possible to set up a trust in your Will to look after their...
In this last article of our series, we’ll discuss various succession planning documents in more detail. Most people understand that a Will sets out the distribution of assets to beneficiaries and appoints executors....
Testamentary discretionary trusts are powerful tools, and can provide beneficiaries with a plethora of options to efficiently manage their inheritance. Asset protection Receiving an inheritance via a discretionary trust allows...
The third and fourth of the four key estate and farm succession planning questions – who is to receive your wealth, and how should they receive it. Farming families often wish to leave their estates to their spouse, and then divide it...
Many farms own land and other assets in trusts for succession planning efficiency, asset protection, or tax minimisation purposes. In a trust structure, the trust owns assets which remain in the trust after death or retirement. Control...
The starting point for farm estate planning is to determine:- whether assets are owned solely or jointly, whether land is owned as joint tenants or tenants in common, and whether assets are controlled via trusts rather than owned. Sole...
For many people, conversations about their Will and succession planning are easy to put off, but many problems (costly legal disputes and tax bills, to name just two) can be minimised with disciplined forward planning. Succession...
It’s a question I get asked a lot, and unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” answer. So my recommendation is to have a look at your Will and associated documents once a year. I’d be surprised if you needed to update it every...
Estate planning for farms – avoiding disputes In our final article in our series of information for farm businesses, we take a look at four common causes of estate disputes and suggest some strategies to avoid conflict. #1 –...
