Why do I need to think about my estate?

You have worked hard your entire life to gather the contents of your estate and you want to ensure that you leave your hard earned property, cash and other valuables to the people that you love so that they may continue to live lives that they deserve. This is the ultimate reason that it is worth spending time to analyze how your estate is going to be distributed. Naturally, it does also occasionally occur that a person dies without a will and this means that the have died ‘intestate’. In Australia, there are various rules for the different states of Australia relating to intestacy, but they all mean that the control of the person who is leaving the estate is removed because their intention has no legal expression. Avoiding this type of situation is obviously desirable.

What do I need to think about when making a will?

A will is often quite short, but they are deceptively complex documents. To draft one which takes into account all of the relative considerations by no means a simple task. You need, first of all to identify the assets that you have and exactly how you feel about the particular people in your life and how you would like to distribute these assets to them. In all of this, you may need to consider the impact of certain taxes and the way in which the family provision legislation in your state applies. The consideration of the family provision legislation is very important because it is possible to make a will which can then be challenged by people who had a close relationship to you but did not intend to provide for in your will. This can include people you were in a defacto relationship with, former spouses, brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren or even simply someone who had a close personal relationship with you.

If you need assistance with a wills matter, please simply enter it into the box below or drop us a line at the contact point to the right. Lawyers are often online to be able to respond to your inquiries as well.