ADVICE | Estate planning

Estate planning is about wealth succession – a way to help protect the wealth you have built over your lifetime so that it is distributed according to your wishes following your death. A large part of your life is spent working to earn money to look after yourself, to provide for your family and to save for the future. Given the focus that is placed on creating wealth while you are alive, it seems logical to want some control over what happens to these assets once you are gone.

Estate planning is about giving you control to make sure that:

• The people you care about are looked after once you are gone, and
• Your assets are passed on to the people you want to receive them.

 Tips on when should you update your will?

Your will should be updated whenever there are major changes in your life, such as:

• Marriage, separation or divorce
• Birth of children
• Death of family members
• Significant changes to the value of your assets
• Significant changes to the way you own assets, such as the formation of a family trust or self-managed superannuation fund
• Entering a new business or change to existing business structures

We have an independent panel of lawyers from which you can choose to create or amend wills and power of attorneys.