Wills, Trusts & Estates Law

Effective estate planning and asset protection requires specialist advice to ensure your wishes are carried out. It’s an increasingly complex area, and you can trust our lawyers to provide sound advice based on up to date knowledge.

With an increasing amount of claims that can be made against a will, and ever-changing legislation governing trusts, it’s critical that your lawyer is well versed in this area. Our specialist wills, trusts and estate lawyers can advise you on how best to protect your assets, and to ensure your wishes are carried out, with a full understanding of any potential issues that could arise.

Making a Will

Making a will is the best way to leave instructions on how you want your property and assets to be dealt with after death. If you don’t leave a will, your assets could go to the wrong people, and the estate administered by someone you do not wish to be in control. A will can also contain directives regarding guardianship of your children. Our wills lawyers can guide you through the process of drafting a will that best provides for your family and dependants. We can help you choose suitable executors, and discuss who may challenge your will and why. Wills are an important document and the law says they must be done in a specific way. There are a number of aspects that you need to consider and some complex legal technicalities. While it’s tempting to think you could write your own will, you should get expert legal advice to ensure your will is valid under the law, which may save money in the long run.

Contesting a Will

Whether you have grounds for contesting a will, or you are involved in a will dispute, our lawyers can offer you expert advice and help you choose the best course of action to take. We have undertaken a significant number of estate litigation cases in the Family Court and High Court, acting for claimants, executors, and beneficiaries. In many circumstances, disputes over a deceased estate could have been avoided if the deceased had taken proper advice in preparing his or her will, so talk to us today to ensure your will is up to date.

Setting Up a Family Trust

Our team will use their considerable experience to ensure your family trust provides you with the maximum benefits. A well formulated family trust can ensure that assets are protected from claims and tax liability is minimised. It can also ensure the assets of someone, who is unable to manage his or her own affairs, are managed effectively. However, there are also certain obligations associated with setting up family trusts that you need to be aware of. We can help you decide if setting up a family trust is right for you, and how a trust could benefit your family.

Estate Planning and Administration

Our estate law specialists can help you with both estate planning and estate administration. Estate planning is a specialist skill, and we can advise you on how best to ensure your wishes are carried out, and your chosen beneficiaries receive maximum benefits.

Estate administration is an equally specialised area, and must be carried out with great care. Our lawyers can help with applying for probate and distributing or selling assets in accordance with a will. We can help whether the will is held by us, or another law firm.

If there is no will will, we can apply for Letters of Administration and advise the Administrator on distribution of the assets.

We can also help with managing trusts, and advising trustees and beneficiaries of their legal rights, obligations and entitlements.

Powers of Attorney

Powers of Attorney give legal authority to someone to act on your behalf should you be unable to act yourself. They can be useful if you are out of the country, or in the event that you are incapacitated due to health reasons. A General Power of Attorney has effect only while you have mental capacity, while an Enduring Power of Attorney continues to have effect once you have lost mental capacity. Our experienced team can advise you of the most suitable type of Power of Attorney to meet your needs and assist you with getting these in place.

Talk to our wills, trusts and estates lawyers

Contact us today for expert advice on all estates and asset protection matters.

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