Wills & Succession Planning

Estate Planning

Giving you "Peace of Mind" is an extremely important focus of Specialised Business Solutions when we address your Estate Planning needs.

An Estate Plan is a logical extension to financial and business planning. It is designed to protect your assets for your family, both during your lifetime and after you die. The key is structuring ownership of your assets to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands from threats like divorce or financial mishap. It is vital that you sit down and think through these issues. Timely and expert advice from the SBS Team (your accountants and financial planners) and specialist lawyers is invaluable.

There are three facets to estate planning:

1. planning for those you leave behind;
2. planning for loss of capacity; and
3. planning to maintain your lifestyle now and in retirement.

The most important purpose of an Estate Plan is to ensure that your assets are protected for your beneficiaries as assets move from your generation to the next, and beyond.

Effective estate planning will pay for itself many times over if ever called upon. There is no shortage of court cases caused by poor estate planning, resulting in distress and unnecessary expense for the surviving family.

Inadequate Estate Planning through the use of generic "off the shelf" products can lead to tragic consequences for both your family and business. When working with Specialised Business Solutions, you can be confident we will always cover the following critical objectives:

• protecting your assets from attack by the family court/ bankruptcy/ creditors;
• ensuring your wishes are fulfilled after your death;
• minimising disputes amongst beneficiaries; and
• providing you (and your children after you have gone) with maximum tax effectiveness and flexibility.

Why create an Estate Plan?

Estate planning is about preserving the VALUE of your estate for you and future generations. An effective Estate Plan results from getting the right advice and acting on it.

Did you know that more than 46% of marriages break down, only 50% of eligible people make a Will, over 20,000 people are declared bankrupt in Australia every year, and family members and dependants (including defactos) can (and do) dispute the "fairness" of a Will under the Succession Act.

The results are high legal costs, loss of assets outside the family, and family disputes!

The elements for effective estate planning:

• getting the right advice from estate planning specialists
• preparing a Will that will protect assets from mishaps after you die, eg divorce of children
• enduring power of attorney
• setting up the most appropriate Business Structures now and/or to take effect in your Will
• integrating your estate planning initiatives with your financial and business development plans

Estate Planning and Bloodline™ Trust

To ensure your hard earned assets stay within your family, we recommend using a Bloodline™ Trust. This structure is an estate planning innovation originated by our associated specialist Estate Planning Lawyers.

What is a Bloodline™ Trust?

• A special form of discretionary trust that keeps capital (assets) in your bloodline.
• Income can be distributed to in-laws if you wish.
• You define your bloodline. 
• Can last for up to 80 years (or shorter if you wish) and cover eg children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren. 
• The Bloodline™ Trust, unique to our specialist Estate Planning Lawyers, is a special type of Discretionary Trust which ensures that the capital/assets in the trust cannot be distributed to anyone outside a specified bloodline e.g. children or grandchildren. In-laws can receive income from the trust but not the capital/assets.

Simply put, when created in a Will, instead of nominating specific individuals as beneficiaries, the Will-maker nominates the Bloodline™ Trusts, which are then earmarked for specific individuals. Those individuals, eg spouse and/or children, usually ultimately control these Bloodline™ Trusts.

A Bloodline™ Trust will:

• limit the passing of the capital assets or proceeds to the Will-maker's bloodline; 
• allow income to be distributed to in-laws, if required; 
• protect the assets in the hands of the beneficiaries (against attack from personal creditors and the Family Court); 
• take advantage of the considerable tax benefits presently available to each infant beneficiary; 
• provide a flexible and comprehensive but protected fund for the benefit of the spouse, children and grandchildren etc of the Will-maker. 
• Establishing a Will utilising Bloodline™ Trusts is more complex than a standard Will because of the detailed rules and conditions they contain. The cost will largely depend on the complexity of the Will-maker's estate. The potential cost savings, financial benefits, risk prevention provisions and taxation advantages will far outweigh the initial cost. A fixed quote is provided before any commitment is made.

As a responsible Will-maker, serious consideration must be given to the use of Bloodline™ Trusts, either Testamentary (created in your Will) or Inter-vivos (created during your lifetime). They are only prepared by our specialist Estate Planning Lawyers after a full analysis of the assets that need to be protected, your unique circumstances and estate planning objectives.

Contact the SBS Team TODAY about creating an ESTATE PLAN to protect your hard-earned assets for future generations of your family!