General Estate Planning issues (Wills, PoA, AHDs)

[serfty]

@JohnK For a basic will, you could easily do it yourself.

My current will was so done.

However, your desires/needs seems rather complicated and it may be outside the expertise of many professional will makers with LLB after their name. ergo - it's gunna cost ya.

 

[JohnK]

@JohnK For a basic will, you could easily do it yourself.

My current will was so done.

It might have to start simple.

I have no desire to contribute to the wealth of another lawyer.

 

[Pushka]

It might have to start simple.

I have no desire to contribute to the wealth of another lawyer.

Maybe you need to look at it as completely protecting your interests and wishes for your daughter and family? Might make it more palatable.

A will that doesn’t exactly explain the reasoning why you may or may not give someone part of your estate can easily be challenged = pain = much more money to lawyers. A good lawyer will make your wishes airtight.

 

[JohnK]

Maybe you need to look at it as completely protecting your interests and wishes for your daughter and family? Might make it more palatable.

Point taken. Start simple and swap power of attorney with brother is a good start. Worry about lawyers later.

It really is difficult to find time to do anything. I'm over committed now and that's not a good thing because I'm neglecting me.

 

[Pushka]

Point taken. Start simple and swap power of attorney with brother is a good start. Worry about lawyers later.

It really is difficult to find time to do anything. I'm over committed now and that's not a good thing because I'm neglecting me.

And that’s a common problem as we all lead such busy lives these days. But it’s a priority. Then once it’s done, it’s done. A good lawyer will make appropriate provisions for normal life occurrences so you don’t have to keep revisiting it unless something major happens.

 

[TonyHancock]

It really is difficult to find time to do anything. I'm over committed now and that's not a good thing because I'm neglecting me.

If you take a week off from AFF you'd knock out a will, solve Brexit, and probably have time to build a wall between the USA and Mexico.

 

[tgh]

I guess all the ructions have been productive in the end… a homemade will is better than no will.
The lawyers will make ten times more money sorting out backyard wills compared to better options.

 

[Buzzard]

It's not how much it'll cost to draw up a Will but what it'll cost if you don't that people should consider.

People also need to remember that there is no such thing as a watertight will. They simply don't exist. A will can be contested. Whether it's worth contesting is another matter. If I was going to contest a Will I certainly know which court hardened lawyer I'd pay a visit to.

 

[Pushka]

It's not how much it'll cost to draw up a Will but what it'll cost if you don't that people should consider.

People also need to remember that there is no such thing as a watertight will. They simply don't exist. A will can be contested. Whether it's worth contesting is another matter. If I was going to contest a Will I certainly know which court hardened lawyer I'd pay a visit to.

Well I guess when you are dead the cost is well beyond your concerns.

 

[JohnK]

Well I guess when you are dead the cost is well beyond your concerns.

I believe in life after death and I can still safely say that I'm not too concerned with what happens when I'm gone.

P.S. If I had now what my daughter will have when she's 30 I could kiss work goodbye, play golf 4 days a week and travel around the world at least twice a year.

I'm tired.

 

[Pushka]

I believe in life after death and I can still safely say that I'm not too concerned with what happens when I'm gone.

P.S. If I had now what my daughter will have when she's 30 I could kiss work goodbye, play golf 4 days a week and travel around the world at least twice a year.

I'm tired.

Yes but that’s the way of the world. Each generation tries to make things better for the next one. While we all do it and I look at my parents having gone through the Great Depression, WW2, Korean War and then with us as littlies I remember Vietnam War, then I wonder what ‘making it better’ means. Because those who have control over such things as war and finance, never seem to learn from history.

 

[RB]

Biggest problem I have is to whom I bequeath my signed photographs of Sid Field, oh and my unbroken hardback run of Wisden's 1939-present. Nobody seems to want them.

Had the great experience of having Warwick Franks as an English teacher at school. An article from 2018 newspaper Former Wisden Australia editor Franks sorts through the Ashes | Western Advocate

 

[Buzzard]

Well I guess when you are dead the cost is well beyond your concerns.

Not really because I don't want my estate being chewed up by legal fees. That's not to say my Will won't be contested. So what happens after my death is of concern to me but not within my control.
Hope that makes sense .

 

[Milboo]

It might have to start simple.

I have no desire to contribute to the wealth of another lawyer.

God bless the myth that lawyers are rolling in it, and don’t put in the hard work to earn their salary. Yet you pay a doctor, a tradie etc.

You need a specialist estate lawyer - especially if you have foreign property and want trusts for your daughter. Do not go to your surbuban generalist lawyer, as it’s like seeing a GP for specialist advice.

This is not putting the boot in but you need to man up and be responsible - give up a game of golf and see a lawyer. If you fail to do so, it is your wife and daughter who will suffer the consequences. I’m sure you don’t want to see your wife unable to return to Thailand, pay the rent or feed the family simply because you’ve failed to ensure she has resources available to her immediately if you’re hit by a bus tomorrow.

It’s about making priorities in your life.

A meeting with a lawyer will take an hour. Take a detailed list of what you want to do and put into place. They will tell you their fees. You’ll go back a second time to talk through and sign documents, which ordinarily will be emailed to you for review in advance.

 

[Milboo]

Not really because I don't want my estate being chewed up by legal fees. That's not to say my Will won't be contested. So what happens after my death is of concern to me but not within my control.
Hope that makes sense .

I had a former colleague do estate work - contested will and it ended up in Court. As it’s the Supreme Court you have to brief barristers too. Costs went well over $100k.

 

[Renato1]

It's not how much it'll cost to draw up a Will but what it'll cost if you don't that people should consider.

People also need to remember that there is no such thing as a watertight will. They simply don't exist. A will can be contested. Whether it's worth contesting is another matter. If I was going to contest a Will I certainly know which court hardened lawyer I'd pay a visit to.

True, but in practical terms, if one leaves one's estate to spouse and children, other more distant relatives won't have much of a hope to get anything from contesting the will.

Basically, John could write up a will this afternoon and get neighbours to sign it,
Last Will & Testament Template | Free Last Will Forms (Australia) | LawDepot
leaving house and super to wife, and splitting the rest between wife and daughter - and specifically excluding any other possible claimants. Or spend $30 on a will kit from a newsagent and do the same.

Then, at a leisurely pace, find a lawyer to deal with possible complexities (ex-wife, crazy sister-in-law, nutty nephews. mistresses etc).
Regards,
Renato

 

[Pushka]

True, but in practical terms, if one leaves one's estate to spouse and children, other more distant relatives won't have much of a hope to get anything from contesting the will.

Basically, John could write up a will this afternoon and get neighbours to sign it,
Last Will & Testament Template | Free Last Will Forms (Australia) | LawDepot
leaving house and super to wife, and splitting the rest between wife and daughter - and specifically excluding any other possible claimants. Or spend $30 on a will kit from a newsagent and do the same.

Then, at a leisurely pace, find a lawyer to deal with possible complexities (ex-wife, crazy sister-in-law, nutty nephews. mistresses etc).
Regards,
Renato

Well they may think they have a claim and that’s all it takes to hold up probate and stoke up the lawyers bills. It will be up to the court then to determine their ‘right’ to claim. And any financial or other support you may have given them fuels their right to claim.

Which is exactly why we get professional assistance to draw up the will. They’ve seen it all and can mostly cover such issues.

 

[Renato1]

Well they may think they have a claim and that’s all it takes to hold up probate and stoke up the lawyers bills. It will be up to the court then to determine their ‘right’ to claim. And any financial or other support you may have given them fuels their right to claim.

Which is exactly why we get professional assistance to draw up the will. They’ve seen it all and can mostly cover such issues.

Professional assistance will help ensure that any contesting of the will, will be ultimately be unlikley to succeed (unless one gives them go away money). But it can't stop people from contesting the will, and holding up the process.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Pushka]

Professional assistance will help ensure that any contesting of the will, will be ultimately be unlikley to succeed (unless one gives them go away money). But it can't stop people from contesting the will, and holding up the process.
Regards,
Renato

No, but I’m sure that a professionally presented and documented will might deter those making an ambit claim. A Will prepared without all the necessary explanations and caveats might be easy to challenge. And that person would need to get their lawyer involved who might be honest and say that any contentious claims had been covered off.

 

[Renato1]

No, but I’m sure that a professionally presented and documented will might deter those making an ambit claim. A Will prepared without all the necessary explanations and caveats might be easy to challenge. And that person would need to get their lawyer involved who might be honest and say that any contentious claims had been covered off.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

You may well have a lawyer write in a will that a specific person is unambiguously excluded from being a beneficiary of the will. If say a year has elapsed since the will was written, the person just comes along (through his lawyer) and says that yes - he and the deceased did have a little falling out, but that they had made up, and he would have been included in the will had the deceased gotten around to it. The legal process then goes ahead.

The recommendation is that if one excludes people in one's will, that you write and sign a note on the will every six months, saying that you still stand firm with the provisions of the will.
Regards,
Renato