Your ‘Will’ is a legal document that tells the world what you want to happen to your estate after you’re gone.
Your ‘estate’ is everything you own or control. It can include real estate, bank accounts, investments, shares, insurances, superannuation, vehicles, personal possessions and all manner of other assets.
It can also include intangible assets like goodwill, royalties, intellectual property and various legal rights.
Next week marks the beginning of World Alzheimer’s Month and Dementia Awareness Month. Without a medical breakthrough, the number of people with dementia in Australia is expected to increase to 536,164 by 2025 and to 1,100,890 by 2056.
World Alzheimer’s Day is on 21 September. Here at Genders and Partners, we will be honouring our clients and their caregivers who are battling Alzheimer’s and Dementia by posting on social media in order to spread awareness and start conversations about how to make life easier for those battling through these devastating diseases.
After a marriage breaks down, no matter how old we are or whether we have children, it is important to consult a lawyer specialising in estate planning to make sure that we have sorted out our legal affairs for our new life once the divorce decree is final.
The very nature of a marriage (historically) is “to join two people together” and this blurs the lines between who owns what.
An interview between Rod Genders (senior Australian lawyer specialising in Wills and estates) and Cheryl Cocks (mortgage broker with Aussie)
Welcome to EstatePlanner, the podcast that tells the truth about Wills, estates and guardianships in Australia. We all have loved ones that we care-for. As the Australian population ages, it is getting more important to protect ourselves, our family and our assets. Rod Genders is one of the most senior and respected lawyers in Australia,…
Senior Australian lawyer Rod Genders gives a quick (5 minute) overview of Testamentary Capacity – an increasingly common and important problem as Australia braces for a projected tripling of Alzheimer’s in our rapidly ageing population.
Last night I had to do one of those business chores that just has to be done, but I hate it.
I’ll try not to bore you with too much detail, but basically it involves computer security stuff that is equal parts weird, scary, frustrating and boring.
Much of it makes no intuitive sense, and there are traps for the unwary everywhere. It feels like tap-dancing into a minefield. Wearing a blindfold.
Most Australians aren’t planning for their own long-term care. This is creating a major problem for the next generation, who still have their own kids to look after.
This mirrors what is happening in other western economies such as UK , Canada and USA.
Rising costs and fluctuating economic and health care are the new realities, so more than ever it is important to be proactive before a long-term event happens, to help ensure that you can still take care of your own needs, especially if you are caring for someone else’s well-being.
Here’s one more in our series of articles about Wonky Wills, Pathetic Probates and Disagreeable Deaths.
If you’re twisted like us, you might get a laugh out of some of the strange stuff people do at the end of their days …
#1 Tomas Martinez
67-year-old Tomas Martinez was living on the street in Santa Cruz de le Sierra, Bolivia, when he was approached by police officers who had good news for him. His ex-wife (whom he abandoned years earlier) had died and was leaving him her fortune of $6 million.
Martinez thought the police were there to arrest him for his drug and alcohol related issues, and he fled without hearing what they had to say.
Could there ever be a legal expectation of a “use-by date” for humans?
We might scoff at such an outlandish notion, and relegate it to science-fiction, but should we be so quick to dismiss it entirely?
If Walt Disney wants to spend his own money to cryogenically freeze his body immediately after his death, in the hope that one day medical science will be able to cure him, then most people would probably shrug and say “So what – it doesn’t affect me.”
But what if a person with limited assets wanted to do this, with the effect that their entire deceased estate would be consumed by the expense. Would the law (driven by societal expectation) permit that person’s children to over-rule the deceased’s wishes, switch-off the freezer and spend the savings?
You might argue that the person was already dead, but does this automatically forfeit all human rights, and if so are we truly “dead” while there remains some hope for recovery?
Let’s take it one step further: What if the patient has not died, but medical science permits his doctors to preserve his body in a form of coma indefinitely (again in the hope of benefitting from further advances in medical science in the future). If he is still “alive” then should he be permitted to spend his own money, regardless of any limit to the normal human life-span? Should there be any limits? Who decides? Should the rest of us be required to contribute towards the expense of his longevity (via Medicare & Centrelink, funded by our taxes)?