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What Do Trustees of a Deceased Estate Do?

Deceased Estates, Probate, Probate & Estate Administration, Trusts & Guardianship
What Do Trustees of a Deceased Estate Do

An executor of a deceased estate in Adelaide is responsible for administering the estate according to the terms of the Will and ensuring that all taxes and debts are paid. Trustees of a deceased estate, on the other hand, often have a longer and more complicated job that in some cases can last for years or even decades.

If you have been appointed as a trustee of a testamentary trust, you have certain legal requirements to uphold, and any failure to comply can leave you personally liable for financial losses suffered.

The best way to ensure that you understand your responsibilities and carry them out appropriately is to consult with a specialist Adelaide probate and estate administration law firm as soon as possible.

What is a Trust?

You can think of a trust as a type of container. Inside the container is something to be protected. This is called the trust fund.  It is being held in safekeeping for the benefit of one or more people or entities, called beneficiaries.

A trustee is appointed to take control of the trust until a future date, at which time the trust fund is passed on to the beneficiaries. The trustee can be an individual or a private company appointed by the deceased.

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Succession Planning For Your Business

Business Succession Planning, Probate, Probate & Estate Administration

Do you know what will happen to your business if one of your company’s shareholders dies or loses capacity?

Succession Planning For Your Business

If you are in a business with shareholders, your business faces a major potential threat if one of your fellow shareholders dies or becomes permanently incapacitated.

Business Succession Planning is part of modern integrated estate planning, and your interest in your business may be a substantial part of your personal net worth.  Good planning through buy/sell agreements and appropriate insurance can make all the difference. For many businesses, if no pre-existing arrangements are in place, the death of a shareholder can mean their shares in the company will go to the beneficiaries of that person’s deceased estate.

Genders and Partners

The Dangers of DIY Probate

Probate, Probate & Estate Administration
The Dangers of DIY Probate

In most deceased estates if you’re the executor of a Will, you will have to obtain a Grant of Probate from the Supreme Court of South Australia. This grant officially acknowledges that the Will is valid and that you have the right to carry out the administration of the estate.

The Grant is an Order of the Court which lets the world know that a particular piece of paper is the Last Will and Testament of a deceased person, which permits asset-holders like banks and share registries to transfer assets in the name of the deceased into the custody of another person (the executor named in the probated Will).

Obtaining a Grant of Probate is not a simple matter. You should get the assistance of an estate planning lawyer in Adelaide, and like do-it-yourself Will kits, DIY probate can be fraught with unforeseen complications.

Business Succession Planning

Business Succession Planning, Probate & Estate Administration
Business Succession Planning

Think about how much time and effort you put into building your successful business, and then imagine what would happen to your achievement if you failed to plan for the future.

Without a solid business succession plan in place, your company could quickly crumble upon your retirement or death, resulting in much heartache and potential loss of value for your family members and employees.

Fortunately, the Adelaide estate planning lawyers at Genders & Partners can help you navigate this complex area of law so that you can have peace of mind about the long term future of your business.

What Happens When You Do Not Secure a Business Succession Plan in Adelaide?

Business owners put off creating a succession plan for many reasons. They may fear death and not want to talk about the inevitable. They may also be reluctant to give up control of the business during their lifetime, or they may have difficulty choosing a successor among their children or other family members. Even when it is understood who the successor will be and how the business is to be handled, failure to legally document your wishes often results in contention and costly mistakes.

Genders and Partners

Adelaide Lawyer: Becoming An Estate Executor

Estate Planning, Probate & Estate Administration, Wills
Becoming An Estate Executor

Has a friend or loved one named you in his or her Will as executor of their deceased estate? If so, you may be confused about your responsibilities and fear that you are not up to the task.

You may be overwhelmed, but the Adelaide probate and estate administration lawyers at Genders & Partners are here to put your mind at ease about your role as an estate executor.

These are some of your main responsibilities when you are named the executor of a deceased estate:

Locate the Will: Hopefully the original Will is often located at the lawyer’s office, but it could actually be anywhere, including among the deceased’s important papers. When you find the original Will, you should take great care not to alter it in any way.

Genders and Partners | Probate and Estate Administration - Lawyer Adelaide

Probate and Estate Administration Adelaide: Some Interesting Cases

Inheritance Claims & Contested Estates, Probate, Probate & Estate Administration

Estate Planning: Some Interesting Cases

Hornby v Cavenagh

Supreme Court of NSW

This was a claim under the New South Wales equivalent of the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act. The plaintiff was a niece of the deceased and sought to show that she was an eligible person to make a claim under the Act. To satisfy the requirement of an eligible person, the plaintiff had to show that there was some dependency on the deceased, and that she was a member of the deceased’s household.

Although the plaintiff had resided in the same household as the deceased for four years during the 1980s and was partly dependent on the deceased in this time, the relationship in the last 12 years of the deceased’s life was not close.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Estate Planning to Show Your Family You Love Them

Do It Yourself Wills, Estate Planning, Pensions and Retirement Planning, Planning for Disability and Incapacity, Probate & Estate Administration, Wills, Young Children
Estate Planning to Show Your Family You Love Them

How can you show your love for your family even after you are gone? None of us knows what the future holds. My godfather died in his 20’s and he left his young wife with a 3 month old baby to take care of. It doesn’t matter what stage of life you are in, you need to be prepared.

Here are a few practical steps to help you be prepared from a financial and administrative perspective.

1. Create a legal Will and keep it up to date.

Even if you don’t think you have a lot of assets, you need to have a Will because you don’t want the government to dictate what happens to your property after you are gone. It will save your family a lot of time and grief, because getting an estate in order after someone has died without a Will can take a lot of time and money.  You may be surprised by how many possessions you own … Super, life insurance, a car … it all adds up.

It is important to discuss who will care for your children if something should happen to both parents. It is certainly a hard decision and there are many factors to consider.

Don’t risk a DIY Will-kit. They are little more than expensive pieces of stationery, and offer no backup or support. They even say on those kits that they are not intended as a substitute for legal advice!  They are the cause of a growth-area in estate-litigation, because so many people make mistakes with them. The problems will only show up after you’re dead and gone.  Then it’s your family & loved ones who have to wear the cost and all the delay and heartache to try to fix it all afterwards.

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Death Duties May Be On The Way Back

Death Benefits, Probate, Probate & Estate Administration
Death Duties May Be On The Way Back

On 15 October 2009 the most senior tax-policy advisor to the Australian Federal Government, Dr Ken Henry (Chair – Australia’s Future Tax System Review Panel and Secretary to the Treasury) gave an Address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

In that address he identified 6 areas of future opportunities and challenges governments will need to address in respect to taxation.  At the very top of his list was:

“the ageing of the population, posing challenges for the financing of retirement incomes and of increasing health and aged care needs”.

Dr Henry said that taxes levied on broader bases would be more efficient policy tools, probably more equitable and certainly more transparent ways of raising revenue. Without such tools, governments would otherwise be compelled to continue to rely on bad taxes to achieve their spending objectives.

What does this mean, and why should you care?

A number of senior political commentators have recently speculated in mainstream Australian newspapers, that Death Duties, Estate Taxes or Inheritance Levies might well be one of the options likely to be seriously explored, as part of the current tax-reform inquiry.

The re-introduction of death duties could have a severe impact on most deceased estates, unless great care has been exercised to create an effective estate-plan. This is just one example of how a change in the law could drastically affect you & your family.  Make sure that you have a valid, effective & integrated estate plan.  And keep it up to date.