Genders and Partners Dementia will soon become Australia's Leading Cause of Death

WARNING: Dementia will soon become Australia’s Leading Cause of Death

Trusts & Guardianship, Wills and Estate Planning
Genders and Partners Dementia will soon become Australia's Leading Cause of Death

Dementia deaths in Australia have steadily increased over recent years. In 2013, dementia became Australia’s second leading cause of death, overtaking cerebrovascular diseases (strokes) for the first time.

In 2014 and 2015 the number of dementia deaths have continued to rise.

Ischaemic heart disease has been the leading cause of death in Australia since early in the 20th century, but while the rate of death from heart disease was at its worst around 1970, it has steadily declined since then.

Dementia is not one specific disease. There are many types, including Alzheimer’s and Vascular Dementia, which are each collections of symptoms caused by disorders affecting the brain, with severe effects on thinking, behaviour and quality of life. These diseases add greatly to the burden of illness and injury in the Australian community.

More Weird Probate Issues

Probate and Deceased Estates, Wills and Estate Planning
weird probate Issues

Making a Will is a serious business, right? It details how you wish your estate to be distributed, who benefits and by how much.

… because our last post Weird Probate Issues was so popular, here we go again …

But we can still chuckle at the efforts of other people when they outrageously stuff-up their own estate plans. (We’ll suppress our schadenfreude with the thought that this is all educational. ‘Schadenfreude’ is the German term for the guilty pleasure derived from another person’s misfortune.)

Critical Importance of Making a Will to Protect Children’s Inheritance From Previous Relationships

Critical Importance of Making a Will to Protect Children’s Inheritance From Previous Relationships

Blended Families and Divorce, Estate Planning, Inheritance Claims & Contested Estates, Trusts & Guardianship, Wills, Wills and Estate Planning, Young Children
Critical Importance of Making a Will to Protect Children From Previous Relationships

Blended families include children form previous relationships (step-children).  They are growing quickly in number, but many people do not stop and think about the implications on children from previous relationships if they die without a Will.  It is a dangerous assumption that the law will automatically protect your biological and step children, as numerous scenarios can preclude or reduce the amount that they receive after you die if you do not seek the counsel of an experienced Wills lawyer in Adelaide.

What Happens If You Die Without a Will?
South Australian law provides that, depending on the size of your estate, your children from previous relationships may receive nothing if you die intestate. For estates valued at less than $100,000, the entire estate goes to the surviving spouse or domestic partner unless a valid Will is in place. For larger estates, your spouse is entitled to the first $100,000, your personal belongings and half of the estate’s balance.  Without litigation, at best your children will receive equal shares of the remaining balance (if any).

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning for New and Young Parents

Estate Planning, Wills, Wills and Estate Planning, Young Children
Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning for New and Young Parents

New and young parents often mistakenly consider that have too few assets to bother with creating an estate plan.

They probably have a home with just a small amount of equity, and hopefully they have decent jobs, and reasonable prospects for advancement.

Most of us have superannuation, and many super funds carry life insurance.  In dollar terms, it is not uncommon for young people to be worth more dead than alive.

When considering estate planning they should think about naming a guardian for their children and to make sure their money goes to the kids.

Most people grossly underestimate the money it will take to raise their young children and educate them. They frequently only have a small fraction of the life insurance that is needed. Fortunately, term insurance is relatively inexpensive for young people.

They should consider establishing a Trust to receive the insurance and other assets. This can be done through a Testamentary Trust created in their Will, or as a Discretionary Trust.

A trust provides some asset protection, and professional management for the funds.

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Silence & Procrastination: Your Family’s Enemies

Estate Planning, Wills, Wills and Estate Planning
Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Silence & Procrastination: Your Family’s Enemies

When people consider end-of-life issues, they often don’t want to talk about it with their family, out of a desire to spare everybody’s feelings.  After all, death & dying is nobody’s favourite topic of conversation. It makes a lot of people feel awkward & uncomfortable, inadequate & out of control.  As a result they keep hidden their wishes regarding a variety of important issues.   They also tend to put-off making the essential decisions and plans which would really spare everybody’s emotions.

Stress and grief cause a lot of very strong emotions, so leaving important decisions until you are sick, or hoping that family-members will somehow know what to do at that time, can sometimes lead to poor decisions.  Mistakes get made; shortcuts are taken; errors of judgment compound an already-difficult situation.

And (like insurance), you generally cannot put suitable arrangements and protections in place after the disaster has struck.

That is why it is essential for everyone to make appropriate advance-medical and end-of-life decisions in advance. It is far better and easier to make these decisions when you (and your family) are still healthy and calm – it will be less tense and emotionally charged.

Make your advance-medical-directive wishes clearly understood to your family, so there is no need for doubt or interpretation on their part at a crisis-moment.  It can help prevent a lot of problems later and is likely the kindest thing a person can do for the sake of family unity.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Don’t Make These Common Mistakes with your Discretionary Family Trust

Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills and Estate Planning

Discretionary trusts (often called family trusts) are very powerful planning tools you can use for all kinds of purposes. Trusts can simplify & minimise or even avoid probate, protect your beneficiaries from creditors or divorcing spouses and

Don’t Make These Common Mistakes with your Discretionary Family Trust

can provide for education for grandchildren or your favourite charities.

When a trust is part of your overall comprehensive estate plan, you should try to avoid these common trust mistakes:

Mistake 1: Failing to title assets in the name of your trust

If you have not put your assets into your trust, also called “funding” your trust, you have lost some of the benefits of your trust.

Any assets that are in your own name at the time of your death will probably need to be probated. However, any assets that are titled in the name of your trust at the time of your death will avoid probate and usually result in lower after-death administration costs.

In order to receive the protection and benefits capable of being provided by the trust, generally (except for superannuation funds and certain annuities) most of your assets would need to be transferred into your trust during your lifetime.