Estate Planning

The essence of Estate Planning is to ensure that in the event of your death, the assets from your estate are distributed in accordance with your wishes. In addition, estate planning assists with ensuring assets are passed on to Beneficiaries in a timely and tax effective manner. Setting the right provisions in place in a Will is not necessarily straight forward when all of the taxation and superannuation issues are considered.

Estate planning is vital to any financial plan. A good estate plan requires the involvement of skilled legal, accounting and financial specialists to ensure the right funds get into the right hands at the right time.

What we mean by estate planning:

A broad definition encompasses the following points:

• Having enough assets available to meet your wishes upon death.
• Transfer of ownership (or control) of those assets passes to the appropriate person or entity.
• Ownership or control passes to a beneficiary at the right time.

Simply, estate planning involves making sure that, when you die, the appropriate assets go where you want them to, when you intended them to go there.

Some basic elements to consider when addressing your estate planning needs are:

• Whether you have a current and properly drafted Will.
• Whether you need an Enduring Power of Attorney.
• Whether a Testamentary trust is appropriate.

GM Wealth can assist you to ensure you have all necessary structures and documentation in place in order to help you ensure that your estate wishes are carried out.