If you're putting your life in order, and preparing to look after both your assets and the people that you love and care for, then it is a good idea to seek legal advice on wills and trusts. It makes financial sense to create a plan and provide documentation to ensure that your assets are shared out in the way you prefer.
If you are not married, or have had a civil union, but want to leave your partner your assets, or want to specify specific mementos for them to own, then you'll need to write this down. The law will distribute your assets according to who is your closest kin by law if you haven't supplied information that supersedes this. It's important to make sure you've provided for your partner in this eventuality.
Alternatively, if you have been married or in a civil union and you are no longer, you may want to instruct that your previous partner receives nothing, or less than they would have before.
It can also help protect your assets from extra taxes and costs, leaving the people you are passing it onto in a better financial position.
Even if you are married or are in a civil union without children, and it all looks straight forward, you still may need legal advice on wills and trusts. Your asset disbursement can be contested and legal proceedings can eat away at your assets, and prolong the length of time before the assets are moved from your estate to the people or organisations you would have passed them onto.
For some, succession planning is not just about writing a will, but is also about establishing a trust that can look after assets regardless of your health in later years, and protect your interests and those of your family from others who may have influence over the outcome. This can include ex married or civil union partners of your offspring.
We can spend our lives building up our assets and creating something from what we were given, be it our own inheritance, or from the education and inspiration from the people who have influenced us. Protecting all that you've built so that the next generation can expand on it and/or pass it on again, is an excellent reason to seek legal advice on wills and trusts. Your assets and your loved ones will both benefit.
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