Estate Planning Advice on the Sunshine Coast
MAHER DIGBY SECURITIES - ESTATE PLANNING SERVICES
Thorough estate planning services involve implementing estate planning strategies to deal with all your assets - not just those covered by your Will.
The Maher Digby financial planning firm services the Wide Bay and Sunshine Coast regions, and our estate financial planners will help you ensure your financial investments are distributed as per your wishes upon your passing.
Will
While a Will can help ensure your estate is distributed according to your wishes, it may not be effective in dealing with a significant portion of your wealth.
It is vital that your Will is current, outlining your beneficiaries and any other wishes you may want described clearly in writing. Without a Will, your Estate may be passed to the Public Trustee for management with added costs and time delays. It would also be open to contestment by your relatives for beneficiary rights. This is why comprehensive estate planning strategies following the letter of the law are essential, and best done sooner rather than later.
Power of Attorney
While a Will can be an effective estate planning tool, it only comes into effect when you die. A Power of Attorney on the other hand, can enable someone you trust to make decisions on your behalf while you are still alive.
This could include, for example, buying and selling assets, arranging loans and performing a range of other legally binding tasks.
Our financial advisors also recommend having an Enduring Power of Attorney in place which designates who can sign on your behalf if for some reason you are not able to do so yourself. Both your Will and your POA are legal documents that can be done with the guidance and support of your solicitor.
Comprehensive Estate Planning Strategies
A well-prepared and executed estate plan with a clearly defined strategy for your investments and assets can ensure they go to the right people at the right time, in an efficient and tax-effective manner.
Our Maher Digby financial advisors will assist in providing indispensable estate planning advice and managing the transfer of your Estate to your deemed beneficiaries. On your passing, the last thing you want is complexities and complications left for your beneficiaries to figure out on their own.
Not having a clearly defined plan and statement of your wishes is a costly mistake for your Estate with increased solicitor and administration fees and significant delays to the dispersement of your assets.
Our estate planners can help you assess the estate planning implications for each asset and investment that you own and help you make suitable arrangements. Our estate planning specialists can also help you ensure that any future investments you make are structured in a way that is consistent with your retirement estate planning preferences and objectives.
Transfer of Estate
Our Sunshine Coast financial planners also have a very personal approach in assisting your beneficiaries in accessing, understanding and completing any required paperwork for the transfer of your Estate. This becomes relatively simple if passing to your partner, and though a little more paperwork is required if passing to family members, with a clear plan this can be managed in due course.
For a helpful Retirement Estate Planning checklist and commentary you can review this Estate Planning Advice Guide .
Superannuation Considerations
For many people, superannuation represents a substantial part of their total wealth. However, super (and any life insurance held in super) doesn’t automatically form part of your estate.
Even though your Superannuation is not part of your Estate, there are options, through utilising a binding nomination, that can ensure your investments are passed to a family member, or your Estate.
Without a binding nomination your superannuation will pass to the Trustee of your superannuation fund to be dispersed at their discretion. Our financial advisors can make arrangements for a binding nomination to be put in place to direct your wishes for any superannuation portion of your portfolio.
Aged Care Considerations
There may be a time during the course of your relationship with Maher Digby Financial Planning that you or your partner need to transition into Aged Care accommodation.
Our financial planners provide simplified guidance for our clients in order to produce the best outcomes in regard to their finances should Aged Care be required. For a useful reference you can view this Guide to Aged Care - this guide contains relevant information and thresholds current as at 30th June 2023.
To inquire about estate planning services, get in touch with our financial planning firm on the Sunshine Coast. We've some of the best estate planners on the Sunshine Coast on our team.
You can contact our estate planning specialists on the contact form to the right of this page or call us on (07) 5441 1266. Please feel free to ask us about our complimentary initial consultation with our estate planners.