Estate Planning

We prepare tailored Wills for a wide range of personal, family and financial circumstances, from straightforward estate plans through to complex succession arrangements.

Our advice and drafting can include:

• Preparing simple or complex Wills tailored to your wishes, family circumstances and asset structure
• Testamentary discretionary trusts to provide flexibility, control, asset protection and potential tax planning benefits
• Blended family planning, including balancing the interests of spouses, children and other beneficiaries
• Provision for vulnerable or at-risk beneficiaries, including beneficiaries with disabilities, financial difficulties or other special circumstances
• Specific gifts + distributions, including property, money, investments, business interests and sentimental assets
• Planning for family businesses, trusts, companies + other complex ownership structures
• Interstate + overseas assets, including identifying where additional planning may be required
• Tax + succession planning considerations associated with the distribution of your estate
• Coordinating your Will with superannuation, trusts + other assets that may not pass through your estate
• Letters of Wishes to provide additional guidance to executors and trustees

An Enduring Power of Attorney allows you to appoint trusted people to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to manage your own affairs.

The form and terminology of these documents vary between States and Territories, but they commonly deal with:

• Financial + property decisions, including the management of your assets, bank accounts, investments and other financial affairs
• Personal + medical decisions, including healthcare, accommodation and lifestyle matters

We can assist with:

• Preparing Enduring Powers of Attorney + related appointment documents tailored to your circumstances
• Aligning your attorney appointments with your broader estate plan, including your Will, trusts, companies, superannuation and other structures
• Including appropriate additional powers + directions to give your attorneys sufficient authority to manage your affairs in accordance with your wishes
• Assisting with registration where documents need to be provided to land registries
• Reviewing existing documents to ensure they remain appropriate for your current circumstances and estate planning objectives

A well-structured succession plan helps preserve the continuity, value and control of a family business across generations. We work with families and business owners to develop practical arrangements that reflect both commercial and family objectives.

Our advice can include:

• Succession planning for ownership, control + management
• Family Charters or Family Constitutions documenting family values, governance principles and expectations around involvement in the business
• Deeds of Family Arrangement, where appropriate, to formalise agreed family succession arrangements
• Buy/Sell Deeds dealing with death, incapacity, retirement or other exit events
• Business valuation + funding arrangements for transfers or buyouts
• Shareholder, unitholder + partnership agreements dealing with control, transfers and succession
• Entry, exit + remuneration arrangements for family members involved in the business
• Planning for family members who are not involved in the business

We can assist with establishing new trusts tailored to your circumstances and objectives. Our services include:

• Discretionary trust establishment: establishing discretionary trusts and preparing tailored trust deeds.
• Unit Trust establishment: establishing unit trusts and documenting the ownership of units.
• Corporate trustees: establishing corporate trustees to hold and manage trust assets.
• Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangements [LRBAs]: preparing and advising on LRBAs and related loan and security documentation for the acquisition of assets through a trust structure.
• Trust deeds: preparing tailored trust deeds and related establishment documentation.
• Trust variations: assisting with changes to existing trust structures, including changes of trustee, appointor and beneficiaries, deeds of variation, deeds of vesting, changes to trust powers and other amendments to trust deeds.
• Foreign Beneficiary Exclusions: incorporating provisions to exclude foreign beneficiaries to address relevant tax and state revenue considerations.

Trusts can form an important part of an estate plan, whether you already have an existing trust structure or are considering establishing a new trust to hold and manage family wealth.

We can assist with:

• Reviewing existing trusts to understand who controls the trust now and who will control it on death or incapacity
• Restructuring existing trusts where appropriate to better align with your estate planning objectives
• Planning how trust assets are to be managed or passed to the next generation, including children and other family members
• Establishing new discretionary or other type of trust as part of a broader estate planning or succession strategy
• Preparing + varying trust deeds to reflect succession, control and beneficiary arrangements
• Changing trustees, appointors or other key positions where required
• Considering beneficiary classes + foreign beneficiary exclusions where relevant to the estate plan

Asset protection should be considered as part of a broader estate plan, particularly for business owners, professionals and families with significant or complex asset structures. The way assets are owned and controlled can affect how they are protected during your lifetime, on incapacity and following death.

We can assist with:

• Reviewing existing asset structures to identify potential risks and succession issues
• Structuring ownership of assets through individuals, trusts, companies and other entities, where appropriate
• Planning for death or incapacity, including who will control structures and how family wealth will be managed or transferred
• Protecting inheritances through appropriate trust and estate planning structures
• Separating personal, investment + business assets to help manage exposure to commercial and professional risk
• Asset protection planning for professionals and business owners who may be exposed to business, professional, creditor or insolvency risks
• Gift + loan-back arrangements, where appropriate, including the preparation of gift deeds, loan agreements, security documentation and related trust arrangements
• Reviewing loans + other arrangements between family members and related entities as part of the estate plan
• Restructuring existing trusts, companies or ownership arrangements to better align with asset protection and succession objectives

Superannuation assets do not automatically form part of your estate and are not necessarily governed by the terms of your Will. Separate arrangements are often required to ensure your superannuation benefits pass in accordance with your wishes.

We can assist with:

• Reviewing superannuation arrangements as part of your broader estate plan
• Preparing + reviewing Binding Death Benefit Nominations
• Preparing + review reversionary pension nominations
• Preparing + reviewing pension documents, including pension commencements, variations, commutations and trustee resolutions
• Planning for spouses, children, blended families + non-tax dependant beneficiaries
• SMSF succession planning, including control of the fund on death or incapacity
• Reviewing SMSF trust deeds + trustee arrangements
• Considering Enduring Powers of Attorney in relation to SMSF control

Philanthropy enables individuals and families to create a lasting charitable legacy. We advise on philanthropic strategies that complement broader taxation, succession and estate planning objectives.

Our advice includes establishing private ancillary funds + incorporating charitable gifts into Wills and estate plans.

We work closely with our clients, their accountants and financial advisers to ensure their philanthropic arrangements align with their broader taxation and succession planning objectives.