Okay. I'm just going to try and get an extra podcast in before Nina has a baby, if she hasn't already. I'm using the Logitech camera and my green screen. It'll be interesting to see what it looks like when it's all done, be a different background. I don't want a boring background either, but I don't know what I want, but don't make it boring. I'm just waiting for the recording minutes to start. So just in case no one is watching this part so I don't get caught out. Still waiting, still waiting, still waiting. Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Stacey M Show. Now, if you've been following along for a little while, you will know that I am experienced in a number of things. So I am a qualified lawyer, licensed to practice in New South Wales with a legal practice in New South Wales, legal practice in Queensland. I have a mortgage-broking business. I'm a clinical hypnotherapist. I have done heaps of different things. And it all complements what I do at the end of the day, which is trying to help people as much as I possibly can, both on the legal side and the emotional side. So whether that's coming from a divorce, whether that's coming from a death, whether that's coming from whatever it might be, the more tools I have, the more tools that I can help you guys out. So today I'm going back to wills. So I did do a podcast prior today. to this on the like the um pre-made will type thing like the wiggle the wiggle kits the wiggle kits that you buy from like a post office or something so if you want to know more about them go back to that podcast this one is more about are they worth the money so if I had a dollar for every time someone told me I don't need a will it's going to Go to my wife and kids anyway or my husband and kids or, you know, whatever it might be. Like I would probably be a very rich person. But what I want to go through is the, I suppose, why you need a will. So you're going, Stacey, you're a lawyer, you want the money. Well, no, that's... the money is helpful because I get to stay in business and help more clients. But the reason that we like people to get their estate planning done is because we see what happens when it's not done or when it's not done correctly. And it's usually when people are trying to skimp on money, so I just need this cheap will kit, or I can get this really cheap will online, and it's going to be all okay. And more often than not, it's not all okay because that will is not suitable, that will has not been prepared correctly, and there are errors. and all the rest of it. So I will provide you with information as I usually do. Take it, don't take it, completely up to you. So this is in context to a will in Australia. So each state kind of has different rules, but effectively from a will's side of things, it's pretty standard. I would imagine outside of australia it's also very standard and that to have that will is also really really important so we often hear that you know a celebrity or someone really really rich has passed away and then there's a massive fight for like all of their money and often say you know where there's a will there's a relative and that was one of the first things that I was taught and it sounds really gross but you'll be surprised the amount of people that we get that will call up like the bed will still be warm and they're saying hey my dad just died right I want my money and it's not from a point of view of thinking that they have to do something then and there it's like right he's finally dead now I want my cash So we get that quite a bit, which is really, really disappointing. But there's other things as well, too, to know why you should have a will and, you know, if you don't have a will, what could happen? So... um yeah I'm not going to go into like the diy wills I think I probably will cover that in the the will kit so go back to that podcast uh if that's what you want to do I'll talk about a little bit about the money serving costs which I spoke about before so some people will balk at the price of a will and usually you know we recommend will power of attorney and enduring guardianship they complement each other they are just as important as each other And when you say the price, sometimes people are like, that is way too expensive. I don't need that. It's a waste of money. And they don't go ahead with it. Or they get that will kit or they find a really, really cheap will and I'll bite them on the ass. They'll probably be dead, but it's going to be their family who has to try to, to work out that will. And you know, if that will is not legal or that will, it's missing how much stuff, then that's going to cause massive issues for your family. Like when you do pass away. So yeah, you need to think about the benefit of the will. So wills range from a multitude of different prices and probably different location as well. So you may be looking at a couple hundred dollars minimum, like maybe for one will, and that would be like a super, super, super standard will with not much in there. Then you can go right through to a testamentary trust, which could be like five, ten, fifteen, twenty wills. thousand dollars and not everybody needs a testimony to your trust or a twenty thousand dollar will but if you have companies if you have a lot of money if you you know have you know you want to try and keep the the money within the family and not go towards you know exes if your kids separate from people that's the type of will that you're going to need that really simple cheap will or that diy will is just not going to cut it So, and a lot of the wills that you do online, they don't take into account your different circumstances. They're like, yep, everyone has a single will and this is all we need. So that's not the case either. So I really want you to consider when you go to get your estate planning done, or, you know, as again, you should be getting those three documents I mentioned before, but when you go to get that done, don't balk at the price. You need to think about what, the benefits of that are. And you also need to be really careful of where you get that will drafted. Not everybody specialises in estate planning. So we do at Aqua Legal, we also now do contested estates now that we've had a new team member to come on. So that really, really does complement our estate planning side because we do have that experience. Now, a lot of people think it won't happen to me. I have examples of this as to people saying that. And it does happen. We've had people not tell me that there are kids from prior relationships. People have died. Kids bring up, hey, my dad's passed away. I don't want anything. I just want to read the will. I'm like, who are you? I don't know that you existed. When I confronted the clients, they're like, well, we didn't think that they would do that. I'm like, well, they have. And that ended up in a contested estate. How do I have known about this person? We might not have ended up where we got to with her contesting the estate. You know, even something like I don't need insurance. So insurance is a part of what we advise when we do estate planning. But when we do that, we go over and above. It's not just like, right, here's your willpower of attorney and enduring guardianship. We will say, right, you have those things. You also need to review where your insurance is at. People are like, yep, I've got insurance in my super. It's all good. That's probably like USFD, And people are like, oh, that is so much money. That is all I need. I can probably go into, that is nowhere near how much money you want. It will probably not wipe debt. And I have seen what have happened when people have passed away with no insurance. Families have had to sell out because they can't afford the house because, you know, the person that has passed away was the person that was paying for the mortgage because somebody was at home with the kids that had to sell. They're homeless, like gross, gross, gross stuff. So when we are advising you of things, You need to take into account of the years of experience that we have, the horror stories that we have as well, and the benefits are far going to outweigh what the negatives are. And the negative is probably maybe the cost, but, you know, there's a reason for that. Like, you know, you kind of pay for what you get. you have worked so hard for probably so long, depending on what your age is, do you just want to kind of let that go wherever? Don't you want that to go to specific people where you want it to go to? Don't you want to appoint a guardian for your children so if you pass away, your children are looked after by the person that you want them to be looked after by, not somebody else? So consider that. As I said, with a testamentary trust as well, they can be used for complex family situations. They can be used to protect assets. There are tax benefits of that as well. But as I said, not everybody needs a testamentary trust. So when you go to a lawyer, they should be asking you different questions to determine whether a testamentary trust is something that you need. So I won't go to testamentary trust here because there's, you know, I don't have enough time to go into that. Just know that if you, whether you come to us or whether you go to somebody else, hi, I need my estate planning done. Can you let me know whether I need a will or testamentary trust? If they're telling you that you need a testamentary trust and you don't think you do, and they're trying to charge you like ten grand for something, then probably get a second opinion. There are lawyers out there, unfortunately, that will try and sell you stuff that you do not need. If your gut is not comfortable, don't go ahead with that lawyer. Go ahead with somebody else. So unfortunately, they exist. We are not one of them, obviously, but it kind of makes the rest of us bad, which isn't real good. We also do free will reviews. So if you currently have a will and you're not quite sure, whether it's still current, like we have seen wills like from the seventies and the eighties where situations are the same, people are still alive. You know, they've already been married. There's no divorces in between there. And like those bills are still fine. The majority of the time when a situation changes, that will doesn't get updated. And when we drive the wheels, we make sure we cover for as many circumstances as we possibly can, because we assume clients are not going to come back to update their will. if something happens, like that's how proactive that we are. And we have so many different like backup options in that wheel just in case that happens. And then, you know, I use the example of, okay, so you are all traveling in the same car and something happens to that car. Potentially the people that are in that car are your attorneys, they're your executives, they're whatever. And that car is just like completely wiped out. So there is no one to do anything in your will because you just traveled in the same car and you had an accident. I know this sounds really, really bad. People don't like talking about death. I have normalized it obviously with myself. My kids think it's completely normal. It's something that happens and the more prepared you are, the easier it's going to be for those ones who are left behind to administer your estate how you want it. Some people have issues with, I'm an only child, I want out of people really quickly. So that can be something as well. You may have high needs children and you're concerned as to what guardian to appoint for your kids because there are hard needs and not everybody can handle that. So I can appreciate there are so many different things out there that could be stopping you. The quicker you have that conversation with a lawyer, the quicker they can help you work that out. Even if it's just something that's written on a piece of paper, it might not technically be a will, but if something happens to you, at least we have some instructions to loosely possibly go by for like a letters administration or something like that. What else did I... want to mention um sorry I just have my notes here obviously so I don't forget anything uh issues that we find with wills um and we do see it more than what we would like to which is know pretty disappointing makes us lawyers again look bad we know that we have been approached by people who have made a will um and then sorry so say say your mother had made a will and then a few years later or whatever they made another will that you found out about but you didn't know about and at that time they didn't have capacity so she couldn't have given instructions because she wasn't of sound mind and the lawyer hasn't picked up on that or if it's a small town they're like oh yep you're fine you're just having a bad day whatever let's update your will and that new will is completely different to that old will and we see that so and that can be challenged so we need to make sure that you have full like capacity to be able to give instructions but unfortunately we do see wills that are prepared by lawyers with people who do not have capacity and it's just So that is something to consider and do influence as well, which is another one, which is also referred to as elder abuse. So say, I mean, again, I'm an only child, but say like I have a couple of siblings and my parents are going to make their will. And I was like, hey, just put me down as executor and beneficiary. Like, we don't want to stress like my other brothers and sisters out. Like, you know, I'm the one that's, you know, the oldest and I can do this and I can do that. So you just put my name down and I'll make sure that they're taken care of. There's usually underlying reason behind that because they don't want their siblings to get anything. Now, obviously, they can challenge that estate or That's still a really disgusting process as well. And as I said, we can now assist with that with our new team member Lucy coming on board. But that is another thing where you have siblings trying to cut people out of wills, saying that I will look after, I will look after. They might be attorneys and they're registering power of attorneys and they're selling parents properties out from under them and taking the money. Like it is really, really, really, really gross. So that is another issue that we see is people being forced to change their wills. you know, on the basis that the person they're appointing is going to look after, you know, the siblings. And generally that doesn't happen. Improper execution of the will is another one that we see. So sometimes they're not signed. Sometimes they're partly signed. Sometimes they're incorrectly signed because the right people haven't signed the will. If you've taken the opportunity to go, I mean, if you're getting done with a lawyer, it should be done great anyway. But if you have gone to get that DIY will or done a will yourself, you know, you run the risk of obviously so many different issues. But one of those is also the will not being signed correctly, which can come in. massive issues when we go to apply for probate when you pass away. Family provision claims are massively on the rise and I'm so happy that we can now help clients through that because we do have somebody on board that's very experienced with that. That's another podcast for another day. I don't have time to go into, you know, what makes a family provision claim. But not having that will drafted probably by a lawyer realistically could lead people up to family provision claims. And I'll never say that, you know, I will never say that this will can't be contested because anything can be contested. But the more information that you give me, If they do go to contest, we have some evidence as to why we've done what we've done, whatever it is. Sometimes we don't include people at all. Sometimes we might give them some money, but it's not the same as other people. Depends on the lawyer. Depends on the circumstances. We can just give you the information and you let us know what you're comfortable with. That's something that really should be discussed with a lawyer. But think about that as well. You don't want people contesting your estate and getting money with people who don't You don't want them getting money, even though they may still be able to claim on your estate. You just want to try and make that as tight as you possibly can. Leaving people out of wills. I think I've really spoken about that. So that can come through elder abuse. That could come through not drafting your will properly. It's saying that maybe you have three kids, but you tell your lawyer only have two and then you die. Then that third one comes out of the woodworks. That can cause real issues for the people who are left to help with your estates. The class side, I think I've covered as well. So you get what you pay for sometimes. So you don't balk at the the price as whatever price that is but if you feel that you're being quoted a price that is not for something that you need and your stomach is telling you no probably don't go with that lawyer um what else? And just making sure like wills, you have clear instructions and the wills are drafted in clear, plain English. So you don't like, sometimes we have gotten a will and the three of us are reading it in a different interpretation of it. And that's not cool because the three interpretations are all completely different. So, Again, using a lawyer will just make sure that that will is really clean. You know what the intention is. There are not three different interpretations of the one sentence. It's drafted properly. So, you know, if there are gifts that fail, you know, because you're saying that I want this person to get this house and then you've sold this house but you haven't updated this will and that gift's going to fail because there is no, like it can get really, really complicated and I'm trying to not make it complicated. But from a legal perspective, it's all the things that we have to consider when we're taking instructions and we prepare these documents, because that's us asking you the questions, you providing us with answer, us doing all the work behind to make sure that when you come in, your will is how you want it, you sign it and you're done. What else did I want to say? I don't think there was probably too much else to say to that. So I suppose to go back to the start, yes, the will is worth the price. Again, the caveat to that is making sure that you're not being charged for a testamentary trust of ten thousand dollars when you don't need that you know even when I say a simple will our wills are not simple simple they're kind of like probably like middle simple so you have things out there like wills week as well where people wait for wills week to come around so we do the westpac rescue helicopter we've done that since it started I think this was our fifth year of doing it even in that circumstances sometimes people come to us and a standard will is just not suitable So sometimes we run into issues trying to explain that to people because when they're advertised as Wills Week, you know, they say, oh, yeah, this is Simple Will. But if you don't know that you need something more than a Simple Will, it makes it hard for us to try to go, okay, well, you know, yes, we do Simple Wills. This is what Wills Week covers. But in your circumstances, we don't think that's appropriate. um but you can let out for things like wills weak if that standard simple-ish will is what suits your circumstances and not the testamentary trust but you also need to be really careful that it's not so simple simple that it's not going to be helpful when you pass away as obviously you know some people will be like I'm going to be dead. I don't care. Well, you probably should care because it's the people that are going to be left behind to try and sort out that mess. And hopefully, I would like to think that you don't want your family to have to go through extra stress to be able to administer your estate because that happens. You go through a grief process. You are so busy trying to grieve and do whatever you need to do on the other side that for the time it comes to the legal side you don't want that have to be another stress you just want the to um you know instruct the lawyer the lawyer do all the things the lawyer go right give me this this and this and you know it's just so much more simple So please really do consider making sure that you have your estate planning sorted. I do say when you go to get your tax done for end of financial year, maybe review your documents then. So if you want to swap somebody out, if you've had a falling out with somebody, if you have kids, so the way we draft our bills in relation to children is also really differently, but if you're specifically naming kids and you've had another child you know you that should be covered whatever the circumstances are if you've been divorced um or separated you definitely need to update your estate planning because you might go through all of that process or you know a separate you might not even go through the legal process but if you're really still to your ex you know chances are your stuff's going to go to your ex and we've definitely seen that in the headlines especially around super so um Yeah, I think that probably will cover that. Please know that it's not just a piece of paper. Yes, it's worthwhile getting one. Just make sure that you're not getting ripped off for one. If you don't know whether you need a new will, we're happy to review it to see whether it still suits your circumstances. We're not going to tell you that you need a new will if you don't need a new will. So, yeah, so hopefully that helps you in relation to the wills side. The power of attorney and enduring guardianship is probably similar to what I've discussed. They're equally as important. They are documents that have to be done by a lawyer because they have to be signed off by a lawyer. You cannot do them yourselves. There are two different types of power of attorney, a general and an enduring guardian. enduring power of attorney you need to know the difference between them but yeah if you go to get your estate planning sorted and that lawyer only mentions a will it really should be in their duty to say how about a power of attorney unenduring guardian and you If they probably don't suggest that being done, then it might be something that you might want to go to another lawyer for. But yeah, hopefully that helps. If you have any questions about wills or estate planning, please do reach out and please share this with anybody who might be delaying getting their estate planning done. I know that we've heard so many different stories as to why people don't get theirs done. I know people who have got their estate planning done and the next week they have died, but they're perfectly healthy. So many different things. And I would really love to normalize talking about death. As I said, I've normalized it with my kids. My kids will go around saying, do you have a will? Do you have a will? And, you know, it is what it is, but I can appreciate not everybody likes talking about it. But just know that Having maybe what for you is an awkward conversation for half an hour or an hour or so will just cause so little stress for when that time comes for when your will does need to be put into action. But again, any questions, please reach out. Please share this with anybody who you think may need some guidance in this area. Otherwise, thank you for watching and I'll catch you next time. See ya.
