okay I'll just wait for the timer to start again just so I don't get caught out Waiting, waiting. So if you've been following along for a little while, you will know that I've done episodes on estate planning before. But what I've been asked to do this time around is to go through the questions that we ask when we are going through instructions, when we're taking instructions, sorry, for an estate planning client. Now... If we know a little bit more about circumstances, our questions may be different. What I'm going to go through here is something kind of pretty well standard. And we go over and above the questions that we ask when we go through the instructions, because we have seen firsthand what happens when you don't ask the the right questions or you don't specify how important it is to get the right instructions from people for their circumstances so um I just have a list here so I don't forget because no doubt even though I've done this for so many years I'm probably going to forget to to bring up something it's like walking to the grocery shop and not needing a shopping list you walk in and then I stand there and I got no idea why I'm there for So even though I could recite this off by heart, I do have a list here just so I don't forget anything, you know, if I get stage fright or something. So thank you again for tuning in to another episode. I don't know what we're up to. I think we're pushing like thirty episodes, which is pretty exciting. And I think we're sitting around seven hundred odd hundred downloads, which is also really exciting. So if you feel that, you know, somebody is about to do their estate plan or needs to, please make sure you share this podcast with them so they know the type of things to think about before they go to their meeting. And this could also save you money. Our estate planning is generally a fixed cost, but by being educated and knowing how what to think about before you go have that meeting with a lawyer. If there is a lawyer that charges kind of by the hour, you're going to be saving money because you would have already thought of things. And we strongly suggest that you speak to people that you're going to appoint because sometimes you might appoint somebody and then they don't want to actually do the job. So please make sure you share this with those who need to get their estate planning sorted. This one is specifically only for wills and wills include a testamentary trust as well. So just to reiterate, the will is the document that comes into effect when you pass away and you have the executors that work with a lawyer to administer your estate in accordance with your wishes. Effectively, that's kind of like a will definition one-on-one. One of the first things you need to consider are the executives of your estate. So the executives are kind of like the boss, the employees of your will, who, as I said, is going to work with a lawyer to make sure that your estate is administered how you want. Now, you can do probate on your own. I don't suggest it um because you want to make sure that you cover all bases that you don't get anything that you distribute money because you'll be personally responsible and we don't want something bad to happen to you because you haven't followed the legal procedure for probate. So effectively your executor should be working with a lawyer to make sure that everything is all legal. Everything is all done and make sure that your wishes are carried out. So, In a couple situation, usually it's the couples appointing each other. So husband and wife, wife and wife, husband and husband, partner and partner, whatever that might be. It doesn't have to be the case, but generally that's what happens when you're in a relationship. We like a couple of backups. And I use the example that if we are all traveling in the same car And that, you know, we're in a car accident and you might, you know, everybody in the car passes away and everybody in that car was your executor. You've just lost everybody. So I kind of say... I kind of make a light joke of like traveling Royal family style. So all of the people are in the same car that you're traveling in, maybe consider taking separate cars. I know that's to the extreme, but I've literally been on a plane before and realized all of my people are on the same plane and had like a panic attack mid flight going, Oh my gosh, if we die, everybody under my wheel is dead. So, and we try to have as many snows as we can, but the car, the Royal family is an example that I use. So yeah, We're definitely like, I kind of definitely want two. I definitely want a first executor, then a backup. I would, ideally you know kind of like three and again consider whether there are chances that you're all going to be traveling together whether that's in that car whether that's an airplane extreme I know but these are things that I explain to people because they generally don't think about it like that the executive has to be over the age of and of sound mind and you have to make sure that you trust them so there's no point appointing somebody who you're not going to trust so and double check that the executor wants to be an executor. So not everybody likes that responsibility. So they are working with a lawyer, so it's not like they're doing this alone, but some people still don't want that responsibility. So whoever you appoint as an executor, please make sure they're happy to be an executor. I can also appreciate that some people feel they don't have anybody that don't have friends or family. I'm an only child, so I run out of people quite quickly as well. But really have a think about who you could put down as an executor. So generally, lawyers will not act as executives where we're told not to. And a lot of the time, we'll be the ones doing the estate or the probate. So it's another reason why we can't do it. It's obviously quite a big conflict there. But really have a think about, you know, if you feel you don't have anyone, don't let that be a reason to not get your will done. You can appoint the trustee as well. So there's kind of other options. There's pros and cons of appointing the trustee as well, though. But just make sure that whoever you appoint is happy to be an executor. Something else we ask about are the beneficiaries. So where your estate is to go to. So again, in a couple relationship, usually it's to each other. If there are kids, then it's generally kids. When I go, okay, if you're traveling in that same car together and you both pass away and your kids pass away, where do you want it to go then? Then usually goes down to grandkids or And then, you know, grandkids done around there might go to siblings, it might go to nieces and nephews. So we're trying to cover as many circumstances as we can. because the chances of somebody coming back to update their estate planning is pretty slim. So we try and cover as many things as we possibly can. Some of the questions we also ask when it comes to children are, are children blood? So are they children of the relationship? Are they stepkids? Are they children as a result from an affair? Are they adopted children? Are they foster children? when we go through children, we're very specific and it's not us trying to be nosy and you know, you think we're trying to criticise your life or something like that. It's being very clear who is a child, whether they're the kids of a relationship, whether there's a child as a result of an affair. These are all things that we have seen before. So that's why we are so specific when we do discuss children. But have a think about the beneficiary aspect of it. Where do you want your things to go to? And if that person doesn't survive, where do you want them to go to then? And so forth. So that's something else to consider. Guardianship is another one. So if you have children under the age of eighteen, who do you want the kids to go live with? Who do you want to bring them up? So a lot of the time there's some clear no's, they're not going to go to this person and sometimes there's some clear yes, they're going to go to this person. So obviously if you're in a relationship you both kind of need to be in agreement as to who are going to raise your children if you both pass away and make sure that the person who raises your kids wants to raise your children. Generally the person who looks after your children should not be out of pocket we strongly advise that you get all your insurances in place in the event that you know you do pass away and if your children are young there's enough money there to put them through school and university and things like that so it's not meant to be a financial burden on your guardian but usually when we ask this there are some very clear no, they're not to have anything to do with my children. No, they are not raising my children, whatever that might be. But do consider if you have kids under the age of eighteen who you would like to raise them. And again, I use the whole like car, rural family scenario. You can have at least two people in mind who want to be that guardian. Then that's just more options that we have under your will. Now, it's hit or miss whether we know somebody has passed away and we're told before the funeral or after the funeral. we like to know, well, we ask the question if you have any instructions in relation to your funeral. And the reason we do that is because sometimes we do get those phone calls to say, hi, I've just had such and such pass away, whether it's sudden or, you know, whether it was kind of expected because they were unwell. Do you know anything about their funeral? Do they want to be buried, cremated, full Catholic service, no service, whatever it might be. So we ask questions in relation to your funeral. And, you know, do you want to be buried? Do you want to be cremated? Do you have a prepaid funeral? That's something as well. We want to make sure that your executives know that there's a prepaid funeral. So you kind of like not double paying on a funeral. So they are questions that we ask, where do you want to be buried or cremated? Things like that. So we ask that because sometimes we get that phone call and the more information that we can provide to your executives, the less stress they're going to be because we provided them with the answers. So I can appreciate not a lot of people like talking about that as well, but kind of put it If you need a bit of tough love here, it's not for you, it's for the people that are left. And it's them not stressing that they've made the right or the wrong decision, like you wanted to be buried but they cremated you, you know, type thing. So it's taking the stress off them so they know that, that they have fulfilled your wishes and there's no guilt in trying to work out what your wishes were. So have a bit of a think about your funeral. If you don't know on the day, that's okay. If you end up coming up with something, feel free to send it in to your lawyer. We ask, you know, send it through to us so we can just, you know, put it with your documents. It doesn't have to form part of your will. And tell people what your wishes are as well. So I've spoken about writing your own will. There's other episodes and videos on that. So I'm not going to go into that component of it. Obviously, I don't agree with writing your own will for various reasons, but jump on the previous podcast. If I remember, we'll link what the prior podcast was in relation to the pros and cons of writing your own will. the assets so we'll ask you um you know what what are the assets and where are they to go so you know in the past we've had people who have had property together as joint tenants so say you and I own a property you die and you want your share to go to the next door neighbor that's not going to happen if we're joint tenants that's a legal thing it's going to come to to me It's only going to go to the name of that property as joint tenants. We have to establish that what your wishes are can actually happen because we've had people try to leave property to other people, but the property can't be left to other people because they're joint tenants. So we'll make sure that those assets can go to where you want to go. We're also very careful with specific assets because we don't want things to fail. under the will. So, you know, five hundred high street has to go to my sister when I die. You might have sold that property ten years prior. You didn't update your will. That property that was meant to go to your sister fails because that property doesn't exist anymore. So we're also very careful with money as well. So, you know, if you have a million dollar estate, but you left two million dollars to your next door neighbor, that's going to fail because there is no two million dollars. So there's things that we do to make sure that that is worded better as well. So we're looking to the assets to make sure that what you want to do with the assets that you can actually do with the assets. We also put different clauses in the contract, like appropriation, sorry, in the will, not the contract. about appropriation clauses and stuff just in case you know people might want to buy you know a property or something from the estate we try and make that as tax effective as we possibly can and from my stamp duty point of view as well so there's extra clauses we put in there but asset wise we make sure that we can do what you want the assets to happen uh obviously that has to be signed I won't initially thoroughly go into that part uh things specific things that you want to leave people so sometimes there is nothing sometimes you know a gun collection is something that's really popular so be able to say I want my gun collection to be handed down to my oldest son cool well you know that that gun collection has to go to somebody else in the meantime if that child is under the age of or your son doesn't have their gun license so you kind of need that backup and then the person you're giving the guns to need their license so for example that the sun so we make sure that those things are taken care of sometimes it's jewelry or engagement rings so we try to get photos of those items so there's no I'll leave my pearl necklace to my daughter. Well, there's five. Which one is a type thing? So we make sure that we're very specific with the things that you are nominating to people. There's family heirlooms. Sometimes if there's builders in the family, like carpenters, the tooling is passed down through generations. So it can be a whole pile of things. So If there is something specific you want to leave to somebody, that is a question we will ask. If it's not, that's cool as well. It's just something that we ask because sometimes there are things that need to be handed down from a generational point of view because that's the way it's been done forever. We're going to probably, again, pry into your private life a little bit and work out if there's anything complex, any complex circumstances in there. So, again, we've had relationships that have, you know, have turned out to have, you know, somebody having an affair or a child resulting from that affair but the other person not knowing about that. We... I don't think I've mentioned it. I'll mention it here so I don't forget. If we're leaving people out of a will or somebody's not getting as much as somebody else, we can need to have a good reason as to why you left somebody out of the will or why somebody's not getting as much as somebody. So again, we're asking these questions not to be nosy. We're asking them to make sure that we have covered every possible situation that we can. Anything is contestable. I'm never going to say that we're going to draft or anybody's going to draft a bill that you cannot contest. anything is contestable but the more information we have on file as to why somebody hasn't gotten as much as somebody else or why somebody has been left out it's just more emma we can go right well this person was not forgotten they were considered and this is the reason why we came up with that conclusion so we will ask some personal questions just because we have been there and done that and we have experience and we know what things happen I've literally sat with clients where I've asked a question in relation to blood children. Again, I'm not trying to pass judgment or anything. It's just that I know that these things happen because they've happened to me in the past. A couple have gone away. Usually it's the guy because the female knows if there's been a child and say, hi, I did have an affair. There is a child. My wife, my partner does not know. Can we just sit on this for a bit? Because I don't know what way it's going to go. Like I've literally had that situation. So as a result from what we have learned through our clients is the reason why we ask the questions that we do. Full names of people are also really, really handy and addressers. are handy as well. Please come prepared with full names of people and addresses. It just saves time going back and forth trying to work things out. Will storage, I can probably type... Discuss that now. So we will ask if you want to take your wheels home or if you want us to store them. Ours go in a fireproof, waterproof, chub safe. So I think ours are about as safe as they can possibly get. No pun intended there. If you do take your original documents, they have to be in a very, very, very, very, very safe place. We've had people, you know, leave them on their kitchen table. We have people use them as like drop sheets to like lacquer and paint things with. Please do not do that because when you pass away, it's original will that we need. So if you do take them home, please make sure they're in a security box or in your own safe. because the original will will be needed when you pass away. So have a consider about that. Witnesses and signing, I don't think you need to worry about too much. That's more of us. But effectively, you need to sign the will and there needs to be two independent witnesses. A witness cannot be mentioned in the will. So one of your beneficiaries or one of your executives cannot be the witness to your will. But if you're doing this under a lawyer, your lawyer should hopefully tell you that information. If not, you've just heard it here. We're going to go through some debts and liabilities, obviously, that they can change. But we just like to have a bit of an idea, especially if you're unwell and, you know, you've kind of told us that, you know, death might be, you know, shortcoming. We like to know where things are, again, just to make it easier for when you do go. We're like, hey, okay, so this person says they have assets here, here and here. It is a long time between you writing your will and the death and obviously that will probably change. But again, that kind of ties into just making sure that whatever it is that you want to do, that we can do that or we have scenarios to make sure that that can be amended if we can't do what you want to do, like have backups, I suppose, because as I said, not many people come to amend their will. So we just like to put as much as we possibly can in there just to be safe. um power of attorney I'm not going to talk about executives I've already spoken about um if there's any special trust needed so if you have children and we need to set up like a disability trust and maybe they can't manage their own affairs maybe they're like an alcoholic or a gambler or something like that That is something that we should know as well because we can set up a trust for them so you don't pass away, they get a million bucks and then tomorrow it's gone on black and it should have been red, for example. So those are things that we should know as well just to make sure that we can make that money sustained as long as we possibly can if that person is not able to manage their own affairs. Giving funds to charity is also quite common. We will ask very specifics about the charity. So there is usually specific wording that is needed when funds are left to charity. We also make sure that there is a backup in the event that that charity does not exist when you pass away. So we have mechanisms around that. So leaving funds to a charity is also okay, but we will kind of make sure that there's a backup to that as well. gift of charity I've already spoken about marriage and divorce that's probably another question we're going to ask are you married are you divorced are there orders in place again that's just handy for us to know so we can advise you fully on whatever those consequences are going to be if you have not yet had a divorce or if you've divorced and you haven't updated your estate planning or whatever that might be so again please don't think we're trying to be nosy and mock your circumstances or anything like that it's nothing like that at all I feel for us to do our job we have to ask these questions so you get what you pay for and then some and then you are looked after you've worked so hard you know we want to make sure that your assets go where you want them to go so that's why we ask these questions depending on the circumstances as well and this elder abuse unfortunately is is out there we would generally ask if there is somebody bringing in their elderly parent or just a parent in general we will probably ask to see that parent on their own without anybody in the room and the reason for that is because that elder abuse does happen and we will get people saying hey don't worry about my brother and sister mom you just leave it all to me and you let me take care of it so that I don't have to worry about it and generally that does not end well because you know their intention is to take all the money and sometimes that happens while they're still alive under power of attorney so don't be offended if we ask you to leave the room We're pretty good with our spidey fences. And if we are sensing that there's something off here, we will have no shame in going, look, can you please leave the room? We just need to, you know, clarify some things, you know, without you here type thing. I'd probably word that a bit better than what I just said then. But yeah, don't be surprised if you're asked to leave the room to make sure that there's no duress or anything involved, because unfortunately that has also happened too. And again, you have to have the mental capacity to enter into a will. Capacity is probably a whole other episode, but we need to be satisfied that you are making the decisions and you understand the consequences of the decisions that you are making. So there was something else that I just... thought of that I have now gotten and I don't know what it is so think about it I'll put it in the show notes but uh effectively they're the questions or they're the things that you need to consider before you go see a lawyer because it's just going to make your appointment run a lot more smoother um and as I said if that lawyer is charging by the hour you have probably just saved yourself an hour there and the more prepared you are the more comfortable you're going to be going into that meeting because nothing should be foreign to you. I said there is something that has popped into my mind that I have not said and I can't remember what it was. I didn't have that on my list. But I don't think that there will be too many questions that I haven't just gone through there that would catch you off guard. The biggest thing is just making sure that the people you appoint as your executors are happy to be your executors and the people you appoint as your guardians are happy to be your guardians to look after your children if they are under the age of eighteen and you do not survive. Super, that wasn't what I was going to say, but that was just popped in my head. We'll ask you questions in relation to your super as well, especially around bonding death nominations. Our insurance policies are the same, and I've just thought of something else again, but I still don't think it was what I was originally going to ask. But we will go through insurances with your estate planning to make sure that they are adequate. So we have literally seen firsthand that And generally, it is a male that is passing away. They are the breadwinner. Generally, it is the female at home with the baby or the kids. And they have been left homeless because there were just no insurances in place. And people like, hey, yeah, but I have insurance within my super. that is probably only a hundred, two hundred thousand dollars, which people think, oh, that's more than enough money. It probably isn't. If you have a mortgage of five hundred thousand dollars, that one hundred, two hundred thousand is not going to get very far. And it's still very possible that your family will end up homeless because they're not going to be able to afford the mortgage repayment. So We work with some amazing financial advisors to go through that in more depth, but I feel it's our duty to let you know that insurances are really important, especially if generally it takes something bad to happen for somebody to take action. And, you know, if you've been diagnosed with cancer or MS or something, and then you're trying to get insurance, you're probably not going to get it. So don't consider yourself too young or too healthy to go get insurance. The benefit of that is that you will highly likely be protected in the event that something was to happen. Even if you don't pass away, it might just be some income protection or something like that. That is also really important to have. So we will have those conversations. We are not financial advisors, but we would strongly encourage. suggest that you go receive advice and we can provide you with the financial advisors that we work with who can discuss that in more detail as well. So there are a couple of other things like that that we ask. Generally the questions are going to stem from your answers, your responses. So But what I've just gone through there, it's pretty standard. If you feel like I've forgotten something or you have a question, please do reach out. It is Saturday night, so I probably shouldn't have been doing this, but I'm about to go away again to Queensland for a conference, so that's why I'm doing it tonight. But hopefully that gives you a good idea on the things to consider when you are going to get a will. As I said, I've had heard so many stories like people think that if they're going to get a will, they're going to pass away the next day because, you know, that's a memory they have of that happening to somebody. I really do want to normalise speaking about death. My girls have normalised it because they don't know me to do anything else and I've seen it go bad I really really have it it's from people not having wills or it's people not updating their wills or thinking I don't need a will because everything's going to go to my spouse anyway it's like well you don't know the shit fight that's going to happen once you pass away so there are just so many benefits the benefits far outweigh anything negative if at all but I can a hundred percent appreciate that people have fear with getting these documents done or people think they don't have enough assets or something. If you are over the age of eighteen, I would be getting a will. It's that simple. Again, you might think you don't have a lot. Sometimes banks won't do anything without a will. Sometimes we're made to apply for probate for certain things and, you know, we need a will for that. Otherwise, it's just a pain in the ass to get it sorted without a will, I suppose. And you want to make sure that your things that get left to somebody else. The last thing that you want is... you've had a falling out with somebody or haven't updated your will since your divorce and then your ex gets everything or a sibling you don't have anything to do with or, you know, the last thing you want is your money to or your assets to go to somebody who, you know, you don't want them to receive that benefit from all those years that you've worked. So hopefully that has helped you with just considering things before you have that appointment with a lawyer. If, there is something else that you want me to address, or if I have forgotten something or whatever it is, please reach out. I'm more than happy to answer that for you. And as I said, if there is somebody that has been delaying their estate planning or needs to get their estate planning sorted, please send this episode through to them. They can either listen to it on Spotify or itunes or watch it on youtube and yeah I'm more than happy to answer any questions that might follow it so enjoy the rest of your day thanks for tuning in again and I will catch you next time see you
