Estate planning is the process of organising key legal documents so your decisions are clear and legally protected.

This can include your Will, Enduring Powers of Attorney, superannuation nominations, medical directives, and plans for family trusts or businesses.

It ensures your affairs are managed the way you want both during your life and after your death.

Estate planning gives you the chance to make key decisions in advance, like who should receive your assets, who can make decisions if you lose capacity and how your medical care should be managed.
It can also help minimise tax and avoid stress or confusion for your family later on.

Estate planning gives you the opportunity to:

- Prepare an Enduring Power of Attorney to ensure that appropriate financial and personal decisions are made for you when you are no longer capable of handling your own affairs.

- Prepare an Appointment of Medical Treatment Decision Maker to ensure that your future medical and health care decisions are made for you when you are no longer able to make these decisions for yourself.

- Prepare an Advance Health Care Directive to ensure your future medical care is undertaken according to your beliefs, values and preferences.

- Prepare a Will to appoint appropriate executors, trustees and guardians and provide how your estate is to be distributed to your beneficiaries.

- Possibly create testamentary trusts.

- Structure your superannuation to ensure maximum benefits pass to dependants in the most tax effective way.

- Structure the succession of your family trusts and companies to ensure a smooth transition of control of these entities.

We all do.

Failure to put in place appropriate Estate Planning arrangements may result in the distribution of your estate in a manner different from what you may have intended, unnecessary tax liabilities for the beneficiaries and the risk of misuse of assets distributed to vulnerable beneficiaries.

If you become incapacitated or die without having the appropriate documentation in place, then this may create added stress, difficulty and expense for your family and loved ones during an already difficult time.