Estate Planning Standards Introduction

• Estate Planning Standards

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Best practice for accountants and advisers building Wills on our law firm’s website

Welcome to Legal Consolidated’s Estate Planning Standard Policy. The Best Practice Policy is for Accountants, Licensees and Advisers.

There is an obligation by accountants and advisers to initiate, explain and support the needs of a client’s:

• Estate Planning
• Tax effective Wills
• Medical/Lifestyle Powers of Attorney, Guardianships and Appointing Medical Treatment Decision Maker
• Enduring Powers of Attorney
• Contractual Will Agreements – for second marriages
• Loans to Children
• Deed of Gift
• Forgive a Debt Agreement
• Changing control of a Family Trust at death

There is a close relationship that advisers and accountants have with their clients. A natural extension of this relationship includes discussing overall circumstances and estate planning. While a lawyer may see a client for a few hours, an adviser and accountant holds a special fiduciary relationship with their clients and has an unparalleled knowledge of the client’s family circumstances and overall affairs.

Often the client, even after many years of requests, still ‘can’t find the time’ to see a taxation lawyer to attend to their Estate Planning. One solution is for you to build the Estate Planning documents on a law firm’s website.

You are building two documents:

1. Our skill in Estate Planning

I am an Adjunct Professor lecturing both the Estate Planning and Superannuation units at a number of universities around Australia. I have done so since 1999.

Of my seven degrees, four of them are in law including my doctorate. My research was in Estate Planning and succession planning.

I author the two Australian leading textbooks on Estate Planning: CCH Australian Estate Planning and Thompson Reuters’ Australian Financial Planning Handbook.

Our ‘3-Generation Testamentary Trusts’ include:

• 3-Generation Testamentary Trusts – reduces CGT, Stamp duty and income tax for 80 years from date of death
• Super Testamentary Trust – reduces the 17% and 32% tax on Superannuation going to adult children
• Bankruptcy Trusts – if a beneficiary is bankrupt
• Divorce Protection Trust – if a child separates
• Maintenance Trust – where beneficiaries under 18 years of age or unstable

2. Our skill in compliance

Our law firm has a strong pedigree in compliance in law, financial planning and accounting.

I sat on both the Legal Practice Board and Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee.

I was the Convenor of the Law Society’s Graduate and Academic Standards committee.

I currently sit on the Tax Institute academic assessment panel for both Advanced Superannuation and Tax for Trusts. I also sit as an Expert Assessment Panel Member. I sat on the Institute’s National Discipline Committee.

I was the national chairperson of the Law Council of Australia’s Law Management Group

We were in the first group of law firms to achieve the Law Society Quality Practice Standard.

Best Practice in building Estate Planning documents

Build these two documents. They provide you with best practice in building legal documents on our website.

Don’t lose the client

An accountant’s client dies.

The client dies with only one asset. This is $100,000 in life insurance. It is in his Superannuation. The beneficiary children are over 18 years of age. So, there is a 32% non-dependency tax.

The children pay $32,000 in tax!

Why is there is no Superannuation Testamentary Trust in the Will? This often reduces the non-dependency tax on the Super to zero.

As the accountant and financial planner you are the centre of the universe. You get the team together. You are the project manager of the estate planning process.

Build the Estate Planning Quality Assurance Manual. The Manual authorises you to build Estate Planning documents on our website, including the:

• 3-Generation Testamentary Trust Will
• WA Enduring and Medical/Lifestyle POAs

We look forward to helping you grow your Estate Planning practice.