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Advanced Wills - from $880 |
Anyone over the age of 18 years who owns property or has family responsibilities should consider having a Will. Without a valid Will in place, the assets of the deceased will be distributed according to the provisions of the relevant legislation of the state or territory in which they lived at the time of their death. This may result in the distribution of the estate in a manner different from what the deceased would have wanted.
Topdocs' suite of Wills includes a range of standard, advanced and testamentary trust Wills. Whether a client wishes to put in place a relatively straightforward Will or has advanced estate planning needs due to complex family relationships or interests in family trusts and private companies, Topdocs Wills are designed to meet your individual client requirements.
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Download our paper Client Fact Find |
The first step on having your Will prepared by Topdocs is completing our Client Fact Find. Our Client Fact Find enables you to provide us with general information in relation to your client’s assets and personal wishes. This information enables us to then provide you with an accurate quote for the preparation of the required documentation to ensure you client's specific requirements and wishes are catered for.
This short form asks general questions relating to:
The completion of this form is free, and there is no obligation to proceed with us once we provide you with your quote.
Once you submit your form to us, a lawyer from Topdocs Legal will personally call you to discuss your client’s specific requirements, and provide you with a quote to prepare your required documentation.
This documentation may include a Will, Powers of Attorney, and/or succession planning documentation, all depending on the specific circumstances of your client.
Topdocs Advanced Will is suitable for individuals with advanced estate planning needs due to more complex family relationships (example blended family) or interests in family trusts and private companies. This Will also provides for life interests in assets (if required) and advanced conditions on gifts to beneficiaries.
Topdocs Advanced Testamentary Trust Will allows for a wide range of options. It is suitable for individuals with advanced estate planning needs due to more complex family relationships (example blended family) or interests in family trusts and private companies. This Will incorporates more than one testamentary trust for the remainder of the testator's estate and provisions in relation to companies, trusts, superannuation proceeds, other death benefits and non-standard gifts.
You can learn more about the Topdocs Advanced Wills documentation in the RELATED INFORMATION tab.
Should you have any queries or require more information, please call the team at Topdocs on 1300 659 242.
ORDER ONLINEComplete an online Client Fact Find and a lawyer will call you with an obligation free quote.
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ORDER BY FORMComplete a paper Client Fact Find and a lawyer will call you with an obligation free quote.
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Should you have any queries or require more information, please call the team at Topdocs on 1300 659 242. |
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Advanced Will |
From $880 - $3300 |
From $1320 - $3630 |
Advanced Testamentary Will |
From $1320 - $4400 |
From $1540 - $4840 |
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We provide package pricing for advisers when you order Powers of Attorney and Wills together. |
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Will and Power of Attorney Package Pricing - New South Wales |
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Will and Power of Attorney Package Pricing - Northern Territory |
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Will and Power of Attorney Package Pricing - South Australia |
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Will and Power of Attorney Package Pricing - Western Australia |
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^ Adviser pricing is available to accountants, financial planners, SMSF specialists and legal practitioners. This pricing is automatically applied when you join Topdocs and sign into the Document Portal to order your documents. |
When you order a document you can select how you would like it delivered to you. Your options are:
Should you have any queries or require more information, please call the team at Topdocs on 1300 659 242.
Outlined below is additional information relating to the document you have chosen.
Your Will is a legal document that sets out directions for the administration and disposal of your assets after death. It must comply with fairly strict formalities to be valid. However, even a valid Will can sometimes be totally ineffective if it does not achieve what you intend because of assets you do not actually own. Your sole assets This is because a Will can only control the sole assets that you owned in your sole name as at the date of death. Therefore, any assets held in a company, a trust (such as a family trust) or a superannuation fund will not form assets of your estate. Put another way, your Will can only give away what you own. This can be confusing to some who think that they own everything, even those assets that have been placed in a company, trust or superannuation fund, and that their Will can automatically control the distribution of these non-estate assets. On the other hand, having assets held by other entities can also be of benefit to those seeking to protect those assets against claims after their deaths. Non-estate assets For example, you do not individually own assets held as follows: Only if assets are transferred from these other entities to your sole name prior to your death can your Will control their distribution. However, it is important to note potential stamp duty and CGT liabilities for any asset transfers. Please note this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice When is a Will not a Will?
Download the Topdocs When is a Will not a Will information sheet
A Will is an extremely important document - and dying without a current and complete Will can have serious ramifications. The purpose of making a Will is to give you the power to determine who you leave your assets and personal belongings to, Dying without a Will ('intestate') means your assets and personal belongings are distributed in accordance with the rules of intestacy. This could mean that the people you most want to benefit from your assets might not get anything at all. Also, dying without a Will may result in your Estate taking longer and costing more to administer.The importance of having a Will
Powers of Attorney are complex documents. This comprehensive document takes you through the various types. Understanding Powers of Attorney
Download the Topdocs Understanding Powers of Attorney information sheet
A Will is a child of the legislation of the jurisdiction in which it is made. It can do no more, and no less, than the legislation allows. Your Will cannot give away what you do not own therefore, while your sole assets are covered by your Will, joint assets, assets owned by a company, a family trust or your superannuation fund are not covered by your Will. A couple of recent Court case studies demonstrate how important it is to ensure that you get correct advice when making your Will, particularly if you also have assets owned by other entities. They further demonstrate how important it is that your professional advisers know what you are up to, and that they each know what role the other is to play in acting on your behalf. Katz v Grossman [2005] NSWSC 934 A Will cannot direct an SMSF trustee as to how that member's death benefits will be distributed. The surviving husband of an SMSF fund died leaving two surviving children: a daughter and a son. The father and the daughter had been co-trustees of the SMSF after the wife had died. The daughter was therefore the only surviving trustee of the family SMSF. The son was neither a trustee nor a member of the fund. The fund comprised the father's superannuation benefits of $1,000,000.00, and his Will directed that SMSF benefits were to be split equally between his two children. However, the daughter exercised her discretion as the surviving trustee to disregard her father's Will, and paid all SMSF fund benefits to herself. The Superannuation Complaints Tribunal could not assist the son, as that body has no jurisdiction over SMSFs. The son was unable to get the father's Will to make up the shortfall as the Will did not contain any equalisation clauses to even up the unequal payment of death benefits. Further, the father had not made a Binding Death Benefit Nomination. In fact, the SMSF deed did not appear even to allow for a BDBN to be made. Had the fund deed permitted a BDBN, an additional measure may have been required. An Enduring Financial Power of Attorney with an express authorisation for the attorney to confirm or alter the BDBN could have been executed. Further, it may have been necessary to amend the SMSF deed to allow an indefinite BDBN that would not lapse after 3 years. In summary, the NSW Supreme Court held that: Another example - Public Trustee v Smith [2008] NSWSC 397 A Will cannot direct the way in which trust assets will be distributed on the death of the Testator. Dr Helen Ward was a cat lover, divorced, had no children, and was the sole director and shareholder of Helen Ward Nominees Pty Ltd, the corporate trustee of her family discretionary trust. The trust had purchased the residence in which Dr Ward lived. However, there an oversight in the drafting of the trust deed meant that Dr Ward was not a beneficiary of her own trust. As a result, the trustee could not use the default beneficiary provisions in the trust deed to distribute trust assets to her even if the trustee had failed to distribute all of the income and capital to the beneficiaries. Dr Ward made her Will appointing The Public Trustee as her Executor and Trustee, and left her "property" to Ms Robyn Smith, giving Ms Smith a right to reside in the property for at least 15 years subject to Ms Smith agreeing to look after Dr Ward's cats. After 15 years, Ms Smith would receive the property in her own right. After Dr Ward's death, it became clear that the property was an asset of the family trust, and therefore was not part of her estate. Ms Smith challenged Dr Ward's Will, and commenced proceedings against the Public Trustee of NSW. The parties agreed that ideally the trust deed should be amended to include Dr Ward as one of the trust beneficiaries even though she was now dead. Ms Smith sought to enforce the gift of the property given by Dr Ward's Will, arguing that she was entitled by "beneficial ownership by virtue of control" as determined by the Federal Court decision in the Richstar case. In Richstar, the defendant had controlled the Appointor of the family trust, and therefore had controlled the trust because the Appointor could remove and replace the trustee of the trust. Using the above as a basis for her claim, Ms Smith argued that because Dr Ward had held the power to control the exercise of the trustee's discretion in distributing the trust property, Dr Ward was therefore the beneficial owner of that trust property. Using that logic, Ms Smith concluded that the house (owned by the trust) should be given to Ms Smith as directed by Dr Ward's Will. The Court rejected this reasoning. Richstar's finding of "beneficial ownership" had relied upon ASIC's prosecution for breaches of The Corporations Act 2001 that had no bearing upon Ms Smith's claim. Sadly for Ms Smith, the Court held that, just because Dr Ward could control the exercise of the trustee's powers, and could cause the trustee to distribute trust income and capital did not make her the beneficial owner of the trust property. The Court observed the following: Notably, the Court did not decide on these issues. Instead, it referred these problems back to the Public Trustee to resolve. However, a number of questions still remain: For more information on Wills and Estate Planning, please call the team at Topdocs on 1300 659 242. Please note this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Wills and the implication of getting them wrong
Download the Wills, and the implications of getting them Wrong information sheet
Should you have any queries or require more information, please call the team at Topdocs on 1300 659 242.