Estate Wills

When planning your retirement, you have a great deal of things to consider. One aspect you need to pay attention to is your estate. Your “estate” commonly refers to the sum of your assets less your liabilities at the time of your death. Your estate will obviously need to be divided amongst your surviving loved ones by means of a last will and testament. Your last will and testament is, however, only part of what you need to consider when finalising your estate. First, let’s establish some assets you need to consider when setting up your last will and testament.

Cash funds: Cash is pretty self-explanatory with regards to where it fits into your estate. The funds you have available in the bank at the time of your death and all annuities and life policies will make up your cash assets. Funds in your bank account are generally frozen when you die and are only liquid once your estate is “settled”. Life policies, however, are generally not subject to this (freezing). These policies are generally paid over to the beneficiary as soon as all the required paperwork is filled and processed. The same applies to retirement annuities.

Investments: Investments come in all shapes and sizes. Whether they are bonds, business investments, property investments or other equities, these all need to be included in your Will. This will ensure that your loved ones won’t fight over investment assets after your passing. Property and home content etc will also qualify in most cases.

The amount of assets and liabilities you need to consider can be a daunting task but an accredited financial advisor can assist you in making sure all aspect of your estate is covered properly in your last will and testament and provide sound investment advice.

We will be looking at your options a little more in depth further on in this website but a small site such as this can’t cover all possible aspects of setting up your estate and will. This site is only meant as a guideline to use when consulting with your lawyer or advisor and may stand you in good stead in the future when choosing a lawyer or firm to handle your estate.