eSignature Licitness for Planning in Australia

How to eSign a document: eSignature licitness for Planning in Australia

most people don't like to talk about their mortality and as a result most people tend to ignore their estate planning needs but if you're over the age of 18 then estate planning is a very important consideration that you need to make put simply an estate plan is your instructions as to what you want to happen to your assets if you were to pass away and also what happens if you were to lose the ability to make decisions for yourself now depending on the complexity of your situation an estate plan involves many moving components and it can be quite a complex area of advice so today i'm going to be looking at one aspect of estate planning and that is the will now there are many there are many other aspects like enduring pounds of attorney enduring powers of guardianship nomination of beneficiaries all that kind of stuff and i will be looking at these elements in future videos but i figured if i try to cover everything in this video and that was initially my intention then it is a monster of a thing to get through and i'll just be brushing over too many details to fit it all into one video so instead i'm going to break it down into smaller more digestible parts hello guys brad here from the guided investor welcome back to the channel for another video if you're new here consider hitting that subscribe button because i post regular videos about how you can do more with your money and today we are talking about wills now most people know what a will is it's a way to ensure your assets are passed on to your preferred person or persons in the event you were to pass away and their wills generally cover things like these who receives your assets who will care for your minor children funeral plans donations to charities and the establishment of trust and when drafting your will you're going to come across a number of technical terms that you need to be aware of so let's cover off some of those terms now the beneficiary this is the person or the people who are going to be receiving the inheritance the estate this is the assets that you own at time of death the executor is the person named responsible for winding up the affairs of the deceased person a guardian is a person named care for minor children probate is the document by which the court recognizes the authority of an executor to act under a will a spouse can include a husband or a wife a person in a civil partnership or a de facto partner now of course this also includes same-sex couples and testator is the person who makes a will when it comes to drafting your will there are essentially two ways you can do it and the first and most cost effective way is to get yourself a diy wheel kit and they cost you about 32 and they come with instructions and a template to write your own will but before going down the diy world kit path you need to be prepared to put in the time and the effort that it takes to draft the will properly so this is going to mean that you read all the instructions you follow the instructions and you take care when you're preparing your will because if you don't do this and you make a mistake then your will can be deemed invalid if your situation is a little more complex or you simply don't trust yourself to write the world properly then you can always get professional help there are many different estate planning specialists that can help you write a will and some of them even have online systems where you punch your data in online they check it behind the scenes and you can get your will fairly cost effective but also checked by a professional each state also has what's called a public trustee and this is a government appointed estate planning arm that will do this job for you at a reasonable cost technically speaking you can make your will as detailed as you like so for example i want annie betty to receive my diamond ring and i want uncle billy to receive my gold watch now that's not always the best idea and whenever people are drafting wills i always advise them to keep it as simple as possible the more complex a will the more it's going to cost you to draft and also the higher the chance the will is deemed invalid so often simple wills are the best way to go but there are certain circumstances where your financial situation or your relationships will dictate the complexity of your will if you've been through a divorce if you've got children with different partners if you operate a business if you own assets through a company or a trust then these are all examples of when your situation is a little more complex and if this applies to you then i would strongly suggest that you go and seek professional help when drafting your estate planning needs once you have a will you need to make sure that you store it safely so you can store it at home preferably in a safe or a locked cabinet or you can get you can pay an attorney to store on your behalf now if you do decide to store it at home make sure that you give someone trustworthy a key otherwise they're not going to be able to access the will should something happen to you while wheels don't have an expiration date it is important that you review your will on a regular basis often there are significant life events that are triggers for you to review your will and some of those events are as follows in the event of marriage the birth of a new family member significant changes to your assets divorce or separation death of a beneficiary moving to a new state or territory or if a named person in the will is unable or unwilling to act if you do create a new will then your new will will supersede your old will and it will normally start with something along the lines of i hereby revoke all previous wheels and codicils if you fail to write a will and you pass away you're said to die in test day and under this scenario your assets would be distributed in ance with the rules of intestacy now each state territory has their own set of rules of intestacy but it's not the best idea to rely on these rules simply because it can mean that your assets go to people that you don't want them to go to and two there can also be some significant costs in this process as a side note if you have property owned jointly with another person so for instance if you own your house jointly with your spouse then this doesn't form part of your estate it's automatically passed on to the surviving owner also if you have a valid nomination of beneficiary on your superannuation funds and your life insurance then there's a chance that this also bypasses the will and goes direct to your nominated beneficiary so in summary wills are a very important aspect of your estate plan now even if you have very little assets you should still get a will done to avoid the unnecessary complexity and cost that comes with passing away in test day but that's it for me guys thanks a lot for watching i hope you like this video and i will see you guys in the next one