Wills & Estates

Estate Planning

For the ever-changing circumstances in life and families, estate planning can be pivotal to your personal and financial affairs.

Wills and Powers of Attorney can be straight- forward or complicated. Everything depends on your personal situation and what you want for the future.  It might be tempting to write your own Will, but there are some things you need to think about first. If your Will is not made properly, then it will be invalidated and your assets will be distributed according to the law, rather than your intentions. 

Here are some questions you need to think about:-

• Did you know a Divorce revokes your Will?
• Who will be the guardian of my young children?
• How does the Family Law Act affect who cares for my children should I die?
• One of my adult children has a disability. How can I take care of them after I go?
• What happens to my life insurance?
• What happens to my superannuation?
• If I become incapacitated, who can make decisions about my care?
• Who can manage my financial affairs if I am unable to do so?

Preparing a Will and Power of Attorney now can give you peace of mind and take the stress out of what might lie ahead.

Estate Administration

Whenever a person dies, their financial affairs need to be finalised and their assets distributed in accordance with their Will.  If there is no Will then the applicable law decides who gets what. 

At ATW Family Law we provide a comprehensive estate administration service.  We will help you identify and locate the assets and liabilities of the estate, work with you to value the estate, apply for Probate and Administration and help you with the subsequent distribution of the estate.

We have extensive experience in estate matters and with our highly effective mediation, negotiation and dispute resolution skills we can support our clients to successfully navigate the delicate issues that inevitably arise in finalising estates, especially where there are ongoing inter-family disputes.