We can draw up your Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney usually on the same day or within a 3 day turn around for a fixed fee which will include onsite storage of your documents in our safe custody system for no addition charge.
Home and hospital visits are also available. For a quote on the cost of the preparation of Wills and/or Enduring Power of Attorney please do not hesitate to contact us on (07) 3385 0999 or info@zandelaw.com.au to make an enquiry or a booking.
When a loved one has passed on we can help with the gathering in of the assets and the making of the distributions due to the beneficiaries named in the Will and where applicable the resolution of disputes where they occur.
Wills
A Will is a legal document that sets out how you wish your property to be divided after your death. If you do not make a Will, your Estate will be distributed using a formula determined by the Government and this can be a very costly process with the potential that loved ones will miss out.
Dying without a Will can cause your surviving spouse, relatives or other loved ones to suffer a very considerable amount of inconvenience and costs. Also in some instances, information contained in your Will is critical to the guidance of the holders of life insurance policies such as those that are commonly attached to most superannuation funds on how to pay out the claim moneys.
Please do not hesitate to contact us on (07) 3385 0999 or info@zandelaw.com.au to make an enquiry or a booking.
Deceased Estate Administration
Losing a loved one is hard. This grief should never be compounded by dramas, complications or issues with the gathering in of the deceased estate and administering the division of assets and payment of liabilities out under the terms of the deceased will.
In some circumstances, the administration of the estate is a very easy process. In other circumstances, the estate is fraught with complexities and issues that require a very careful navigation to avoid problems. In all circumstances, the executor will be held personally liable to the beneficiaries of the estate if something goes wrong.
To assist executors in the administration of the estate, we have devised four broad classes of service which can be selected and interchanged depending upon the needs of the estate those services are:-
Probate only
This is where the executor is conducting the administration of the estate on his/her or their own behalf but it has been discovered that one of the institutions holding funds on behalf of the deceased requires the will to be approved through the Supreme Court via a process called “Probate”. Because this is a court application and special forms and affidavits are required, most executors usually engage a law firm to provide this service and we are fully conversant and capable of undertaking this application on behalf of any estate as required;
Gathering of estate from all sources
In this service, we will meet with the executors and go through the full list of anticipated assets and liabilities and then on behalf of the estate we will contact the organisations or institutions that retain each of those assets and access and complete the relevant forms necessary to move those assets from the name of the deceased into the names of the executors so that the executors are able to liquidate/sell and/or transfer ownership of those assets to the beneficiaries named under the will. Under this service, we will negotiate with any institution that might for instance be insisting on probate to see if it is possible that they will withdraw that requirement so as to save the estate any unnecessary additional costs. In this service, the assets once gathered will remain under the complete control of the executor who will have open of his/her or their own bank accounts into which any moneys are to be paid ahead of distribution out to the beneficiaries named in the estate. In summary therefore, our role is only to assist in collecting the assets and passing them on to the executors;
Full collection of the estate and distribution of beneficiaries with accompanying accounting records
In this service, we will gather in all of the assets for the estate and where necessary attend at the sale of those assets if the executors do not wish to undertake that task on their own. Once all of the assets have been gathered in any cash funds will be routed through our trust account so a full set of estate income and expense accounts can be produced which will be available for records for all beneficiaries. By administering the estate in this fashion also, there is protection and comfort for the executors against beneficiaries who might be prone to accuse the executors of misappropriating funds or improperly managing them pending the distribution out to the estate; and
Defending estate in litigation
In this service, the executors are facing a challenge from a beneficiary either seeking to claim a higher proportion of the will or a person not named in the will claiming that provision ought to have been made for him/her or them from the estate when it was not. In this service, we will participate in actually be involved with the litigation where we will advocate on behalf of the estate for the will to be upheld and for the challenging applications to be dismissed. In this service, we will always participate in mediation which will be convened between all the relevant parties in order to try and reach a concluded compromised agreement rather than submit the estate to the cost time and uncertainty of full litigation through to judgement.
Each of the four different services are interchangeable depending upon the needs of the estate as they may shift from time to time. We are also available to provide executors with intermittent advice on matters should they wish to operate the administration themselves and simply require some guidance on particular issues as they arise.
Please do not hesitate to contact us on (07) 3385 0999 or info@zandelaw.com.au to make an enquiry or a booking.