Category: Wills & Estates

How Can An Asset Protection Lawyer in Sydney Help You?

Post author By mateja
Post date April 12, 2022

Protecting your assets and wealth, whether for the present time or for when you pass, is crucial to ensure that other third parties don’t get their hands on it.

Why do you need to protect your assets?

There are three main scenarios where asset protection is a good idea.

1. If you run a business or are in a profession where your assets could be at risk (such as if you are sued).

2. If you want to ensure that your beneficiaries get your assets after you die, not some other parties who you don’t want to pass your assets on to.

3. Giving a family member (such as a descendant) money to buy a house.

Properly arranging your assets in either of these cases can be the difference between keeping them (or passing them on to the right person) and losing a signification portion of them. It is always better to have your affairs in order before something happens, than to try and deal with it afterwards, often when it’s too late.

This is where an asset protection lawyer comes in. An asset protection lawyer’s job is to advise you on how best to protect your assets to ensure they remain yours.

Whether this is through a family trust, a business or some other means, the lawyer will advise you on the best way to organise your assets to ensure that are exposed to as little risk as possible, whether it’s from suing, probate or any other scenario where they could be in question.

Who should worry about asset protection?

Anybody who runs a business, owns real estate, offers a professional service, or has wealth they wish to pass down to descendants should be looking at creating an asset protection plan as part of their estate planning or general financial plans.

If you are looking to establish asset protection, speak to use today. We specialise in all aspects of estate planning and asset protection and are here to assist you with getting your assets and wealth fully protected!

Wills & Estates

Looking For the Best Estate Planning Attorney Near You?

Post author By mateja
Post date February 18, 2022

The job of an estate plan is to ensure that the right people are able to care for you in the event that you become incapacitated, and that the right people are able to get your belongings in the event of your death. A good estate plan needs to address these areas, and must be done so correctly in order to be legally upheld in the event that it needs to brought to action.

Careful and correct estate planning may be the difference between a simple procedure in which your estate passes to a trusted individual and the one where the courts are interfering with the estate being challenged, only for it to be distributed to individuals that you don’t want to deal with.

Elmassian Lawyers specialise in estate planning in Sydney, and we’re here to make sure your estate is handled exactly the way you would like it to be.

We have worked with countless clients in Sydney to make sure their estates are stable and would stand up to the process of a disagreement or a court case, and that they were managed in the way the client wanted.

We can assist you in doing the same. Our team of estate professionals knows the law and will utilize it to your advantage to make sure that you achieve exactly what you want out of your estate.

We’ll work with you to walk you through the whole estate planning process, which we’ll make as simple and stress free while ensuring you have a detailed, well-thought-out estate plan.

If you are ready to make your estate plan, simply contact us today to discuss what you need to do by calling us on 02 9958 2407 or emailing info@elmassianlawyers.com.au.

Wills & Estates

What Is a Probate Lawyer and What Can They Help You With?

Post author By mateja
Post date November 7, 2021

When a person passes away it is a difficult time for everyone involved. Beside the emotional grief that their loved ones go though, there are many complicated legal processes that need to be completed. Probate involves actions like drafting affidavits and lodging documents with the Court to distribute the deceased’s estate. While anyone can apply for probate, most people will hire a lawyer to make sure its done correctly.

Probate lawyers, also known as estate attorneys, can be involved in different ways depending on the circumstances of the estate.

A probate lawyer will guide the executor of will or beneficiaries of the estate through the whole probate process, from identifying to distributing assets and inheritances and working with them to settle the affairs of the deceased.

Tasks that a probate lawyer will assist the executor and beneficiaries with include:

Preparing and filing documents required by a court
Identifying and securing estate assets
Getting assessments of the decedent’s real property
Collecting proceeds from life insurance policies
Transferring assets in the decedent’s name to the beneficiaries
Determining if any estate or inheritance taxes are due and resolving those issues
Help with the payment of bills and debts
Disbursement of assets to beneficiaries after bills and taxes have been paid

If you are searching for probate lawyers in Sydney we have years of experience with helping people with all areas of the probate process.

Contact our friendly and experienced Sydney probate lawyers today for free consultation on 02 9958 2407 or info@elmassianlawyers.com.au.

Wills & Estates

What to Do if You Want to Dispute a Will in Sydney

Post author By mateja
Post date August 5, 2021

If you feel you have been unfairly treated in the Will left by a loved one, you may want to dispute or contest the Will to try to get a fairer outcome. This can be a difficult decision to make, but if you have decided to go ahead, this is what you need to know.

How to Dispute a Will in Sydney

Circumstances under which you can contest a Will

You are eligible to contest a Will if:

proper provision was not given to you in the Will
you were promised that you would be left a specific portion of the estate and that hasn’t happened
a clear error or mistake was made in the Will and a court order is sought to correct that error
the deceased was subject to undue influence in making the Will
the deceased lacked capacity to properly make the Will

You will need to submit an application to the Court to contest the Will. Be aware there are strict time limits when this can be done (discussed further below).

Family provision claim

You are able to make a family provision claim if you feel you have unjustly been left out of the Will and you are either:

a spouse (including facto spouse)
child (including step-child)
or were a dependent of the deceased (defined as “wholly or substantially maintained or supported by the deceased person” and a parent of the deceased, parent of a child of the deceased or a child under the age of 18 years.)

If you meet this criteria and wish to make a family provision claim, you will be challenging the Will and asking the Court to issue an order to properly provide for you from the estate.

Time limit to contest a Will

There are strict time limits for contesting the Will with a family provision claim.

Generally, you must advise the executor of the Will within 6 months of the deceased’s death that you are intending to make the claim. The court proceedings usually have to be filed within 9 months.

Under circumstances it may be possible to lodge the claim at a later date, but it must be done before the estate is distributed.

Issues with the executor of the Will

If you believe that the executor of the Will is not properly doing their duties, is acting improperly or has a conflict of interest, you are able to submit an application to the Court to have the executor removed.

The court will consider the mismanagement of the estate and the misconduct of the executor and decide if they see fit to remove them from the role. This is solely at the court’s discretion.

Who pays the legal fees

If making a family provision claim, usually the legal costs will be paid from the deceased’s estate. However, if the executor of the Will does not agree to this, you will need to apply to the Court in order for them to be paid from the estate.

Contesting the Will

The best way to contest a Will is to speak to a lawyer who specialises in Will disputes. We at Elmassian Lawyers are experts in the field of Will contesting and disputes. We have years of experience and have been through hundreds of Will disputes, so we know the process inside and out and are here to ensure you get the outcome you are looking for. To talk about your Will dispute, call us on 02 9958 2407 or email us on info@elmassianlawyers.com.au.

Wills & Estates

Why You Need to Be Aware of The Family Provision Legislation When Drafting a Will

Post author By mateja
Post date May 13, 2021

When it comes to wills, you would think that you can leave whatever you want to whomever you want. But it’s not as simple as that, and one thing that can interfere is the Family Provision Legislation.

What is the Family Provision Legislation?

This legislation is an amendment to the 1982 Family Provision Act to ensure that adequate provision is provided to family members and other persons from the the deceased person’s estate.

What this means is that if the court finds that you didn’t leave enough to certain people, it will override your will and rule in their favour for addition inheritance.

Who can make a family provision claim?

According to the legislation in NSW, “eligible persons” are able to make a family provision claim against a deceased estate. Eligible persons include:

A spouse of the deceased at the time of death.
A person who was living with the deceased at the time of death in a de-facto relationship (including same sex partners). The definition of a de-facto partner is that they have lived together for two years up to the date of the deceased’s death.
The deceased’s child, including adopted children but not step-children.
The deceased’s former spouse that has not remarried prior to the death of the deceased.
A person who was:
-dependent on the deceased at a particular time.
-a member of the household of the deceased.
-a grandchild of the deceased.
-a person who was living in a close personal relationship with the deceased when the deceased died.

Parents, siblings, step-children and former de-facto spouses are not considered to be eligible persons, unless they are eligible under the category where they lived with the deceased and were dependent on the deceased.

So what does this mean for your will?

This means that you need to be aware of what to do and how to draft your will in order to avoid a Family Provision Claim.

We at Elmassian Lawyers specialise in drafting wills and can make sure your will is solid and will stand the test of court. Speak to us today by calling us on 02 9958 2407