ESTATE PLANNING & DECEASED ESTATES

Settling an estate is the process of distributing the deceased's assets to beneficiaries. Williams Winter has conducted estate planning and preparing Wills for Victorians, from all walks of life, for more than 100 years.

During this time, we have developed a comprehensive understanding of the services clients need to secure the transfer of their wealth to the next generation and ease the burden of their incapacity or passing.

Estate Planning
Estate planning is the process of planning for the disposal of an estate to maximize the goals of the estate owner. In common law, an estate is the total of a person's property (including money), entitlements and obligations. The term is often used in the context of Wills.

What is a Will?
Your Will is the key element in your estate plan. It directs the distribution of your assets to your beneficiaries in line with your wishes. It also allows you to:

• Appoint an Executor of your choice
• Appoint a guardian for any minor children
• Transfer your wealth tax effectively and maximise asset protection
• Make specific gifts to charities
• Establish a Trust for a minor or another specific purpose.
• Give directions for the future control of non-estate assets such as discretionary trusts.

What is an Executor?
Every Will requires the appointment of an Executor; a person or trustee company you choose to carry out your wishes. A friend, family member, lawyer or accountant often performs the job of Executor.

Your Executor is responsible for administering your estate, from funeral arrangements to the ongoing management of your assets until the estate is completed. Other duties include:

• Locating the Will
• Confirming the Will is legally valid
• Advising beneficiaries of their entitlements
• Preparing a statement of your assets and liabilities
• Lodging tax returns
• Protecting your assets pending distribution (including insurance, safekeeping of valuables and re-investment of surplus funds)
• Establishing trusts

Williams Winter has built a reputation for accurate and efficient estate administration.

Our experience in administering complex estates and trusts is matched by our reputation for the ongoing personal attention we devote to each estate we administer.

Executor support
Executors and their financial advisers frequently seek out Williams Winter's services for help with the more complex aspects of the administration of an estate.

We identify the key responsibilities involved in the administration of an estate, allowing the Executor to select those tasks they would like to retain and those tasks they wish to delegate to Williams Winter to perform.

These may be:

• Obtaining Probate
• Confirming the assets and liabilities of an estate
• Dividing up investment portfolios to equalise the distribution of the estate
• Attending to asset transfers and sales
• Arranging the preparation of taxation returns
• Accounting and record keeping for the estate.