Wills and Estate Planning -- different phases of life
There are some key phrases of life that trigger the need for
amending your Will and Estate Plan. Each person's
circumstances vary, however, in a broad sense there are
key phases in a person's life which should prompt
reconsideration of their Will or Estate Plan.
In the earlier phases, the prospect of dying is very remote and
people often give little thought to the prospect. However,
the unfortunate fact is that there will be some untimely deaths
through illness or accidents. Your family needs protection
from adverse results at a particularly traumatic time.
Preparing Wills and Estate Plans to take account of such
circumstances can be reasonably easy and straightforward.
The needs of a couple in their 30s and 40s differ from the
requirements of a couple in their 50s and 60s. Later in life,
there are often more complications, more assets and life expectancy
is shorter. Now it is time to engage in a more concerted
effort in relation to preparing an effective Will and Estate
Plan. It is important to undertake this well before the
capacity to deal with such issues commences to diminish. All
too often, people leave this planning to a stage in life where
their capacity to deal with such issues has substantially
diminished.
There are phases in life where it is likely that your Will is
likely to be different, even though your overall objectives may
remain the same. The reason for this is simply that the same
objectives are optimized in different ways at different stages of
life. These key changes include:
- entering into marriage or a de facto relationship;
- having children;
- divorce or separation;
- acquiring or disposing of businesses;
- setting up, operating or terminating family trusts;
- changes in family circumstances;
- the acquisition or disposal of substantial assets;
- retirement;
- having grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and
- changes to health and capacity.
A Will is not something that you can set and forget!