Easy Wills

STANDARD LEGAL WILL INSTRUCTIONS

Information To Help You Complete the Standard Legal Will Kit
When completing the attached Standard Legal Will Kit, this information Sheet will help you in providing the bare minimum of information so that we may produce your Standard Legal Will.
Please note that if you have any doubts, please seek legal advice from a Solicitor.

1. Name:Please provide your complete name including any middle name/s.
2. Date of Birth: Generally, only individuals 18 years or over can make a valid Will.
3. Address: Provide your present and complete residential address.
4. Occupation: Please provide an accurate job description title.
5. Name of husband/wife (if any)
6. Names of children (if any) and ages of your children
7. [tipsy content=”Executor:
The person appointed by a testator to execute, manage, administer, direct and dispose his or her will.On obtaining the grant of probate, an executor becomes a proving executor. Executor's duties include the duty to bury the deceased, to prove the will, and to administer the estate properly according to law, which involves getting in the estate as quickly as possible, paying estate debts, and distributing the balance and the legacies of assets to the beneficiaries entitled. The executor office is a single office so that if more than one executor is appointed their authority is joint and several.” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true” ]Executor:[/tipsy] Please provide the complete name of the person you intend to [tipsy content=”administer: 1. To have charge of manage. 2(a). To give or apply in a formal way 2(b).To apply as a remedy: administer a sedative. 2(c) To direct the taking of (an oath) 3.To mete out dispense: administer justice. 4.To manage or dispose of (a trust or estate) under a will or official appointment.5.To impose, offer, or tender (an oath, for example).” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true”]administer[/tipsy] your Estate under your Will.
8. Relationship: Indicate the relationship between yourself and this Executor. For example, Wife, De Facto, Sister, Father or friend.
9. [tipsy content=”Substitute: One that takes the place of another, a replacement” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true” ]Substitute[/tipsy] Executor: Please provide the complete name of the person you intend to administer your Estate under your Will should anything happen to prevent your [tipsy content=”Nominated:1. To propose by name as a candidate, especially for election.2. To designate or appoint to an office, responsibility, or honor.” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true”]nominated[/tipsy] Executor from administering your Estate under your Will.
10. Relationship: Indicate the relationship between yourself and this Executor. For example, Wife, De Facto, Sister, Father or friend.
11.[tipsy content=”Legacies: Plural. A gift of personal property by will. The testator is said to bequeath a legacy to a recipient called a legatee. Originally, the term legacy was used to describe a gift of money only but now it has the meaning of any gift of personal property generally, displacing the word "bequest", and may even include real property. A legacy must be specific, general, demonstrative, residuary, or pecuniary.” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true”]Legacies:[/tipsy](Examples of what to write)
You may wish to give the whole of your Estate to one person. Please remember to provide the full name of this beneficiary and indicate the relationship between you and this [tipsy content=”beneficiary: A person who, by being a particular kind of legal (including equitable) relationship, receives or is to receive a benefit, profit, or advantage.” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true”]beneficiary.[/tipsy]
You may wish to provide the name of a person or people to whom you wish to be beneficiaries to your Estate should your first nominated beneficiary [tipsy content=”Predecease: to die before some other person or event. If an intended beneficiary of a will predeceases the testator, the gift in the will may fail according to the doctrine of lapse.” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true”]predecease[/tipsy] you. Please remember to provide the full name/s and indicate the relationship between you and this/these beneficiary/ies.
12. You may wish to provide specific gifts (including cash gifts) to specific individuals. In this case, please provide us with these instructions.
13. You may have minor children who require ongoing maintenance and care. In this instance, the usual practice is to gift this portion of your estate the executors to hold on trust until your minor children turn 18. Please give us your instructions if this is the case.
14. You may also wish to consider appointing a guardian for your minor children in your will. Please give us your instructions if this is the case.
15. You may also wish to give instructions in your will regarding your wishes for burial or cremation and details of same. Although these wishes are not binding on your executor, your wishes would ordinarily be followed if they are in your will.

NOTE:

You should be mindful of capital gains tax issues if your Estate includes property other than your principal place of residence.

Giving a gift under your Will to a beneficiary who receives, or may in future receive a pension, may change their entitlement to the pension by increasing their income or assets.

Generally, the following cannot be disposed of by your Will: Jointly held property, properties sold but not yet transferred, property held in [tipsy content=”Trusts: A beneficial owner of property who does not hold the legal title, but for whose benefit the legal title is held by a trustee under a trust arrangement, there may be one or more beneficiaries who hold the beneficial interest in the trust property and can deal with this beneficial interest as an owner. The beneficiary may take possession of the trust property where the trustee has no active duties to perform.” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true”]trust[/tipsy] , shares in private companies, [tipsy content=” superannuation: in relation to a superannuation fund, scheme, or trust, a person who has a beneficial interest in the fund, scheme, or trust.” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true”]superannuation[/tipsy] funds and life insurance with a nominated beneficiary.

Marriage revokes your Will unless the Will is made in [tipsy content=”Contemplation: prospect or expectation” group=”0″ use_oembed=”true”]contemplation[/tipsy] of that marriage.

Divorce is also likely to affect your Will.

If an executor, beneficiary or child under your Will predeceases you, you should consider reviewing and making a fresh Will.

Examples:
The following are examples only. They may assist you in providing the appropriate information necessary to draft your standard legal Will.
Gifts
'I give the whole of my Estate to my wife .....(name).... but if she dies before me then I give the whole of my Estate to our children ......(names).....in equal shares.'
OR
'I give my whole estate to my De Facto partner .....(name).... but if he dies before me then I give my whole Estate to my brother ....(name).... and my sister ....(name)..... but if my brother dies before me then every benefit he would have received under this Will shall lapse.'
OR
'I give 40% of my estate to my daughter ....(name).... but if she dies before me without leaving a child or children surviving me this benefit shall lapse.'

OR
'If any of my children are under the age of 18 years when I die and my wife dies before me then I appoint .....(name) as guardian of those children and I give the whole of my estate to my guardian as Trustee
on Trust for our children....(names of all children whether under the age of 18 years or not))..... in equal shares
with full power to spend the capital and income for their education, maintenance and advancement in life.'
Specific gifts
'I give my nephew the sum of $……(amount).... and my coin collection.'
OR
'I give my niece the sum of $…(amount)..... and all of my jewellery.'
OR
'I give the secretary of .....(name of association eg The Now Foundation).... the sum
of $…(amount)...for such charitable uses as he or she thinks proper.'
A Will should dispose of all of the property. It is important that the residue of the property is fully disposed.
'I give the rest of my property to ....(name and description)..... as beneficiary.'

Estate: Any interest, charge, right, title, claim, demand, lien, or encumbrance at law or in equity: (CTH) Acts Interpretation Act 1901 s22.
Bankruptcy: the assets of a bankrupt held for administration by a trustee in bankruptcy.
Real property: an interest in land, enforceable at law and in equity or in equity only.
The largest estate is the legal fee simple out of which may be created subsidiary estates for example
life estates and remainders, equitable estates, and so on
Succession: in relation to a person dying leaving a will, all property which would, on a grant of probate of the will, vest in the executor of the will: for example (NSW) Family Provision Act 1982 s6(1). Estates may be absolute, conditional, contingent or determinable. An absolute estate will only vest upon the performance of some specific condition, and a contingent estate will only pass when some specific event eventuates. A determinable estate will end on the happening of a specific event: NSW Wills, Probate and Administration Act 1898 ss3, 5, 44.

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