Hardwiring Protections in the Estate Plan - recorded online lunchtime conference

Duration: 2.5 Hours

Hear from the experts at this online lunchtime conference. You can watch it on your computer or on your portable electronic device from anywhere.

The conference will be based on our highly successful video webinar technology: there'll be a chairperson and presentations.

One registration can be shared by colleagues within the same firm utilising the same login.

THE PROGRAM

Session 1: You Can’t Take It With You: A Case Study on Pre-Death Estate Distribution

Increasing financial pressures are causing children to seek an early inheritance. Where mum and dad are willing to agree to an inter-generational re-structuring of their assets, what strategies and protections need to be considered for a beneficial outcome for all parties? This practical session will involve a case study of a family looking to take this step, and the factors that need to be considered, including:

• Assessing needs – what are the most appropriate structures for control and management?
• Who is the client? Determining boundaries and appropriate representation
• Intergenerational interests in the family business and options for ongoing and equal benefits
• Loans and/or gifts? Structuring and financial consequences – tax, CGT, impact on social security benefits
• Protecting mum and dad – accommodation and care options after divestment of the family home
• Factoring in children, grandchildren and future generations
• The operation of the NSW notional estate provisions
• Lessons from recent cases

Session 2: Predators and Creditors: Options for Asset Protection in Estate Planning

Although death can seem a long time away, a safe strategy for asset protection can be the establishment of protective and pre-emptive arrangements which are intended to shield assets from claims before and after death. This session will examine some of the more common strategies for asset management protection, including:

• Assessing client risks and developing an asset management plan- what factors need to be considered?
• In or out? Deciding which assets will form the estate and which not
• Weighing up the benefits and disadvantages of a family trust – what are the pre-death and post-death options?
• Self-managed super funds as a wealth creation and protection tool
• Business succession planning agreements for intergenerational family operations – what arrangements need to be considered?
• Gift and loan back arrangements

Session 3: The Best Laid Plans: Estate Planning and the Family Court

Despite best intentions, the estate plan can fall apart when relationships break down and the Family Court becomes involved. This session will look at options for protecting the family assets from claims and how the Family Court is increasingly looking at the use of extended family arrangements to keep assets protected in the event of a relationship breakdown, including:

• The use of Binding Financial Agreements (BFA) to pre-empt claims. How effective are these, when should they be used and what should be included? Can a BFA prevent a family provision claim?
• Family and testamentary trusts – Family Court scrutiny and court orders, assessing “effective control” and other aspects
• Loans from parents to child – structuring for maximum protection in the event of separation
• Holding property – the benefits of joint tenancy
• Binding Death Nominations – drafting for changing circumstances
• Re-visiting the Will following a separation in the family
• The use of a deed of release in property settlements to prevent estate claims down track
• Where one party dies prior to a property settlement, what happens to their estate? What if the party dies intestate?
• Case law update