Should I make provision for my super in my will or testamentary trust?

By Denice Fraser, Senior Marketing Executive and Cassandra Townsend, Lawyer

Last week, Maddocks lawyers and Cleardocs hosted the first of two breakfast seminars on estate planning at Maddocks' offices in Sydney.

Robert Monahan from Maddocks was keynote speaker, engaging an audience of lawyers, accountants and financial planners on "clear and tax effective wills”. 

Through the presentation, Robert discussed some of the features of the newest addition to our estate planning product suite – our complex will, ClearWill with Trusts for Law Firms. He explained how a will maker can minimise tax consequences and maximise asset protection for beneficiaries through a testamentary trust structure in a more sophisticated will such as ClearWill with Trusts for Law Firms.

Demonstrating a strong level of interest from attendees, several questions were posed at the presentation’s conclusion. Many were interested to learn how to deal with superannuation death benefits via a will or testamentary trust.

ClearWill with Trusts for Law Firms provides a will maker with the option to give particular powers to their executor, including the power to quarantine superannuation death benefits (or create a superannuation proceeds trust).

The product is available to legal practitioners only – highlighting the necessity of having a lawyer involved in the making of a more sophisticated will.

You can view our FALQs on quarantining superannuation death benefits on our website:

·        Whatis a superannuation proceeds trust?

·        Does the will allow the executor to quarantine superannuation death benefits?

·        Why would the executor want to quarantine superannuation death benefits?

Maddocks advises that the question whether a SMSF member wishes to create a binding death benefit nomination to deal with SMSF funds or work the benefits into a testamentary trust, depends on what they wish to achieve. Members should seek professional advice about their particular circumstances.

Our second and final breakfast seminar on ‘clear and tax effective wills’ will be held in Melbourne on 11 December 2013. Should you wish to reserve a spot, please contact denice.fraser@thomsonreuters.com before 9 December.

For those unable to attend, +Cleardocs Thomson Reuters have recorded the session. It will be posted to our website before the close of the year.

Cleardocs launches Wills products

Cassandra Townsend, Lawyer

In law school, I recall the story about a pre-eminent author of a textbook on estate planning who died without a will. I'm not sure whether this story is true but it definitely did the trick in emphasising the importance of having a will.

You can read about the consequences of dying without a will in our October ClearLaw article.

What? This year, Cleardocs has expanded its estate planning suite of products with 2 Wills products:

·    ClearWill Online – a comprehensive Will that anyone can make to express their  wishes about their estate and protect their assets; and

·    a more complex Will designed for use by law firms, ClearWill with Trusts for Law Firms.

Why? These products were developed in response to customer feedback. They were designed to be comprehensive, and flexible enough to cover a wide range of personal circumstances, such as blended families, will makers without children, will makers holding trust positions. And, at the end of the day, they were designed to make your estate planning as simple and painless as possible.

How? Through ClearWill with Trusts for Law Firms, lawyers can establish by will a range of testamentary trusts including:

·    single and multiple testamentary discretionary trusts for specific gifts and the residuary estate;

·    superannuation proceeds trusts;

·    life interest estates;

·    right of residence trusts; and

·    protected trusts.

Who? Given the complexity of the features of this Wills product and the need for a will maker to obtain legal advice about them, this document package is available to law firms only. For non-lawyers to take advantage of this product, they should discuss it with their lawyer.

As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions about these products.

Cleardocs 2013 product suite developments

Belinda Thalakada, Customer Support

For regular readers of Cleardocs news, you will have noticed that so far, 2013 has been a prolific year for the Cleardocs team. This year, we’ve added new document packages to our product suite, as well as managing a host of updates to our site and products – making your Cleardocs experience even clearer, simpler, and easier to use.

As there have been numerous developments at Cleardocs, I’m providing a re-cap of our most significant achievements this year which are most relevant to our customers.

Deed of Confidentiality ($99.00):
In February, Cleardocs released its first Deed of Confidentiality. This document package provides you with a deed that describes the purpose(s) for which a party (or parties) agree to disclose confidential information to the other party, and also binds the parties to maintain the confidential nature of the information.

You can create a Deed of Confidentiality for you or your client; our online document creation process enables you to specify the purpose of disclosure of confidential information, as well as tailor the deed to the parties’ specific circumstances.

See the below link for more information:
http://www.cleardocs.com/products-confidentiality-deed.html

Cleardocs documents now available in PDF:
In June, Cleardocs changed the standard document format to PDF. This change was to make creating documents through Cleardocs even simpler than before.

This change means:

• you’ll no longer need to repaginate (Ctrl A, then F9) your documents before you print them;
• you no longer need Word to access your documents, all you need is any PDF reader which is free of charge (we recommend Adobe);
• Mac users will have a better experience; and
• you can now view your documents via a mobile device.

If you’re a professional user you can still download documents as RTF files (Microsoft Word) by changing the settings on your ‘My Profile’ page.

Company and SMSF Minutes & Resolutions Package:
In July and August we also released our first ever subscription products – Minutes & Resolutions for either SMSFs or companies. Unlike our other document packages, this package allows a particular SMSF or company unlimited use of minutes or resolutions for 12 months.

SMSF Minutes & Resolutions ($66)

• You pay $66 per SMSF for 12 months of unlimited use of minutes or resolutions for that fund
• There are 14 different minutes or resolutions to choose from which deal with SMSF administration, such as changing the fund’s name, adding a member, winding up the fund etc. (see full list here)
• If you purchase the Cleardocs SMSF set up, SMSF Update package, or SMSF Change of Trustee package, you're able to simultaneously purchase the SMSF Minutes & Resolutions Package use at 15% off.

Company Minutes & Resolutions ($77)

• You pay $77 per company for  12 months of unlimited use of minutes or resolutions for that company
• There are 24 different minutes or resolutions to choose from which deal with company administration, such as appointing/retiring officeholders, transferring shares, deregistering the company etc. (see full list here)
• If you purchase either Cleardocs Company Registration or Registration Documents only package, you're able to simultaneously purchase the SMSF Minutes & Resolutions Package use at 15% off.

The annual fee allows you to use this Package for more only one company, or SMSF.

ClearWill Online ($165.00)

We have long been keen to release The ClearWill Online product, so it was an exciting time for us in August when we finally added the Wills document package to our Estate Planning suite. This document package can be used to create a comprehensive will, suitable for use Australia wide.

Developed in response to customer needs and feedback, ClearWill Online is designed to cover a variety of circumstances and a range of situations. The Cleardocs interface enables you to tailor the will to cater for various situations; there is a list of clauses you can choose from to include in your will such as:

• whether the will is to survive your future or a subsequent marriage;
• appointments of guardians for children under 18 years old;
• specific gifts of property or cash, and more.

Click here to view a full list of possible clauses you can choose to include in your (or your client’s) will.

These are only some of the many exciting developments at Cleardocs this year, with many more products, changes, and updates to come in the future.