Life events happen when you least expect it – are you prepared for the future?
How important is it to you to preserve your wealth for future generations? You work hard to accumulate wealth either by way of employment or running your business. In business, things don’t always go to plan, and unexpected things can crop up, often through reasons beyond your control.
If you are a sole trader or have a partnership, your personal assets can be exposed in the event of something going wrong which is why you need an asset protection strategy in place to protect personal assets, like your family home.
Recent changes in law, means the old strategy of a spouse owning the family home just doesn’t cut it anymore. Having the correct business structure is the starting point in this process. Entities like companies, trusts and others can help in this area. These can also result in a better tax outcome as well. There is no ‘one size fits all’ and deciding on the right structure can be a complex exercise. We have plenty of experience in this area and can help you with this
Succession Planning
When you have your business structure set up to protect your assets, the next step is to consider the succession plan. How do you see the future of your business, when you exit it? Do you want it to pass to the next generation or do you want to sell it? These considerations could also be taken into account when deciding on the best structure and include things like Capital Gains Tax and the Small Business Concessions.
We work with you to set up a succession plan that suits your structure and your vision for the business in the future.
Estate Planning
Taking succession to the next level leads to Estate Planning. Like most people, you likely want to know that your wealth will pass to the next generation, or at least pass to whom you want it to. Unfortunately, Family Law claims can result in the intended recipients not being the ones to receive the inheritance that the deceased person intended.
Recently it has been found that about half of estates are contested, and the success rate of these cases is extremely high.
The traditional method of wealth transfer to the next generations is to direct all assets to your Will. However, directing all assets to the estate may not result in the best tax outcome. For example, superannuation is not part of a person’s estate unless directed to it by the deceased. Also, superannuation going to non-dependent adults attracts tax (usually at 17%).
Carefully establishing an Estate Plan can avoid this. Although Australia does not currently have an inheritance tax, it has been suggested in some government circles as ‘low hanging fruit’. There could be merit in directing wealth transfers to the next generations via vehicles outside the Estate.
Whilst we are not lawyers, we understand the law and create your Estate Plan in order to have an optimum drafting of the will. We do, however, provide you with the considerations that should be taken into account in deciding the best tax outcomes and what they may want to include or exclude from the estate. In this way, the Will becomes an integral part of your Estate Plan..
