Everyone should put their affairs in order by having an estate plan.  An estate plan includes a Will, Power of Attorney and an Enduring Guardianship.  An estate plan will provide your loved ones with peace of mind should difficult times arrive.  Your estate plan should be reviewed from time to time to take as you move through the different stages of your life.

Wills

A Will is one of the most important legal documents you will ever make, as it sets out what you want to have happen to your assets when you die.  It is also a document which must be prepared carefully, and by a lawyer, to ensure that it gives effect to your intentions.  For more information, please read our article entitled ‘Wills – To do it yourself, or not?’.

Powers of Attorney

A Power of Attorney is a document which sets out who will make decisions of a financial nature for you while you are alive in certain circumstances, including where you are no longer able to make those decisions yourself.  It is not automatically the case that a particular loved one, such as your spouse or de facto partner can make those decisions on your behalf, and therefore a Power of Attorney is a powerful document which provides you and your loved ones with peace of mind.

Enduring Guardianship

There is law dealing with who can make certain decisions about medical or dental treatment for you (that person is called the ‘person responsible’), which will operate in the absence of, or in conjunction with, an Appointment of Enduring Guardianship.  However, an Appointment of Enduring Guardianship goes further than the authority of a ‘person responsible’ and sets out who will make other decisions of a medical, dental and lifestyle nature for you while you are alive but not able to make those decisions for yourself.  It gives you the opportunity to decide who you want to have make those decisions, and how you want them to make those decisions.  It is another document which provides you and your loved ones with peace of mind should difficult times come.

Let our knowledge be your edge.  Contact us now.

Articles about Wills

Articles about Powers of Attorney

Articles about Enduring Guardianships