Wills Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast
Professional Concierge Will Service
A Will without the hassle.
A Will without the hassle.
We will provide you a traditional Will drafted by professional experienced lawyers without the hassle of complicated forms, boring meetings and red-tape.
Our Professional Will Service has enabled us to be awarded the Client Choice Best Will & Estates Law Firm in all of Australia
If any of the following apply then our professional Will service is for you:
At Cudmore Legal, our simple, easy and professional Will service provides clients with:
If you don’t have a valid Will you may be found intestate. That means if you have a Will from a Will Kit or Online Will Service, and it’s not valid – you may be considered intestate.
The laws of intestate change and vary but generally, in Queensland they are:
Married or defacto With Children = spouse receives first $150,000.00 + all household
chattels, then the balance of the estate is divided equally amongst spouse and children.
Married or de facto, No Children = spouse gets everything.
Single, no Children, parents alive = parents get everything.
If one parent has passed, then the surviving parent gets everything.
Single, no children, no parents = siblings get everything in equal shares.
If one of your siblings dies before you and they had children, that siblings share will
go to their children.
Single, no children, no parents, no nieces or nephews = divided between your relatives
on your mums and dad’s side.
Single with Children = children get everything in equal shares. If one of your children has predeceased you and they have children, then that child’s share will pass to their children (your grandchildren).
We’re going to tell it to you straight. Dying without a Will is not an option. But that doesn’t mean you should instantly opt for a Will Kit or Online Will. Will Kits and Online Wills usually aren’t checked by lawyers. And even if they are, Will laws differ from state to state, it’s important that you engage a lawyer in your state who understands the law and is qualified to practice in your state.
Assets or no assets, no Will or an invalid Will is going to make things incredibly difficult for your family to distribute your estate, and even worse, your estate can end up in the hands of someone who might not have deserved or needed it.
We also know that getting your Will done may be at the bottom of you’re already long to-do list. We will make the whole process as fast and painless as possible.
A Will is basically a list of your last wishes that comes into effect after your death. Our Brisbane Will team can draft a professional simple Will, including meeting with a lawyer for execution and finalisation.
Usually, a Will consists of:
We strongly recommend that you review your Will every few years to reassess your situation and evaluate your Will so that it accurately reflects your wishes and intentions and also your estate at the time of passing.
This is particularly important where you have accumulated further assets, had more children, or executors or beneficiaries have passed away or lost capacity.
Where you are changing the nominated Executors or Testamentary Guardians, we recommend communicating your intentions to the relevant parties concerned so that there are no surprises later on.
It depends on a lot of factors. If you don’t have a Will, your estate gets distributed per the state’s rules of intestacy. Depending on your circumstances, this may mean that your estate will not pass automatically to your spouse and other individuals who you never intended to benefit from your estate may have a claim to your property.
You can’t put a price on your family’s peace of mind. To protect them in the event of your death spend time and money now and save them potentially thousands in legal fees in the future should you die intestate (without a Will) or your Will be found invalid. It’s so important to have a proper Will, read more below to understand that even a ‘Simple’ Will requires considerable thought.
Don’t just take our word for it
“Cudmore Legal were very patient and answered my questions professionally and interactively. I felt comfortable to seek advice and was given appropriate guidelines so that I had confidence to make my decisions. “
Anne Copeland, FirmChecker
In your Will, you can leave specific gifts, like a particular item of jewellery or non-specific gifts like your entire stamp collection.
You can also relieve your loved ones of debts they may owe you.
However, care should be taken when making gifts. Gifts can be invalidated and intended beneficiaries can miss out. This can significantly complicate a deceased estate and open it up to dependency claims and other issues.
The issues that arise with gifts are complicated but they can easily be avoided. In our professional Will service, we will give you legal advice on any gifts you include in your Will to ensure smooth sailing for your loved ones in the future.
Watch our video to learn more.
The executor is the person that is in charge of handling your estate in accordance with your Will. It’s a very important choice to make for a very important position. Some of the things to consider before making this choice are the:
In our professional Will service, we will advise on your choice of executors to ensure they are both legally and practically good choices.
When deciding on who to appoint as a testamentary guardian, you should take into consideration:
“They kept us informed of every step in the process with both phone calls and emails“
John, FIrmChecker
When preparing your Will, you may wish to specify what happens to your body, such as whether you prefer to be buried or cremated.
If you do not specify in your Will whether you prefer to be buried or cremated, then your executor has the power to decide whether you should be buried or cremated and will make all the decisions about the funeral or cremation. This choice can cause significant conflict and pressure for executor/s. For this reason, we always include a a simple burial or cremation clause in all of our professional Wills.
The residue of your estate is anything left in your estate that you have not specifically dealt with in your will. This is often referred to as the ‘rest and residue”.
The rest and residue of your estate is a gift of everything left in your estate once all of the specific gifts, non-specific gifts, debts and taxes have been distributed or paid from the estate.
It is important to nominate beneficiaries in your Will who are to receive your rest and residue, as failing to do so will mean that it will be dealt with according to the rules of intestacy.
Should your estate pass to your minor children, then they will receive their inheritance when they attain the age of 18 years.
Generally, the age for inheritance is 18 years, however you may wish to specify another age that they must attain before they receive their inheritance – for example, 21 or 25 years of age.
In this regard, the Executor of your Will will hold the inheritance for your children until they reach the age specified in the Will.
In our professional Will service we let you choose how old you want minor beneficiaries to be.
“Questions I asked were answered with options available to my specific needs which allowed me to make confident decisions.”
Bronwyn Troth, FirmChecker
Safe custody is a storage facility provided by law firms for storing your important, original legal documents such as original Wills and original Enduring Power of Attorneys.
We strongly recommend storing your original Will in a fire-proof safe. If you do not have access to these facilities, then we recommend utilising the safe custody option that we offer our clients.
In this regard, we will safely store your original legal documents.
If you require certified copies of your original documents, then we may do this for you.
You are also welcome to collect your original documents at any time. We will just require your photo identification to be sighted and an Acknowledgement of Receipt to be signed upon collection of the original documents.
If you decide to leave someone out of your will, such as a family member, being a partner, biological child or dependant, then your estate will be at high risk of the excluded family member contesting the Will.
There are laws in places that allow for eligible persons to make a claim upon your estate should they not receive what they consider to be an adequate provision under you Will.
In this regard, we strongly recommend seeking the advice of a lawyer before you attempt to exclude someone from your Will. Although there may not be much you can do to stop someone contesting your Will, we can at least provide you some rudimentary advice on your situation.
A Will isn’t the only document you should be considering right now. An Enduring Power Of Attorney is often done along side a Will. It’s a separate document that comes into effect while you are still alive.
It’s horrible to think about, but have you ever considered who would look after your financial or health decisions if something were to happen to you? For example, if you have to have an extended stay in a hospital and have lost the capacity to act? Who would access and control your accounts to pay for your medical need?
– Who would stop payments on personal loans or credit cards?
– Who would talk to the providers for gas or internet to pay bills or get things fixed?
– What if this a provider for the whole family and your power goes out? Who can talk to them?
Contacting every company you ever have to deal with and updating your records can remedy the above issues. Or, you can do one single document an Enduring Power of Attorney.
It allows your Power of Attorney (usually your spouse or other trusted family member or friend) to act in either or both financial and health matters. They can do almost anything you can do.
Many people assume that just because they are someone’s spouse or parent, sibling or child, they can step in and act on their behalf. But the reality is, it is much more complicated than that.
Most companies won’t let you act for someone without previous authority, and even then, there are limited things you can do. For example, phone providers will let you provide authority for someone to act on your account, but the person you select often can’t cancel or change the account without a Power of Attorney.
An attorney for personal matters (including health matters) can only make decisions for you when you cannot make those decisions. You can decide when your attorney’s power to make decisions for financial matters begins, including:
– when you no longer have the capacity to make those decisions
– immediately
– from a specific date
– in particular circumstances or occasions.
To make an Enduring Power of Attorney, you must be 18 or older and understand the document you are signing.
You must also be capable of making the Enduring Power of Attorney freely and voluntarily—not due to pressure from someone else.
You must sign your e Enduring Power of Attorney in the presence of an eligible witness. In signing the Enduring Power of Attorney, the witness certifies that you appeared to have the capacity to make the Enduring Power of Attorney.