Estate Executors – Know your tax obligations
Agreeing to be executor of an estate means accepting obligations to the tax office. As the executor, you are answerable to the taxpayer for all of the estate's income and take over the deceased’s responsibilities for launching tax returns. Until the estate’s assets and income have been fully distributed, you will have to work out […]
Trusts – Losing out on land tax threshold
Who pays land tax? If you own, or jointly own, any property in NSW that is not your principal place of residence (your home) and the total taxable value of your land exceeds the land tax threshold, then you may need to pay land tax. How is land tax calculated? If your total land value […]
Your will – where is it?
Where should you keep your will? Keep your will in a safe place. It is preferable not to keep the will yourself in case it is mislaid. If the will is mislaid, it may be presumed to have been revoked. Solicitors hold wills on behalf of clients, usually at no charge. You should keep a copy […]
Planning ahead – what is an Enduring Guardian?
An Enduring Guardian is someone you appoint, at a time when you have capacity, to make personal, health or lifestyle decisions on your behalf should you lose the capacity to make them for yourself. When you appoint an Enduring Guardian, you should choose which decision-making powers you want your Enduring Guardian to have. For example, you […]
Homemade wills – when the judge decides
A will prepared without legal advice may not express the deceased's intentions. There are many cases looking at ‘homemade’ or ‘DIY’ wills. In one case, the Courts had to interpret a homemade will for an estate with a gross value of about $3.6 million. The deceased had died in 2006, aged 83. He had seven […]