TRUSTS & ESTATES
Enjoy the peace of mind in knowing your family's security will be taken care of.
Estate Planning Lawyers in Auckland
Family Trust Lawyers in Auckland that You Can Depend On
If you’re looking to protect your assets after you’re gone, talk to Auckland’s expert family trust lawyers at David J Brown & Associates. Our team of Auckland trust lawyers can advise you on the best way to protect your family’s future with a will or trust. Writing a will or setting up a trust are some of the most reliable ways for you to take control of your wealth and to ensure that your assets go to the right people.
If you need good legal advice for trusts, wills and estates, David J Brown and Associates have the experience and expertise to meet your needs. As one of best estate planning lawyers in Auckland, we have everything you need to manage your assets efficiently.
We take a straight forward, professional approach, providing practical legal advice on all aspects of wills, trusts and estate planning.
Our team of trust lawyers are friendly, approachable; you’ll find them easy to talk to. Feel free to ask us any questions on wills and estate planning, and we will be sure to accommodate you and answer your questions in a clear and upfront manner.
Inheritance Law Simplified
We pride ourselves on providing our clients with easy-to-understand advice. We can clarify complex legal matters for you so that you can make an informed decision. Should there be any contentions that arise, we can give you our expert advice on the best course of action to take.
We can also inform you about the different types of trusts and wills, and guide you through the entire process. At David J Brown and Associates, you are treated with the respect and consideration that you deserve.
Our job is to help you save time and money, while putting your mind at ease. You can be confident that we will give you the best possible legal guidance for your case.
Learn more about trusts, wills and estates below.
ESTATE PLANNING LAWYERS IN AUCKLAND
It is essential that you give consideration to the assets that you have, the extent to which there is a debt to a financial institution, and the most desirable form of ownership. People in a second marriage or second relationship and all of us as we get older must give consideration to how assets are owned. If assets are owned jointly, then on the death of one partner/spouse the surviving partner/spouse will inherit the entire asset. This can cause difficulties for children of a former relationship as those children can be disinherited. Joint ownership can also cause difficulties if rest home care is needed later in life. Therefore joint ownership can be a very good thing while people are younger but it can be something to be avoided when we are a lot older and closer to needing care. We can ensure that you have the right mix of ownership and estate planning provisions to achieve the right balance and the right result.
So give consideration to the following:
- Your family
- Your assets
- Form of ownership of assets – is joint the best?
- Joint ownership can be good for people in their 20s, 30s, 40s. But when we are older a different ownership form is better.
FAMILY TRUSTS
Trusts are a sensible and cost effective legal way of protecting property and managing assets. Because assets are owned by the trust rather than an individual, they are protected against creditors – a significant benefit for business owners. The particulars of how a trust is to be managed and who is involved are detailed in a ‘Trust Deed’.
Benefits of a Family Trust:
- To ensure certain assets are transferred to the next generation
- To protect family assets from business creditors
- To protect assets against future relationship partners
- To put you in the position to potentially qualify (more easily) for residential care subsidies.
There are many more benefits to be gained through the set up of a family trust. The team at David J Brown & Associates are dependable family trust lawyers and we can explain how you and your family can gain from a well structured trust. Contact us now. Timing can be everything!
- Base cost where a home is transferred to the Trust is $2,800 plus GST plus disbursements. This is where there is no mortgage to deal with.
- Most people of course have a mortgage. In those situations the usual base cost is $3,500 plus GST plus disbursements.
- Note please that each additional asset transferred to the Trust is normally a further cost of $650 plus GST plus some disbursements.
- We have more comprehensive information which sets out the more specific costs that would be applicable to you which is available on request.
Family Trust Creation and Transfer of Assets to the Trust is all about protection of the assets. There are sometimes “ripple benefits” such as tax savings – but the primary purpose is to protect the assets.
Family Trust – Why? How? When? Cost?
Family Trust Review
Family trusts often need reviewing. If we are uplifting your documents from another law firm, we will review for you all those documents that have been prepared for you by that firm.
Frequently we will find that the Trust Deed will need to be varied; Wills and Memorandum of Wishes need to be redone.
Also as part of the process it is often the case that we can recommend a better form of “trustee/trustees” by not having individuals as trustees but having a “corporate trustee”. This can provide much greater flexibility and also protection with regard to the Bank.
We look forward to assisting you in a review of your Family Trust documentation to get it to be the best that it can be for you.
ESTATES
We look forward to instructions from members of the family to assist you in carefully, sensitively, efficiently administering the estate of the member of your family who has died.
If there is a Will then that will control what is to occur.
- Executors
- Beneficiaries
We might hold the Will for the person who has died. Check with us first. We can give preliminary advice on the phone to a family member (usually the executor) as to practical things to do in the beginning.
We can advise with regard to probate and administration of the estate and all that that entails.
