estate Planning

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Would you family know where to find your financial records, titles, and insurance policies if something happened to you?

“The only thing we take with us when we are long gone, is what we leave behind.”

The best time to plan your estate is now. Planning consists of deciding on steps or actions to be taken in order to realize a predetermined goal. Deciding on steps and actions to be taken to acquire assets (an estate), or to protect, conserve or apply such assets is referred to as estate and financial planning. Planning only make sense if the plan is implemented.

Planning objectives: have enough money to be able to live comfortably; have enough money to make adequate provision for the care of oneself and one’s dependents, at retirement or in the case of disability; sufficiently protect estate assets to prevent them from being lost; sufficiently protect estate assets from the tax optimization; to ensure an administered of the estate at death, to ensure that the correct beneficiaries obtain their inheritances without undue problems.

An estate begins with a will or living trust: 
A will can be defined as a written document in which someone, in accordance with ruling legal requirements (Wills Act No.7 of 1953, as amended) stipulates what should happen to his/her estate after his/her death. If a person dies and leaves an estate (assets and liabilities) which cannot be distributed in terms of a will, the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 comes into operation, and the distribution of the estate is made according to the provisions of this Act. Unlike a will, a trust doesn’t have to die with you. Assets can stay in your trust, managed by the trustee/s you selected, until the beneficiaries reach the age you want them to inherit. Your trust can continue longer to provide for a loved one with special needs, or to protect the assets from beneficiaries’ creditors, spouses, and irresponsible spending.

Planning your estate will help you organize your records and titles and beneficiary designations. Would you family know where to find your financial records, titles, and insurance policies if something happened to you?

Herewith a list of documentation to be kept in a file:

  • Copies of Identity documents (parents and children)
  • Ante-nuptial Contract and Marriage certificate/Divorce order
  • Copies of Birth certificates
  • Will Trusts Insurance portfolio
  • Life/Annuities/Endowments/Motor and House Insurance, (as well as a list of policies ceded to the Bank or other Institutions)
  • Deed of transfer/ Information on fixed assets
  • Interest in Close Corporations
  • Interest in Companies Income tax number and office Investment certificates
  • Foreign investments
  • Licenses of fire arms and drivers licenses
  • Registration certificates of all vehicles
  • Lease agreements, Partnerships, etc
  • Medical aid name and number
  • Debtors and other money owed to you Correspondence

Knowing you have a properly prepared plan in place – one that contains your instructions and will protect your family – will give you and your family peace of mind. Don’t wait. You can put something in place now and change later…. which is exactly the way estate planning should be done.