Our professional consultants’ welcome clients coming for advice or those wishing to execute the last will and testament. We listen carefully and take detailed instructions from clients and keep proper record of the meeting. Where possible, we advise clients on what can and cannot be done in the process of drafting a will.

 

A will is a legal document that stipulates how the assets accumulated during your lifetime should be distributed if you die.

 

Taking time to prepare a will now can prevent unintended consequences that often occur if one avoids executing it.

 

Having a will allows you to determine the distribution of your assets to the people whom you consider as deserving heirs.

 

It also provides you the opportunity to nominate an executor with powers of assumption, select trustees to take care of the estates assets, the administration thereon, have comfort of knowing that all the details of your last wishes are carried out and strict legal requirements followed.

 

FACT: It is critically important that any Will that gets executed is valid in all material fact. There are vital factors to be taken into account when considering the validity of a Will particularly by our Courts.

 

a) The person signing the Will need to have cognitive appreciation of the legal consequences accompanying the signing of the document.

 

b) Applicable formalities prescribed in the Wills Act (No. 7 of 1953) have to be fully complied with at all material time. A Will need to be always kept up to date (relevant) and appropriate, clearly setting out how and to whom you want your assets to devolve upon your death.

 

To avoid being drawn into the complexities of Intestate Succession, make a decision to DRAW up a legal Will today, the benefits are immeasurable.

 

Peace of mind

Administration process is faster

Reduced executor’s fees

Family receives higher inheritance

 

 

Succession plan for a Family business

 

When making planning decisions on asset distribution, either before or after death, consideration needs to be given to the correct and most tax-effective financial structures and arrangements to protect a family’s interests, now and in the future.

 

The most common forms of asset ownership for family-run businesses include personal ownership, where assets are commonly dealt with in a will as well as other plans e.g.

 

held within a family trust

held within superannuation (retirement plan)

held within companies (business).

 

Fact:

When undertaken properly, estate planning can ensure that a family-run business and the assets within that business are transferred to the intended people at the appropriate time.

 

Alternatively, it may also focus the planner on the commercial difficulties in leaving the management of the business to a person not competent to manage it as the planner (entrepreneur) would have done. This may result in planning for a sale of the business.

 

Similarly, dependence of the planner on wealth extracted from the business to fund their retirement strategy may also result in an early sale of the business. Indeed, the question must be asked; can the planner afford to not sell the business for maximum value within a reasonable time from now on and thus risk not having access to that capital as they age?

 

Estate planning for family businesses involves a complete consideration of assets and liabilities, ownership structures and insurances to ensure that the transfer and control of assets are managed to maximise the benefit to the deceased’s estate and beneficiaries.

 

When it comes to family-owned businesses, estate planning will also involve an assessment of asset value — specifically, what a person’s assets are today and what they are likely to be worth in the future, such as in retirement or at death. ‘… a strategy can be put in place and documented to deal with either structuring the ownership of those assets today and/or working out how they will be passed on in the future and managed … [to achieve the desired outcomes of the family business].’

 

When making planning decisions on asset distribution, either before or after death, consideration also needs to be given to the correct and most tax-effective financial structures and arrangements to protect a family’s interests, now and in the future.

 

Fact:

Holding assets in companies is another approach that can also assist with asset protection and income planning. However, because assets that are owned within a company are not governed by a Will, they cannot be passed to beneficiaries.

 

For example

 

A business factory cannot be passed to children via a Will if it is owned by the company. However, shares in a company can be passed on in a Will, subject to ownership arrangements.

 

An example

 

If the shares are jointly owned, they will bypass the estate and go directly to the surviving owner, or if they are left to a child of the deceased in a Will, they will go to the child.

 

When it comes to companies, financial advisers helping out the planner need to look closer at what company shares are on issue and what will happen to them on the death of the planner (testator). It is also important to consider whether the executor will have the power to exercise any rights attached to the shares during the estate administration process.

 

The constitution of a family company will dictate how many directors there can be, their voting rights and, ultimately, the director who controls the assets. On the other hand, the shareholders have some rights with regard to how those assets are managed and who the directors are going to be.