Need a will? You may not be able to see the Public Trustee…

From 1 July 2019 the Public Trustee will no longer prepare Wills or Enduring Power of Attorney documents for the general public unless you are a concession card holder, Centrelink recipient or subject to administration or protection Orders.

To be eligible to access the Public Trustee services you must hold one of the following concession cards:

1. Pension Concession Card
2. Gold Card from the Department of Veterans Affairs
3. Totally and Permanent Incapacitated
4. Extreme Disablement Adjustment
5. War Widow
6. DVA Gold Card (with more than 80 impairment points)
7. Low Income Health Care Card
8. Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

OR you must be in receipt of one of the following payments from Centrelink:

1. Newstart Allowance
2. Sickness Allowance
3. Widow Allowance
4. Youth Allowance
5. Partner Allowance
6. Parenting Payment
7. Special Benefit
8. Community Development Employment Project;
9. New Enterprise Incentive Scheme
10. ABSTUDY
11. Austudy
12. Farm Household Allowance
13. War widow pension (under United Kingdom or New Zealand legislation)

If you don’t meet the above criteria and don’t already have a Will or Enduring Power of Attorney in place (or you wish to update your documents previously prepared by the Public Trustee) you will now need to see a solicitor privately.

Seeing a solicitor privately does not involve a significant expense and will bring about peace of mind that you have prepared a legally valid Will which ensures that your estate will be distributed in accordance with your wishes when you are no longer with us.

It is important people seek expert legal advice when preparing or updating their Wills. The risks of preparing ‘home kit wills’ is far too great and often not realised until you are no longer with us, causing difficulty for your family and friends left behind.

Furthermore, a home kit Will is limited in its capacity to deal with complex family or financial structures and mistakes are very easily made. Therefore, the real cost of a homemade will is to your loved ones after you pass away.

The service provided by an experienced wills and estates lawyers is far more comprehensive than a homemade will.

At TGB we provide advice in respect to taxation, superannuation and the Will we draft for you includes extra powers in it to make sure your executors have the power to make the process as efficient and as tax effective as possible.

There’s a lot to consider when making your Will, but it is also one of the kindest things you can do for your family. Taking the first positive step and having your affairs in order will ease the burden on loved ones and be a weight off your mind. Once you’ve taken these preliminary steps your lawyer will be able to do the rest!

For further information or assistance contact the TGB Wills and Estates team at your nearest office, or start your Will online TODAY!