Estate planning just another insurance policy
People need to treat estate planning like any other insurance policy, according to Equity Trustees senior manager for estate planning Anna Hacker.
“The will is an insurance of sorts, it covers you just in case,” she said.
An estate plan would also insure against any damaging fight with non-relatives over the assets of the deceased, according to Hacker.
Hacker said she had seen many scenarios of potential or informal partners causing problems by trying to claim part of the deceased’s assets.
Additionally, younger people especially may have several superannuation accounts that add up to a bigger estate than they think they have, she said.
Hacker warned that advisers needed to take a more proactive role to ensure their clients have an estate plan in place as well as making sure they have a will.
Advisers often ‘tick the box’ on whether clients have a will, but the question should really include whether they have a proper estate plan, Hacker said.
“Someone could have a will that is written on the back of cereal box, and it’s not really enough to ask,” she said.
Planners could use methods such as superannuation advice to gain the face-to-face time with younger people that other professions involved in estate planning – like lawyers – didn’t have the ability to do, she said.
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