Estate Planning
The will
Items not in a will
Items that aren’t distributed via a Will include:
- Interest in a property owned as a joint tenant. Often the family home is held in joint tenancy. The ownership reverts to the other joint owner on death.
- Bank accounts held in joint names revert to the joint owner on death.
- Insurance policy proceeds with another person or entity nominated as beneficiary or owned on your life by another person or entity.
- Assets within a corporate structure. For example, if an individual drives a company car, the car is not owned by the individual. They can only include the shares of the company (and not the assets of the company), which they personally own, in their Will.
- Superannuation benefits, unless the member has elected to have their superannuation death benefits paid to their estate (or executor of the deceased estate), or the trustee, under its discretionary powers, has decided to pay a death benefit to the estate.
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