Welcome to Pritchard Lees

Accounting For Success

We at Pritchard Lees exist to service and add value for our clients.

Whether we assist in Minimising Tax Payable, Maximising a Refund, Business Planning, Tax Structuring or the many other services that, as Chartered Accountants we can offer, our aim is to stand by your side.

For our Business Clients, we strive to become a part of your business as a team member so we may be of optimum value to you.

Our Areas of Expertise include: Taxation Services & Structuring, Business Start Ups, Purchases & Sales, Valuations, Budgeting & Cash Flows, Succession & Estate Planning, Capital Gains Tax, GST & BAS, Superannuation Services, Company Secretarial, Finance Applications, Audit & Forensic Services ... and more.

For those yet to become Clients, we look forward to adding an exciting new dimension to all your Business and Taxation dealings.

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"Sound advice from Pritchard Lees has helped us significantly grow our business over the past 4 years - seeing a 40% increase in profits year on year. As we run a Trust Account for our business, we need a solid, punctual and reliable accountant. I can't recommend Pritchard Lees highly enough."  - Perrie Croshaw, 2011

Wills & Powers of Attorney: How Prepared Are You?

Preparing for your family’s future

No-one wants to think about death in the prime of life. But it’s important to decide what will happen to your assets when you die. Find out how you can give instructions to your family about your legal and medical preferences should you fall ill or lose the capacity to make those decisions yourself.

Wills

A will takes effect when you die. It can cover things like:

• How your assets will be shared
• Who will look after your children if they are still young
• What trusts you want established
• How much money you’d like donated to charities
• Instructions about your funeral

Your will can be written and updated by private trustees and solicitors, who usually charge a fee. There is no charge if you get the Public Trustee in your state to prepare or update your will. You may be charged, however, after you die, if they act as the executor of your will.

You can also buy a will kit from Australia Post, but it’s a good idea to ask a solicitor to review your will to make sure everything is in order. If a will isn’t signed and witnessed properly, it will be invalid.

Keep your will valid and up to date as your legal rights change, specifically if you:

• Marry, divorce or separate
• Have children or grandchildren
• If your spouse or beneficiaries die
• If you have a significant change in financial circumstances

If you die intestate (without a will), the government pays your bills and taxes from your assets, then distributes the remainder, based on a pre-determined formula; certain family members receive more.

If you die intestate and don’t have any living relatives, your estate is paid to the state government.

Estate Plans

An estate plan includes documents that govern how you will be cared for, medically and financially, if you become unable to make your own decisions in the future. It includes your will as well as any other directions on how you want your assets distributed after your death.

You must be over 18 and mentally competent when you draw up the legal agreements that form your estate plan. Key documents might include:

• Will
• Superannuation death nominations
• Testamentary trusts
• Powers of attorney
• Power of guardianship
• Anticipatory direction (end of life decisions about what treatment you would accept or refuse if you were terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state)

If you have made a binding nomination in your super or insurance policies, the beneficiaries named in those policies will override anyone mentioned in your will. If you have a family trust, the trust continues and its assets will also be distributed according to the trust deed, no matter what is written in your will.

You should ask a legal professional to check your estate plan. A good estate plan should minimise the tax paid by your heirs, and eliminate any family squabbles.

Powers of Attorney

Appointing someone as your power of attorney gives them the legal authority to look after your affairs on your behalf.

Powers of attorney depend on which state or territory you are in: they can refer to just financial powers, or they might include broader guardianship powers. You will need to check with your local Public Trustee.

Generally speaking, there are different types of power of attorney:

• A general power of attorney is where you appoint someone to make financial and legal decisions for you, usually for a specified period of time, for example if you’re overseas and unable to manage your legal affairs at home. This person’s appointment becomes invalid if you lose the capacity to make decisions for yourself.
• An enduring power of attorney is where you appoint a person to make financial and legal decisions for you if you lose the capacity to make your own decisions.
• A medical power of attorney can make only medical decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so yourself.

You can prepare a few other documents to help your appointees and family as you grow older, including:

• An enduring power of guardianship that gives a person the right to choose where you live and make decisions.
• An anticipatory direction records your wishes about medical treatment in the future, in case you become unable to express those wishes yourself.
• An advance healthcare directive (or living will) documents how you would like your body to be dealt with if you lose the capacity to make those decisions yourself.

The documents you choose to draw up will depend on your unique situation, and the responsibilities you are happy to entrust in others. Get legal advice if you are not sure.

Choosing your power of attorney

Try to nominate people that you know are trustworthy, financially astute, and likely to be around when you need them.

Your legal and financial housekeeping

Once your paperwork is in order, a simple thing you can do – to help your executor and family – is to list the legal documents you have.

It can also help you to keep a record of your personal information and notes on how your legal documents, assets and investments are arranged.

Here is a list of key documents to keep:

• Birth certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Will
• Enduring power of attorney
• Advance health directive
• Personal insurance policies
• House deeds
• Home and contents insurance
• Deeds and insurance policies for any other real estate you own
• Bank account details
• Superannuation papers
• Investment documents (securities, share certificates, bonds)
• Medicare card
• Medical insurance details
• Pensioner concession card
• Any pre-payments of funeral investments

A good will and estate plan can help make sure your wishes are carried out after you die, or if you are no longer able to make your own decisions.

For more information on wills and powers of attorney, please contact us.

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If you have any queries in relation to the above information, please do not hesitate to contact us on (02) 9264 9688.