Do You Have A Economic Game-Plan For When You Depart this life?
Being Chartered Accountants we are often faced with resolving the economic affairs of clients passing away unpredictably. If plans for financial management have not been put in place, this can cause grim problems for those left after.
Here’s a plain checklist that can help. It’s our responsibility to ensure we do these things before we conk out:
1. Note the name of your bank account numbers and passwords. Keep this information private. Put it with your lawyer or your accountant or better still, both professionals. Make sure that the record is only to be opened and understand upon your end.
2. Note a written letter to your spouse or family, your lawyer or your accountant. Stipulate the steps that ought to be taken on your passing. For example, does somebody owe you some money which hasn’t been recorded in say your monetary statements but which you would like collected on your death? Do you need to contribute your organs?
Document your wishes so they are simple to stick to and have no doubt? Again, specify that the document ought to only be opened and read upon your death.
3. Do you have a recent Will? Make sure you do and that your lawyer, accountant and your partner have a copy of that Will.
4. Do not rescind or stop a life insurance policy without having an substitute policy set up.
5. Keep a duplicate of your life cover policy with your lawyer, accountant or other half.
6. Make sure the policy for life insurance is recorded in the names of the Trustees of your Family Trust.
7. Go ahead and have a Trust, but ensure that chattels that are business are not mixed with possessions that are business connected. For instance, put personal assets such in the role of your family home in your Family Trust and keep your business property, such in the role of the shares in your business in your Trading Trust.
8. Have a current Memorandum of requests for each of your Trusts. Tell your surviving Trustees in your Memorandum of wishes accurately what you would like done with the property of the Trust when you pass away.
9. Leave a duplicate of your current Memorandum of requests with your lawyer, accountant and surviving family.
10. Do you have a game plan for your company if you are a business owner? What exactly ought to happen on your end? Who should be put in control until your Trustees or your Executors can resolve matters? Register this in writing in detail. If you have a viable business this plan will certainly be essential to ensuring your business survives after your death.
11. Take into account to leave a set of house keys, company keys, and so on with a friend so that somebody has access to your business and your home. Commit to memory, if you live alone, pets and pot plants still need attention and care.
calculatedThere will undeniably be other factors that ought to be considered and there will be many more suggestions you can find. The above is not planned to be a full list. If you stick to these suggestions it may make things easier for those left behind so that they can on with grieving their loss.
HTML clipboardPaul Easton works with Matthew Gilligan – an accountant and partner at Gilligan Rowe & Associates Ltd (GRA). GRA is an accounting firm specialising in property and business accounting
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This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 3:42 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.