What happens to you and your assets in the event that you are severely ill or incapacitated, for example, if you fall into a coma or suffer from a brain injury, or if you die?
If you wish to have the assurance that your assets will be managed or distributed in accordance with your intentions when you die, or that the right decisions will be made for you by a trusted person in the event that you are no longer capable of making those decisions for yourself, then you will need to plan ahead.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

The Will relates to the death of a person. The Power of Attorney relates to when a person is alive but incapacitated or unable or unavailable to attend to personal and financial matters. Given that our privacy laws are very stringent; it pays to have someone being able to attend to your respective matters in your absence.
A Power of Attorney is a legal document that enables you to appoint a trusted person to deal with your financial affairs or make certain decisions on your behalf in the event that you are unable to manage them yourself.

MEDICAL TREATMENT DECISION MAKER (MTDM)

This document will only come into effect when you, the Principal lose capacity. This means that you are unable to make decision on your own, such as being in a coma.
You can have one or two medical treatment decision makers. You can appoint more than one person to be your MTDM; however, there will only ever be one MTDM with authority at any one time. The order or priority will be based on the order in which they are listed in the MTDM document, for example, the first MTDM will take priority over the second MTDM and so on.
There is now no option for a ‘joint’ MTDM.
The MTDM must make decisions on the basis that he/she reasonably believe that the Principal would make the same decision.

WILL

A Will is a legal document that sets out your wishes for the distribution of your assets upon your death. If you do not have a Will when you die, then all of your assets will be distributed pursuant to intestacy law. Making a Will ensures that not only are your loved ones properly provided for but that your assets may be distributed to other persons or charities that are not covered by intestacy laws.

LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION

If you do not have a Will, upon your demise, your next of kin will make an application to the Supreme Court for Letters of Administration.
Upon receiving the Letters of Administration, the Administrator will be in a position to deal with your estate in accordance with the law.
If you wish to apply for Letters of Administration for a deceased estate and require our assistance, please contact one of our lawyers with estate planning expertise.

PROBATE

If you have a Will, upon your demise your Executor will make an application to the Supreme Court for a Grant of Probate. This is in effect proving your Will.
Upon receiving the Grant of Probate, your Executor will be in the position to deal with your wishes and distribute your assets in accordance with your Will.

If you have been appointed as an Executor of a deceased estate and require assistance in applying for a Grant of Probate or require any advice in relation to your duties, we are here to help.

If you are one of the beneficiaries in a Will, and you are unsure about your beneficial entitlements and rights, and you wish to speak to someone we can assist you.

If you have been left out of the Will but feel that you should be one of the beneficiaries, and you need to speak to someone about what rights you may have, contact our office as soon as possible because in many such cases involving Wills, there is a limited time within which to act or bring an action.

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