Shaun and Dimity are in their mid-fifties and have three children from their marriage: Matthew, aged 23; David, aged 17; and Isobel, aged 15. Shaun has been married before and has one child from that marriage —Annabel, aged 26. Annabel has no contact with her father and blames him for the financial hardships that her mother has experienced since their divorce.

Shaun is employed as an architect while Dimity is a fashion consultant. The couple’s assets, at current market value, consist of the following:

Asset	$
Home and contents	1 050 000
Bank account	30 000
Shares	130 000
Holiday home	680 000
Managed funds	40 000
Life insurance policy	800 000
Self-managed superannuation fund — total (Shaun and Dimity — 50/50)	550 000
Superannuation account — Dimity	60 000

The couple raises the following issues.

• All of the couple’s assets are jointly owned between Shaun and Dimity.
• The couple gave Annabel$180 000to establish a business 3 years ago on the basis that she has no further claim on Shaun’s estate. However, the couple is convinced that Annabel will nevertheless contest Shaun’s will upon his death.
• Shaun's life insurance policy is owned by Dimity.
• Dimity’s individual superannuation fund contains a$150 000life and TPD policy and Dimity has decided to retain this account in order to preserve the insurance policy. Dimity completed a binding death benefit nomination 4 years ago nominating 100% to be paid to Shaun in the event of her death. Both Shaun and Dimity have completed binding death benefit nominations within their SMSF.
• The couple each has a will in place leaving everything to each other. They have each nominated their son David as executor of their respective estates. Shaun and Dimity have appointed each other as their respective general power of attorney.
• Dimity's mother, aged 90, owns an apartment in Queensland. However, the mother is in an aged care facility and in bad health and is no longer living in the apartment. The mother is looking to leave the property to Dimity. The property cost$130 000in 1989 and has a current market value of$510,000.
• The couple’s son, David, has been married for the past 3 years but he and his spouse have experienced marriage problems for some time. Shaun and Dimity would like to gift David$80 000to use as a deposit on a house but, given the marriage problems, do not want the money to be lost in a divorce.
• The couple would like the family assets distributed in a tax-effective manner upon their death.

Shaun and Dimity are looking to review their wills and seek some advice from you on how best to structure their estate-planning needs. You are required to analyse the couple’s situation and detail relevant issues and recommend advice that the couple should consider. 

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Shaun and Dimity are looking to review their wills and seek some advice from you on how best to structure their estateplanning needs You are required ... View the full answer