Who you appoint as the executors of your Will is an important decision. After all, these are the people responsible for carrying out your wishes after you pass away. However, you may wonder whether your executors should be paid or receive a gift in recognition of their efforts in administering your estate.
Imagine this: You’ve carefully made your Will, making sure your loved ones will be taken care of when you’re gone. You’ve left a generous gift to your son, Jake. But then, something unexpected happens—Jake passes away before you do.
When it comes time to make an Estate Plan, most people have at least some idea who they want to give their wealth to. In many cases, they first want to give it to their partner, and then after their partner dies, they want to share it equally among their children. This is what we call the ‘standard’ or default choice.
For families with considerable wealth, there is one more ‘layer’ of planning you must consider. This is the scenario if one of your children dies, either before or after inheriting.
Once again, there tends to be a default in this scenario, that is, the children of your child (i.e. your grandchildren) will take their parent’s share. In this manner, the wealth passes down your ‘family’s bloodline‘.
This sounds simple and appropriate, but it does raise several critically important issues – that justify more thought.
Most people who advise on testamentary trusts talk about the ‘tax benefits’. This emphasis is plain wrong. Why? Because, a simple Will (without a testamentary trust) is more likely to do harm, and to lead to family disharmony, than one with a testamentary trust.
When you give an outright gift to someone under your Will, the beneficiary receives the gift from your executor, with no strings attached. The beneficiary can do what they like with it. If you impose any rules on the gift, then you have effectively created a ‘testamentary trust’, and things get a little more complicated.
‘Testamentary Trusts’ come in all shapes and sizes. From the very simple, to the super sophisticated. This article discusses some of the more common options you may wish to consider for your Testamentary Trusts.