Understanding Property Law

There are many aspects to property law that you may wish to consider. As with other aspects of law, this is one area where planning in advance can reap benefits:

Trusts

A trust is a written agreement between you and people you trust (the trustees). You appoint trustees to look after your assets and/or other personal affairs. The trustees hold the assets you have transferred into your trust on behalf of the beneficiaries.

Trusts can generally be divided into charitable and private trusts. A private trust is created for the benefit of one or more individuals (beneficiaries) named by you. These types of trusts are useful for preventing disputes within families or interested groups, and protecting you, your beneficiaries and your assets from risks such as future estate duty, residential care, business risk or matrimonial disputes.

Asset protection is often an important reason for creating a trust, particularly for those who own a business or are contemplating marriage. With the new provisions of the Property (Relationships) Act of 2002, a trust may be a wise step for you to ensure your assets are protected in the future.

Wills

Another aspect of property law is wills. It is important that you prepare a will before it’s too late. By doing so, you ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes. You can specify who you’d like to provide for, care you wish to arrange for any children under 18 years of age as well as funeral plans. It also gives details of an executor and trustee to carry out your wishes.

The executor and trustee are responsible for your estate administration, which begins once you pass away and concludes when all aspects relating to the will are completed. Estate administration often requires specialist skills due to an increasing amount of claims that can be made against a will. Discuss this with your lawyer at the time of making your will, as you may wish to consider legal representation.

Related to this matter are enduring powers of attorney, which are a legal documents giving someone you nominate the power to act for you if you lose the ability to make decisions yourself. There are two types of enduring power of attorney. One is for your money and property affairs, and the other is for your personal care and welfare. Without an enduring power of attorney, no one else can deal with your affairs on your behalf, which may result in your spouse or family having to go to court to achieve this.

Property law is all about acting now, while you have time up your sleeve. At Smith and Partners, we have specialist lawyers in all aspects of property law ready to help.