Why Should You Establish a Trust for Estate Planning? 4 Reasons

One of the most common questions that lawyers get asked is whether a trust is necessary or not. Just in case you didn't know, a living trust gives more control over your assets in the event of incapacitation or death. This means you will have more control or power over how your assets are distributed amongst children or your preferred beneficiaries. There are also other important reasons as to why creating a trust makes sense. Reputable estate planning lawyers in Perth list out the following benefits:

Avoid probate:

Probate is a court-led process, which is complex and time consuming. During the probate process, the court will be examining all the provisions and assets included in the will. There will also be a waiting period, during which the beneficiaries will have no access to any of the funds or properties in the estate. When you have a living trust, you can avoid probate. Your family members don't have to go through the hurdles of this process, thus letting them save their time and money.

Incapacitation:

Another benefit of having a trust is that it can be imposed when you are incapacitated. During such circumstances, a trustee will control your assets and manage them just the way you wanted. 

According to the estate planning lawyers in Perth, your trust should specify in detail how your assets must be taken care of when you are incapacitated, and what needs to be done after your death. However, this is not the same as a power of attorney. Married couples can also establish a trust in order to set aside assets for the surviving spouse.

Protect Your Assets:

Having a trust will secure your property from creditors or lawsuits. If a beneficiary of your assets has a lawsuit filed against them, your trust will help protect your assets and keep them inaccessible to creditors.

Flexibility to Manage Assets:

Having a trust lets you decide how your assets must be distributed under different circumstances. There are different types of trusts available for you to consider. The most common types include revocable and irrevocable living trusts. 

A revocable living trust, as the name suggests, is a trust that can be changed or revoked by the grantor any time they want. An irrevocable trust remains fixed. Another popular type of trust is the income-only living trust. Get in touch with the certified trust lawyers in Perth, in order to know how your assets must be managed. Simply put, having a trust gives you the flexibility to manage and distribute assets as per your requirements.

Save money and protect your property by establishing a trust for estate planning. To get useful guidance and assistance in this process, hire a good law firm of a recognised migration lawyer in Perth today.

Speed Camera Warning Signs – removed for safety or revenue raising?

 

Speeding in NSW is a prominent traffic charge that the NSW government is attempting to reduce on our roads. In late 2020, the government decided to remove the warning signs for mobile speed cameras and place hidden cameras, however by doing that, it has generated over 1500% more fines. That’s over $6,000,000 in March 2021 alone.

For low-range speeding offences, such as exceeding the speed limit by less than 10km/h, the figures show that over 70,000 fines were issues in the first three months in 2021 compared to 4184 fines in the first three months of 2020.

What are the penalties for speeding in NSW?

The NSW Road Rules 2014 govern the penalties for speeding, in particular rule 20. The penalty in most speeding ticket offences include fines and demerit points. Some examples of common speeding offences for class A motor vehicles (cars and motorcycles)  are detailed below:

Exceed speed 10 km/h and under (other than a learner or provisional licence)	$121	1
Exceed speed over 10 km/h (other than a learner or provisional licence)	$280	3
Exceed speed over 10 km/h (learner or provisional licence)	$280	4
Exceed speed over 20 km/h	$481	4
Exceed speed over 30 km/h	$920	5
Exceed speed over 45 km/h	$2,482	6

Can you Contest your speeding charge in court?

You can elect (choose) to take your speeding fine to court to have a Magistrate exercise leniency by dismissing the fine completely. That can happen even after you plead guilty. If you believe you are not guilty of the offence, you can also seek to have a hearing on the evidence and contest the fine. This is how you can take the fine to court:

1. Visit the Revenue NSW myPenalty page and complete the court election process.
2. A court attendance notice is then sent to you by post or email.
3. Once you have received the court attendance notice, you must attend court to have the mater decided.

Why elect to go to court:

> Explain your story to the Magistrate.
> Have the penalty notice completely dismissed.
> Stop the suspension of your driver’s licence.
> Avoid demerit points
> Reduce the amount of the fine.
> You did not commit the traffic offence.

Visit our traffic law page (click here) for read our latest blog (click here) for more information about going to court for a traffic fine.

You can also use our online service to contest (or appeal) the speeding fine and represent yourself in the best way to get leniency from a Magistrate.