Navigating Estate Planning: 6 tips for medical practitioners

Medical professionals are often busy caring for others and can overlook or delay protecting their legacy. Whether you're an individual practitioner or a practice owner, robust estate planning can ensure your wishes are fulfilled for both your personal and business assets. Our Estate Planning team at Avant Law provide tailored support for medical practitioners in achieving specific goals both short term, and into the future.  Our experts outline six key areas to consider as you embark on your estate planning journey. 

Determining what assets and liabilities are covered by your will. 

How your assets and liabilities are owned is at the core of your estate plan and should be clearly understood at the outset. People often assume that their will deals with all of their assets and are surprised to hear that superannuation and assets held in trusts are governed by separate estate planning documents.  It’s essential to properly identify the correct structuring of all your assets and liabilities to ensure your estate planning is prepared accordingly. Additionally, this will minimise the chance of potential future disputes amongst beneficiaries. 

Designating beneficiaries for specific assets. 

After you have identified your assets, deciding who should inherit them is crucial to your estate planning. Often people have specific intentions for certain assets, for example this might occur when passing on a family home, specific financial investments or personal valuables to intended beneficiaries. At Avant Law our Estate Planning experts can advise you and structure your will to give effect to these wishes. 

Business succession planning for your medical practice. 

A medical practice is no different from any other business or asset, whether you own your own practice or a share of it.  Business succession planning is essential to ensure it continues to run with as minimal disruption as possible if you lost capacity or that your interest is transferred in accordance with your wishes in the event of your death.  There are different pathways that you can consider including identifying a successor to run or own the practice, or arranging for the sale of your practice and dealing with the proceeds. Our team can guide you through creating a plan that protects the future of your practice and supports your employees and patients and safeguards your financial interest in the business.  

Who should be given the responsibility for carrying out your wishes?

Giving responsibility to someone to carry out your wishes differs vastly from deciding who your beneficiaries will be. When choosing the right person to execute your will it is important to remember they will be responsible for managing your estate, carrying out your wishes and ensuring your beneficiaries receive their inheritance. Your executor should be someone who is organised, reliable, trustworthy, and capable of handling legal and financial matters (or seeking the appropriate support) to ensure your estate is managed smoothly. If you have minor children, your executor may also be looking after their inheritance for some years until those children come of age. 

Planning for the care of minor children.

Safeguarding children of any age is essential when preparing your will. When considering the care of minor children your estate plan should include your preferences as to who you want to make decisions about where they live, go to school and their day-to-day care. Often these decisions can be overwhelming, and our experts can guide you through making these critical decisions to ensure your children’s futures are secured.

Protecting your beneficiaries from their own vulnerabilities.

Estate planning doesn’t stop at distributing your assets to your beneficiaries.  You may also have concerns about your beneficiaries mismanaging their inheritance or being vulnerable to exploitation.  Have you ever thought about protecting your beneficiaries from their current or potential vulnerabilities? Whether the vulnerability is age, addiction, gambling, intellectual disability or mental health issues, certain individuals may require additional measures to ensure your legacy is secured. The Estate Planning experts at Avant Law can work with you to help establish the required protective measures to ensure your beneficiaries are protected from any risks associated with their inheritance.

We can help you

If you have any questions, or would like more information about how we can assist you or your practice, please call 1800 867 113, or to organise a confidential discussion at a time that suits you, please click here