One question we are advising clients on more frequently these days revolves around them wanting to help their children financially, but at the same time protect that money to ensure it stays in the family. Some interesting figures from 2017 pointed to family members, essentially the Bank of Mum and Dad, being the fifth largest source of lending in Australia behind the Big Four, at around $65 billion1.
The recent death of the CEO of a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency exchange start-up, who held the passwords to $275 million worth of coins and cash, has again highlighted the importance of succession planning for your digital assets and the difficulties that can arise when this is not properly addressed.
As our lives are becoming increasingly digitalised and more immersed in social media platforms, it is surprising that of those Australians who have a Will (and nearly 50% of Australians do not have a valid Will), only 3% have included instructions regarding what is to be done with their social media accounts upon their death.
The statistics relating to social media use and the extent to which our lives are online are startling. In Australia, there are 15 million monthly users of Facebook.1
The 2018 Australian Federal Budget announced integrity measures to clarify the concessional tax rates available for minors receiving income from Testamentary Trusts. From 1 July 2019, the benefit of adult marginal tax rates applying to distributions from Testamentary Trusts to minor beneficiaries will only be available for income generated from the assets placed in the Testamentary Trust by the deceased or the proceeds of the disposal or investment of those assets.