Article list

Avoid surprises after divorce with a family provision waiver

It might come as a surprise to learn that a former spouse, or a spouse from whom you have separated, can still make a claim on a deceased estate even though the estate has been left to children or someone else in your Will. In a NSW Supreme Court decision in 2012, the Court ordered […]

21 Feb 2019

A Will should be updated or reviewed every 3 years

From SuperCentral

Marie had two daughters. Before his death her husband gave the majority of his estate to the elder daughter on the understanding that Marie would eventually give the family home to the younger daughter. Marie saw her solicitor and arranged for her Will to be drafted that way. When she died the bad news for the […]

18 Feb 2019

Excess transfer balance determinations now being issued by ATO

From SuperCentral

The ATO determines whether a taxpayer has exceeded the transfer balance limit of $1.6m and if a taxpayer has exceeded the $1.6m limit, the ATO must issue an excess transfer balance determination (ETB determination) to the taxpayer. An ETB determination means the taxpayer has too much super in pension phase. The ETB determination will specify […]

25 Sep 2018

SUPERCentral announces launch of estate planning tool Ask.Will™

From SuperCentral

SUPERCentral has announced it would be launching a first-to-market, estate planning tool, Ask.Will™ Ask.Will is a new client support service that helps Advisors to open estate planning discussions with their client, through a simplified process that provides clear directions on the key areas that a client needs to consider in the development of an effective […]

27 Aug 2018

10 ways to protect your SMSF from loss of mental capacity

From SuperCentral

If you have a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), you need to plan ahead to ensure that it can still keep going if you lost mental capacity due to dementia (or other reasons such as suffering a stroke). Otherwise the fund’s assets and operations could be frozen, resulting in losses from being unable to buy or […]

12 Jul 2018

First Home Super Saver Scheme – Overview

From SuperCentral

Under the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSS Scheme), eligible super members who make voluntary superannuation contributions can subsequently withdraw those contributions (and associated earnings) from the super system in order to acquire their first home. The withdrawn contributions and associated earnings is the FHSS release amount. While the FHSS release amount, when paid, will […]

01 May 2018

The next two months may be last golden opportunity for LRBA

From SuperCentral

The Government is proposing the introduction of new measures that will impact all Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangements (LRBA), entered into or after 1 July 2018. These measures, if enacted, will include a member’s share of any outstanding LRBA debt in the calculation of their total superannuation balance, which may have a flow-on effect on that […]

26 Apr 2018

Reversionary TRISs – Government acts to resolve issue

From SuperCentral

The Government has now moved to resolve the issue of reversionary TRISs, which has been dragging on since 1 July 2017 when the “Fair and Sustainable Superannuation” changes commenced. The reversionary TRIS issue is simply that when a reversionary pension transfers on the death of the primary pensioner, the pension is now a death benefit. […]

19 Mar 2018

Shorten’s proposal will have proportionally greater adverse impact on retirees with small balances than retirees with multi-million $ balances

From SuperCentral

Mr Shorten’s proposal announced this week that cash refunds of excess franking credits should be scrapped will have a greater proportionate adverse impact on a retiree with a $500,000 balance than a retiree with a $5m balance. If implemented, a retiree with only $500,000 in super will not be entitled to any franking credits (as the retiree […]

16 Mar 2018

Beware the estate planning transfer balance cap

From SuperCentral

So what is this “estate planning transfer balance cap trap” that can arise from adopting the mirror reversionary pension strategy? More importantly, is there a way to avoid it? Well, it all stems from how the Transfer Balance Account works. Let’s begin with a bit of a refresher: As we all know, the Transfer Balance […]

28 Feb 2018