{"id":552482,"date":"2022-01-24T06:46:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T04:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=552482"},"modified":"2022-01-24T12:22:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T10:22:41","slug":"estate-planning-for-every-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/552482\/estate-planning-for-every-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Estate planning for every age"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This year make estate planning one of your new year\u2019s resolutions.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The advent of the new year often comes with resolutions to save more, get active and eat healthily. This year, ensure that you have your will and estate planning in order.<\/p>\n<p>Too many people think a will is only relevant once you reach \u201ca certain age\u201d or if you have children, or significant assets.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"mailto:willsandtrustinfo@discovery.co.za\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here to contact the Discovery Wills and Trust Services<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Estate planning is so often tightly associated with advanced age, and the idea that this is the only time during an adult\u2019s life that it holds any real value and importance.<\/p>\n<p>However, it isn\u2019t strictly applicable for \u201ccertain times\u201d in your life; and nor is it exclusively reserved for the high net worth members of society or special circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>Whether single, married, living with a partner, divorced, widowed, with children, without children \u2013 no matter what your personal set of circumstances are, all income earners can and should put an estate plan together.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re an earning adult with assets, it\u2019s in your own best interests as much as it is for others.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Estate planning for the single individual<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Today, family structures are diverse and complex, including many people who choose to remain single.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndependent earning individuals are essentially the decision-makers of their lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This makes estate planning very important; as without a plan, the law makes very specific decisions for you,\u201d says Daniel Stoch, a Senior Risk Specialist at Discovery Life.<\/p>\n<p>Without a plan or a will in place that stipulates specific instructions for what should happen and who should take over or benefit from specific assets, the legal system regards a person as having died \u2018intestate\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>This means that all hard-earned assets will be divided up, mostly along bloodlines. \u201cThis may not be according to your actual preference,\u201d adds Stoch.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, surviving parents, siblings, or even other extended family members \u2013 such as a distant cousin \u2013 will be selected on behalf of an individual who has passed away without giving clear direction by law as to what should happen to their assets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt could happen that an someone would want immediate or extended family members to inherit. It could also happen that a person may prefer a close friend or even a charitable organisation to benefit from some of their assets,\u201d adds Stoch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout legally specifying this, no one may know that this is what you\u2019d have wanted or be in a position to follow through with your wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Couples and estate planning<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s not uncommon for younger adults to put off any thoughts around estate planning until much later \u2013 or when certain life experiences happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome feel that they are too young to start thinking about such things; while others take the view that they\u2019re in good health, so it\u2019s not yet necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reality is that severe illness, accidents or even death are all possibilities for anyone to experience, at any life stage.<\/p>\n<p>Such life-changing events are not entirely within any individual\u2019s control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor couples of any age, it\u2019s also about taking care of things for each other should the worst occur, and not just if there are dependents in the picture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A tragedy may throw everything off course and disrupt lives, but an up-to-date estate plan can help to pull things together again.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Families and estate planning<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Family dynamics play a significant role in estate planning.<\/p>\n<p>A couple may have children together. A couple may also have children from prior relationships living under one roof, or even adopted children.<\/p>\n<p>Some individuals doing their estate plan may have no children at all, and never intend to; but also have complicated relationships with other blood relations.<\/p>\n<p>Any issue, however small or insignificant, that is unresolved can quickly become complicated in an estate planning process.<\/p>\n<p>While planners and legal teams can customise the governing documents required according to a person\u2019s individual needs and wishes, addressing family-related challenges should ideally be appropriately handled beforehand to avoid complicated outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>No matter what the family dynamic is, it\u2019s a good idea to be upfront about any potential complex family matters.<\/p>\n<p>Without transparency, the transfer or distribution of assets is difficult to handle seamlessly \u2013 no matter who the decided beneficiary is.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Introducing a product that makes access to estate planning much simpler <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cDiscovery Life understands many of the challenges people face when it comes to estate planning and that everyone is unique in their own right,\u201d says Stoch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s why we have established Discovery <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discovery.co.za\/wcm\/discoverycoza\/assets\/faz\/life-insurance\/wills-storage-fee-limited-offer-tech-flyer.pdf?sap-outbound-id=B8F019B5B02882C462AEDD4EC624284A8E808250&amp;utm_source=SAPHybris&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=3920&amp;utm_term=DSY_eDiscoverer_28012021_DB___free%20wills%20storage%20for%20a%20year&amp;utm_content=EN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><strong>Wills and Trust Services<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong>, which will be able to facilitate the estate planning process.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Through our supplementary benefit, the <em>Discovery Life Estate Preserver<\/em>, you can also cover the administration costs and liquidity needs of winding up an estate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Clients can access help with drawing up a personalised will \u2013 something that approximately 70% of working South Africans don\u2019t currently have.<\/p>\n<p>The products also include assistance with executor and trustee appointments, deceased estate administration, testamentary trust administration and estate property transfers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese benefits are for every earning adult out there, of any age, and at any stage in their lives,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter how simple or complex the structure of a family is, the professional services on offer can help to create the most solid plan that benefits all those a person intends.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Contact Discovery Wills and Trust Services today on 0860 00 54 33 or <strong><a href=\"mailto:willsandtrustinfo@discovery.co.za\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>willsandtrustinfo@discovery.co.za<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>, or speak to your financial adviser.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Disclaimer:<\/strong> Discovery Wills and Trust Services, a division of Discovery Central Services (Pty) Limited, a company registered in South Africa with registration number 2016\/054628\/07 and part of the Discovery group of companies. Discovery Life Limited. Registration number 1966\/003901\/06, is a licensed insurer, and an authorised financial services and registered credit provider, NCR Reg No. NCRCP3555<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year make estate planning one of your new year\u2019s resolutions. The advent of the new year often comes with resolutions to save more, get active and eat healthily. This year, ensure that you have your will and estate planning in order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":552574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[14369],"class_list":["post-552482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-discovery-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552482"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":552764,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552482\/revisions\/552764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}