Course overview
This course will review estate planning legislation and policy and develop an understanding of its implications for financial planning in relation to retirement and estate management, operation and succession. This includes: Laws governing estate planning in Australia, the estate planning process and related issues; forms involved in the estate planning process, including: wills, powers of attorney, powers of administration and trusts; the regulatory environment of estate planning; the role of the financial adviser in estate planning: core skills, the nature of advice as a professional service, client rights and objectives, client accountability; elements of estate planning: estate definition, estate management, operation, and succession; managing the estate before and after death: achieving client objectives; the role of trusts in estate planning; estate planning issues: social security, declining capacity and aged care, claims on the estate, endurance of client capital.
Course learning outcomes
- Integrate estate planning legislation and policy and its role in the financial planning process.
- Assess client requirements and select the appropriate forms required in and available for the estate planning process.
- Evaluate the implications of capital gains tax for the value of the estate under alternative estate structures, and its implications for distributions to beneficiaries in the case of deceased estates.
- Prepare advice on the treatment of death benefit entitlements under various superannuation arrangements, and methods to maximise after-tax distributions to beneficiaries of these superannuation death benefits.
- Critically analyse the impact of social security, declining capacity, and need for aged care on the estate planning process, and explain its implications for individual clients.
- Demonstrate UniSA Business Enterprise Skills in the context of the Financial Planning discipline: i) Problem Solving (advanced level); and ii) Written Communication (advanced level).