Experienced Lawyers for Making Your Will in Melbourne & across regional Victoria

Making a Will is an investment in your peace of mind. That investment doesn’t need to cost the earth, Stratus Legal Groups offers fixed pricing that you can afford.

Making Your Will

Your Will is a legal document that lays out your final wishes for how your assets should be distributed after you die. A Will is a vital document that should be carefully drafted and executed. Any misunderstanding or erroneous interpretation could lead to your wishes not being fulfilled. This may result in your loved ones losing out while others benefit from your estate.

Important things to note

A valid Will is a simple way to spell out your final wishes. It gives your executor specific instructions on who your estate should be left to. You may be leaving a legal and financial tragedy in your wake if you don’t have a Will or if your Will is defective.

It’s possible that you died intestate if you don’t leave a Will or if your Will is invalid. Intestacy law has a predetermined list of beneficiaries, some of whom you might not want to leave anything to.

Should they be entitled to a share of your estate, some beneficiaries may lose important benefits such as social security payments. Prepare your own Will rather than leaving your estate to chance. When an application for a Grant of Probate is filed, many homemade or will kits are defective, costing your beneficiaries thousands of dollars to fix. We can help you avoid these situations at Stratus Legal Group.

Once all of the assets and liabilities have been gathered, they must be valued as of the date of death. The Executor may require the assistance of a valuer to accurately value the assets, which must be sworn in an affidavit before the court. The next step in applying for probate is for the Executor to publicise their intention to do so. After the advertisement, there is a time limit before the application for probate can be made. This enables any creditors to contact the Executor and seek payment from the deceased estate.

Our probate lawyers are experienced in preparing court applications and detailed accurate affidavits. Furthermore, our probate lawyers have access to all internal departments at major banks and building societies in order to locate any unidentified assets. Our probate lawyers’ goal is to find, identify, and value all estate assets before calling them into the estate for maximum distribution to the estate’s beneficiaries.

Another critical step is to determine whether a caveat has been lodged against the deceased’s Will. Our probate attorneys conduct the necessary searches of the court’s records, keep you fully informed, and provide you with the legal advice you require.

It is critical to consider estate planning before drafting your Will. This is a procedure in which we evaluate your current legal affairs and take them into account when distributing your estate to your beneficiaries. We also look into the lives of your beneficiaries and how your legacy will affect them. Prior to drafting your Will, you must first plan your estate.

A life interest is a benefit that lasts for the rest of a person’s life or until a specific event occurs. When a Will maker gives a person a life interest in a property, that person has the right to live in that property for the rest of their lives. Following the death of the person who received the life interest, the property is distributed according to the will’s instructions.

  • prepare all of the required court documents,
  • communicate with all banks and financial institutions,
  • dealings with insurance companies
  • search for and manage share market clearance house transactions,
  • search the registers of the land title office;
  • oversee the payment of any retirement or lodging bonds;
  • look into foreign assets; and
  • carry out asset searches in other states.”

In addition, we can arrange for the completion of final tax returns as well as the settlement of any outstanding debts.

We also provide administration services, where our expert probate lawyers can relieve you of the burden of administering the estate. Our probate lawyers will arrange for the sale of shares, the call in of term deposits and bank funds, and the preparation of any real estate to be sold. To ensure that the estate recovers as much money as possible, our probate lawyers will enlist the help of experts and tradespeople to arrange cleaning, gardening, maintenance, insurance, and the best real estate agents to maximise the estate’s return.

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    Things to Consider

    Having experience in all aspects of estate planning and wills, we are able to consider options that usually haven’t been thought of by our clients. This is where true experience makes a difference.

    Familys and relationships are complicated and sometimes it can be awkward to discuss your private life. We assure you there is no circumstances in your family that you should feel like you can’t discuss with us as the more information we have, the more we can ensure you receive the best legal advice.

    We aim to keep the fees for estate planning as affordable as possible and can offer payment plans where needed. All Estate matters require full payment to be held in our trust account before we commence any detailed work.

    We offer telephone, video and in person appointments to suit your needs. Our team will always do their best to promptly return calls, emails and letters.

    What Our Clients Say

    Read what some of our past clients have to say. The ethics and reputation of each one of our lawyers, precedes them individually and us as a firm.

    Just want to acknowledge the great support, professionalism and ongoing communication and advice that has been provided in a difficult time to resolve our dispute. Wishing you all the best for your future endeavours and

    John
    We really appreciated the support and advice when recently organising the long process of Probate plus new Wills and related documents. Amy and Alex were very professional and knowledgeable, their down to earth approach made

    Brenda
    I recently had the pleasure of having Alex O’Donohue work for me on contesting a will. Alex is an extremely professional, efficient, and friendly lawyer. He was fast with all correspondence, contacting me on the

    Ivy
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