Rod Genders is a senior Australian lawyer specialising in Wills and Estate Planning, Probate and Estate Administration, Trusts and Guardianship and Inheritance Claims and Contested Estates in South Australia. His boutique specialist law firm, which was founded on 1848, is one of the oldest and most respected in Australia. Rod is an international author and speaker. Rod is the 3rd generation of Genders in the law and has been practising specialised law since the mid 80’s. For over 10 years he served on the Council of the Law Society of South Australia and is a senior member of its Succession Law Committee. For 8 years Rod was a founding committee member of the South Australian branch of the London-based Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and was the founding Chair of the international STEP Digital Assets Special Interest Group. For over 25 years Rod has chaired a private committee enquiring into the affairs of protected persons. He is a member of the Law Council of Australia, a member of the Notaries Society of South Australia and an associate member of the American Bar Association.

Genders and Partners

Accident Compensation Lawyer Adelaide: How to Make a Successful Accident Injury Claim in Adelaide

Accident Compensation, Personal Injuries

How to Make a Successful Accident Injury Claim in Adelaide

Accident injury claims in Adelaide are a lot more complex and difficult than they used to be. The South Australian government changed the compensation laws and procedures on 1st July 2013.  Many potential claims will be affected by the changes, and some people could be misled into believing they no longer have a claim at all.

The first thing you should do is seek the advice of a senior lawyer who specialises in accident injury claims, who can help you get just compensation for the harm inflicted upon you and your family.

Every year, thousands of people in Adelaide and from all over South Australia are caught up in accidents. Hundreds of these result to deaths, while thousands more result in a wide range of personal injury. Regardless of the cause, if you are the victim of some form of injury, you owe it to your family to take advice about your options for fair and equitable compensation for the damage done to you.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: The Right Advice Can Make All the Difference

Estate Planning, Inheritance Claims & Contested Estates, Wills
Wills-and-Estate-Planning-Adelaide-The-Right -Advice-Can-Make-All-the-Difference

Many people mistakenly believe that having a simple legal Will covers all their needs, yet it’s only one piece of the legal protection puzzle. Without proper estate planning, you’re leaving your wealth and assets quite vulnerable and unprotected.

In some circumstances, it can mean the difference between having your wealth distributed the way you want, or having it given to those you don’t want anything to do with anymore. Or it may even be the difference between losing your home and keeping it, when unexpected events arise, like an accident that leaves you alive but incapacitated.

Even if you have a legal Will, that’s only one piece of the puzzle to protect you, your family and your assets. Without an integrated and up-to-date estate plan, you are gambling with your future.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Kids Growing Up

Estate Planning, Planning for Disability and Incapacity, Wills, Young Children

As a parent, what is our worst fear?

Kids Growing Up

For most of us, it would be receiving that phone call telling us that our child is having a medical emergency. It might be a car accident, or some other health crisis, but as soon as we are notified we want to rush into action to help them.  No matter how old they are, they will always be our child, even if they are now an adult.

It used to be that when a child turned 21, he would receive a key to the front-door of the family home, in a rite-of-passage symbolising and acknowledging their transition from child to adult.

With the faster pace of life, and changing societal expectations, the legal age-of-majority is now18.

Did you know that if your children are aged 18 or older, even if they are still living at home with you, then you are no longer able to make their medical decisions for them? In fact, you have no right to speak with their doctor or nurses or see their medical records.

Genders and Partners

Benefits of a Discretionary Trust

Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills, Wills and Estate Planning
Benefits of a Discretionary Trust

Discretionary trusts are flexible estate planning tools that can offer you many advantages, some of which include:

1. Revocable. Because the needs of family members may change over time, a discretionary trust normally allows you to modify trust provisions or change the beneficiaries.

2. Private. A discretionary trust may avoid or reduce the costs and delays of Probate – which is the Court process that oversees the administration of your estate. Because a discretionary trust is not subject to public scrutiny, your beneficiaries and the specific amounts or percentages they receive remain confidential.

3. Continuous. Assets put in a discretionary trust stay under the control of the trustee, until you choose differently. When the trust is established, you can name a successor trustee who will carry on financial responsibilities in the event of your incapacity or death.

4. Flexible. You may add other assets to the trust during your life. The discretionary trust can be especially useful if you own real estate in another state by eliminating the need to have a separate probate proceeding in the other state.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning for New and Young Parents

Estate Planning, Wills, Wills and Estate Planning, Young Children
Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning for New and Young Parents

New and young parents often mistakenly consider that have too few assets to bother with creating an estate plan.

They probably have a home with just a small amount of equity, and hopefully they have decent jobs, and reasonable prospects for advancement.

Most of us have superannuation, and many super funds carry life insurance.  In dollar terms, it is not uncommon for young people to be worth more dead than alive.

When considering estate planning they should think about naming a guardian for their children and to make sure their money goes to the kids.

Most people grossly underestimate the money it will take to raise their young children and educate them. They frequently only have a small fraction of the life insurance that is needed. Fortunately, term insurance is relatively inexpensive for young people.

They should consider establishing a Trust to receive the insurance and other assets. This can be done through a Testamentary Trust created in their Will, or as a Discretionary Trust.

A trust provides some asset protection, and professional management for the funds.

5 Common Estate Planning Mistakes

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Star Trek and Estate Planning

Estate Planning, Planning for Disability and Incapacity, Wills
Wills-Estate-Planning-slider

Of all the countries in the world, Australia ranks in the top 5 with longest lifespans (17 places ahead of the UK and 33 places ahead of the USA).  Each year, our average life expectancy continues to increase.

And yet, more than half of adult Australians do not have a legal Will, and even fewer have an integrated estate plan.

Life used to be simpler. People worked for the same employer for their entire career. They had government-guaranteed pensions. Medical expenses were manageable. Divorce was rare and remarriages rarer still.  25 years ago, when my legal career began, I can clearly recall the expression “broken home” being used as an excuse for various misconduct. Most people were not invested in the stock market.

But, the trade-off was that although life was simpler, it was also significantly shorter. Retirement didn’t last long, so people didn’t worry as much about having sufficient savings to last a lifetime. Long periods of incapacity were unusual.  You worked, then you died.

When the Australian Government began the aged pension in the 1920’s, they set the age-of-eligibility at 65 for men.  At that time, the average life expectancy for men was only 63, so the Government did not expect to have to pay out much for the pension, nor medical treatment, aged care or publically assisted accommodation.

Genders and Partners | Wills and Estate Planning - Lawyer Adelaide

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Is it Time for The Talk?

Estate Planning, Planning for Disability and Incapacity, Trusts & Guardianship, Wills

Challenging Estate Planning Conversations

Is it Time for The Talk?

In family life there are a number of “Talks” which parents need to have with their children. Remember “Where do babies come from?”

Well, much later in life, older parents need to talk to their adult children about Wills and powers-of-attorney, elder care and end-of-life decisions.

In my practice as a lawyer specialising in estate planning, I have repeatedly noticed that my older clients are generally much more willing to discuss estate planning issues than their adult children.

I have speculated as to the reasons for this, and have come up with a list of possible explanations:

  • Fear of being seen as interfering in their parents’ affairs;
  • Concern at how their interest in their parents’ estates may be interpreted by others;
  • Discomfort at confronting the mortality of their parents;
  • A recognition that parents are getting older, and perhaps their best health is behind them;
  • A perception of “passing the baton” from one generation to the next.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: The Benefit of Advance Directives

Estate Planning, Planning for Disability and Incapacity, Trusts & Guardianship, Wills, Wills and Estate Planning
The Benefit of Advance Directives

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows one in four elderly people require someone else to make decisions about their medical care at the end of their lives.

These findings support the value of advance healthcare directives as a means of making end-of-life treatment preferences known (sometimes called anticipatory directives or living wills).

The study found that such formal estate planning documents improved the likelihood that a patient’s wishes would be followed and reduced emotional trauma among family members.

The results illustrate the value of people making their end-of-life wishes known in an advance directive (living will) as well as designating someone to make treatment decisions for them before the end-of-life stage.  This is why both a Natural Death Advance Directive and a Medical Power of Attorney are necessary parts of a modern integrated estate plan.  Each document fulfils a specific purpose.

The Associated Press reports: “In the study, those who spelled out their preferences in living wills usually got the treatment they wanted. Only a few wanted heroic measures to prolong their lives. The researchers said it’s the first accounting of how many of the elderly really end up needing medical decisions made for them.”