Making an Australian Will with foreign assets

[netizen]

I really need to make a Last Will And Testament. But as a "temporary resident" of Oz, I keep most of my assets abroad (so no income tax or CGT on them). I can imagine that this arrangement could make for a complicated legal situation. A typical Oz lawyer won't know about the UK rules and vice versa. I don't want to make a Will that turns out to be useless because it doesn't cover all the UK-resident assets. I'm also unclear on UK inheritance tax. Does anyone have experience of dealing with this?

 

Thanks v. much in advance.

[Parley]

One of the good things is Australia doesn't have death duties whereas in the UK your estate can lose a fair bit of tax.

 

I'm not an expert but have been the recipient in Australia of my father's assets (He lived and died in the UK).

 

I would speak to an Australian lawyer first.

I think if you were to die in Australia and have some Australian assets you might need a will made in Australia.

I'm not sure whether any probate would be paid in the UK if you die in Australia.

 

Best to check with a lawyer I think.

[ramot]

We are also temporary residents here on a 410 retirement visa. We have assets in both UK and here.

we took advice a few years ago, only hope it was correct! And we have a will in both countries. We put UK assets in a trust to hopefully avoid inheritance tax.

I can't vouch that this is correct, but our solicitor claimed that it was.

i wonder if Allan Collect from Go Matilda would worth contacting? Let me know please if you find out any thing, in case we are wrong.

[Rupert]

I really need to make a Last Will And Testament. But as a "temporary resident" of Oz, I keep most of my assets abroad (so no income tax or CGT on them). I can imagine that this arrangement could make for a complicated legal situation. A typical Oz lawyer won't know about the UK rules and vice versa. I don't want to make a Will that turns out to be useless because it doesn't cover all the UK-resident assets. I'm also unclear on UK inheritance tax. Does anyone have experience of dealing with this?

 

Thanks v. much in advance.

 

So write your will with a UK lawyer?

 

Certainly UK inheritance tax is relevant, inheritance tax is based upon tax domicile not tax residence. It is very hard to change domicile and certainly as a temporary resident of Australia, your domicile will be UK. Thresholds are pretty large for IHT, especially for couples, so not something everyone needs to worry about really. What is your question on IHT?

[Keith and Linda]

I am sure that it has been on this forum before, and the advice was to have a will for each country for the assets in each country. I believe that once the wills are executed then the proceeds can be/are more readily transferable.

We had some Kiwi relatives whom had to deal with their fathers will in NZ but he had cash banked in the UK, cost them thousands in probate and solicitors in each country to finally get what was left of the UK money, they were also advised that a will in each country would have been the cheaper easier and quicker way to go about things.