Tax Deductions: What can you claim?

Deductions provide taxpayers with an opportunity to reduce their taxable income, therefore reducing the quantity of tax payable. They can however be tricky to work out and, as a result most people are very cautious about dealing with them or avoid them entirely! For...

Do you need a testamentary trust?

Trusts have long been recognised as having tax and asset protection advantages, particularly for people involved in business. Over time legislation and case law have whittled away many of the advantages. Regardless of this, trusts can still be an effective means of...

Looking past your settlement

Abraham Lincoln once said the best way to predict the future is to create it; a statement that resounds deeply when thinking about divorce and separation settlements. There can sometimes be a race to finalise a settlement and move on with life but how often do we...

What is a Mutual Will?

As the incidence of blended families becomes increasingly common, the importance of making consideration for this in estate planning grows too. Blended families are expressed as one or both spouses/domestic partners (“spouses”) with children from...

Drug & Drink Driving: Know the facts

The Queensland State Government is conducting road safety week throughout Queensland. One of the important reasons behind this is the number of deaths on Queensland and Australian roads each year. The current road toll this year in Queensland is 150 fatalities, up...