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Snapshot

  • Always talk to the accountant and ask for a balance sheet when there is a company involved.
  • Stamp duty on shares was abolished some time ago, but don’t forget about landholder duty.

You act for Sally and Steven who live in regional NSW and run a successful tyre shop. You have met them many times over the years for business-related matters and each time you remind them they are yet to do their wills.

After taking some long service leave, you see that Sally and Steven are meeting you on your first day back to finally do their wills. Given they only have one child, you think to yourself that this will be an easy first day back.

They instruct you to prepare their wills which, as you suspected, are very straight forward. They also tell you their daughter, Jessica, pretty much runs the business now and she was recently appointed as a director of the trading company. ‘Have you thought about handing the business over now?’ you ask. They reply, ‘Funny you should ask that – we are catching up with our accountant to review our financial situation after this meeting’.

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