A Will Doesn’t Just Protect Your Assets

A Will Doesn’t Just Protect Your Assets

A Will Doesn’t Just Protect Your Assets 1277 678 Alfred Ip

Will Ripley and Alfred Ip discuss some of the different implications that estate planning and Wills can cover: from funeral arrangements to the distribution of your memorabilia, but especially regarding provisions related to the well-being of your children.

They also talk about Enduring Power of Attorney and Advanced Health Directive as important elements of your estate planning.

Visit our Wills of Concern campaign to find out more about how we are raising funds for AIDS Concern by writing wills for donations until end of 2019.

Will Ripley和Alfred Ip討論了遺產和遺囑的不同含義:從葬禮安排到個人物品的繼承均包括在內,同時亦可包括有關照顧未成年子女的安排,他們亦提及將持久授權書和預設醫療指示等重要內容。

由即日起至2019年12月31日我們會以撰寫遺囑為關懷愛滋籌款。欲知詳情請參閱Wills of Concern。


TRANSCRIPT

 

Will Ripley
When you’re drafting a Will, you say how important it is to really be specific, not only when you’re talking about your assets but even things like your funeral arrangements.

你曾提及當草擬遺囑的時候必須寫得明確,除了有關資產的安排外,也可列明其他事項如喪禮等安排。

Alfred Ip
Yes, you can do that. You can say if you want your body to be cremated or buried or you can even name where you want to be buried, of course subject to how one’s going to find a burial plot, because in Hong Kong it’s actually very difficult to find burial plots. The only thing is that we don’t advice our clients to make it too complicated, because assets do change from time to time, for example today you have a watch, tomorrow you might have gifted this to somebody else and that would cause confusion and you don’t want to have the Will to be reviewed every five years or something like that.

沒錯,可以的, 也可以列明你想將遺體火化或是埋葬甚至可以指明埋葬的地點,不過當然必須先找到墓地,這在香港比較困難。不過我們一般建議客人不要把遺囑寫得太複雜因為資產會隨著時間改變今天你有一隻手錶,明天你可能把它送給別人這樣便容易造成混亂一般人不會想每五年重新寫一次遺囑。

Will Ripley
So what are you supposed to do? How do you avoid that?

那該怎麼辦?該如何避免這種情況?

Alfred Ip
To make it as general as possible and, if there is any specific instruction, all you can do is to have a second document like a Letter of Wishes. It’s not part of the Will and it’s not a legal document, but it gives directions to the executor who’s going to handle your estate on how to distribute some of your memorabilia, some things of sentimental value, to the people you intend to be benefitting from it.

盡量寫得籠統一點,如果有任何特別指示,可透過另一份意願書列出。意願書不是遺囑的一部分,亦不是法律文件但遺囑執行人會按上面的指示將立遺囑人留下的重要物件、一些具感情價值的物品等交給各個指定的受益人。

Will Ripley
So actually the Will itself should be a bit more general and then if you have specific instructions, that’s a separate document entirely.

所以遺囑本身應該要籠統一點,而一些特別指示應該在另一份獨立文件列出。

Alfred Ip
Yes, I think so. The Will should be only reviewed upon life events, for example if you get married or you get divorced or you lose some of the family members. If there are substantial changes to the circumstances. Yes, that’s the time to revise!

沒錯。遺囑應只在發生重大生活事件時才作出檢討,例如結婚、離婚或是有家人離開。如果情況有重大改變,便是時候考慮作出改動。

Will Ripley
What about if you have young children?

如果有未成年子女呢?

Alfred Ip
For young children is particularly important for a Will to be in place. On top of it – because you want to have someone to look after them in case you cannot look after them anymore and they’re young – so you have to appoint a guardian, but it is not advisable to put it in the Will because you don’t want your guardian to assert guardianship through your Will which will be probated together with a list of assets and liabilities.  It is better to have it as a separate document – called Deed of Appointment of Guardianship – appointing someone as a permanent guardian or probably someone as a temporary guardian as well, to look after them and then in your Will you’ll have a trustee to look after your family wealth for their benefit until they attain a certain age.

如果有未成年子女,草擬遺囑就特別重要。而且由於未成年子女需要人照顧,還需要委任一位監護人。不過不建議將這包含在遺囑內,因為你不會想監護人透過遺囑才得到監護權。因為遺囑需要與一系列資產及債務進行認證。透過一份獨立文件委任監護人會是較好的做法。這可以是永久監護人。或是一名照顧立遺囑人子女的臨時監護人。在遺囑中會另有一名受託人代為看管遺產。直到立遺囑人子女到達一定年齡。

Will Ripley
Obviously nobody ever expects to be in a horrific accident or go into a coma or have an illness where they are not going to be able to make their own decisions, but where does a Living Will come into play?

當然沒有人能預知可怕的意外發生、何時會陷入昏迷的狀態或是患上一些令你失去作出決策能力的疾病,但生前遺囑什麼時候會生效?

Alfred Ip
Unfortunately in Hong Kong there’s no such a thing as a Living Will. Living Will is a very very common concept in some Western countries, but in Hong Kong the closest thing that we have is an Enduring Power of Attorney. The document provides an attorney to look after your financial affairs when you are under. That has to be prepared in a stipulated form and signed in front of a lawyer and a medical practitioner and it has to be registered at the High Court before it will be having legal effect. But this has nothing to do with your general welfare. If you want to appoint someone to make a decision in case you are under, then the closest that you can do is to have an Advanced Health Directive, but yet this is not a legal document so there is a possibility the doctor may not follow the instructions. And, even if they follow the instructions, it is very limited. It is only about whether you want to receive life sustaining treatment, which is very very limited compared with whether you want to receive a surgery or other decisions that sometimes have to be decided on the spot and you cannot appoint somebody to make this decision for you, no matter how close that person is to you.

不幸地,香港並沒有生前遺囑
雖然生前遺囑在一些西方國家較為普遍
但在香港最接近的是持久授權書
持久授權書容許授權人委任受權人在自己日後變得精神上無行為能力時照顧其財務事項
持久授權書需要以特定格式準備,並要在一名註冊醫生和一名香港律師面前簽署,且要在香港高等法院註冊才有法律效力
但這與你的整體福祉無關,如果想任命某人做決定以防萬一
最接近的是預設醫療指示,但這並不是一份法律文件,醫生有可能不按照當中的指示辦理
而且即使他們按照指示,預設醫療指示只包括是否接受維持生命治療的決定
比起是否進行手術等即時決定更局限,而且這些並不能委託其他人代替你做出決定

Will Ripley
Bottom line: you need to be prepared! If there’s a Will, there’s a way.

最基本的是:你需要做好準備!有了遺囑就有解決方法

Alfred Ip
Correct. If there’s a Will, there’s a way!

沒錯,有了遺囑就有解決方法

Alfred Ip

Alfred assists high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in handling their wealth-related issues, such as contentious and non-contentious trust and probate, mental capacity, family office, amongst other wealth management matters. He is also a leading Dispute Resolution lawyer with over 20 years of experience in Hong Kong. Moreover, Alfred helps clients with issues regarding Family Law.

All articles by : Alfred Ip
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