Current SMSF Establish, Maintain and Upgrade
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Leading Member SMSF Deed of Variation

About Product

This document upgrades a regular SMSF to a Leading Member SMSF.

The Leading Member SMSF is an SMSF that focuses on the protecting and passing of superannuation benefits to lineal descendants of the Leading Member.

LightYear Docs can also complete bulk deed upgrades. Our team can help you achieve bulk upgrades if need be, which may be cost efficient.

► $229.00 (inc GST) - OR provided under your unlimited membership

► The master document has been signed off by Abbott & Mourly and is congruent with Australian law.

General Information 

LightYear Docs provides a letter or newsletter on the importance of regularly updating an SMSF deed (as per ATO advice). If you would like to upgrade to a Leading Member deed, and/or If your client's deed has not been updated since 2017, it may be problematic. Abbott and Mourly can assist in deed upgrades.

Benefits

  • Keeping the Family SMSF Wealth within the lineal descendants just as the English Royal Family does.
  • Easy to read and understand.
  • Filled with fantastic strategies.
  • Written by Australia’s foremost legal, technical and strategic expert, Grant Abbott.
  • Newly-authored and covers recent SMSF legislation updates.
  • A legacy product dating 20 years or more.
  • Signed off by Abbott & Mourly.
  • Younger members can access older members’ imputation credits to ensure they are not lost.
  • Has a wide range of up-to-the-minute SMSF Estate Planning strategies.

Frequently Asked Legal Questions

What is the process for completing a Leading Member SMSF upgrade?

Step one is to send the clients the upgrade letter confirming the necessity of upgrading and why LightYear Docs has been chosen (The Ten Benefits of the Lightyear Docs SMSF Trust Deed and Leading Member SMSF Deed). The next step is to either complete it on the LightYear Docs platform or provide our team with a spreadsheet detailing the relevant fields needed for the upgrade, as well as a digital copy of the fund’s latest trust deed. We will complete the upgrade and send back to you for signing by your clients.

Is there any information for my clients on upgrading?

Yes - we have an upgrade letter that you can send to your clients with the ATO view on why deeds need to be upgraded regularly (The Ten Benefits of the Lightyear Docs SMSF Trust Deed and Leading Member SMSF Deed) and the process to upgrade.

How long does this document take to assemble?

Depending on the complexity of the data, this document should take approximately 30-50 secs to assemble. If you experience timing outside of this please contact Support via the Surge app, alternatively please read this article for troubleshooting tips https://info.lightyeardocs.com.au/supportcentre/troubleshooting-longer-assembly-times-timeouts .

Is this document a legal document?

All master documents have been signed off by Abbott & Mourly lawyers. Tony Anamourlis of Abbott & Mourly advises that “at no time, due to inbuilt legal protection and security measures can a user change or amend a document on the LightYear Docs platform that has been signed off by a practicing solicitor. To do so would result in the user drafting a document of a legal nature and engaging in the provision of legal services. In addition, it would be a breach of copyright. In our opinion when completing the form fields through the LightYear Docs platform, users and their employees are merely carrying out an administrative task which is not the provision of legal advice.”

However in some complex areas such as the insertion of a varied range of client instructions into a Will or other such documents the user must be mindful of the extent to which a document is being drafted by the user rather than merely the administrative task of completing a form where the relevant fields are inserted into the reviewed and signed  legal document provided by Abbott & Mourly.

The above advice is born out of numerous cases dating back to Re Sanderson, Ex parte Law Institute of Victoria [1927] VLR 394, 397 where the Court held:

“if a person does a thing usually done by a solicitor, and does it in such a way as to lead to the reasonable inference that he is a solicitor – if he combines professing to be a solicitor with action usually taken by a solicitor – I think he then does act as a solicitor.”

Likewise in ACCC v Murray (2002) 121 FCR 428, 448 where Murray was building a franchise business that involved the legal writing and drafting of Wills from scratch based on the client’s personal circumstances.  The Court held that this process was legal work.

Is the document easy to read?

All LightYear Docs products are written in plain English and assessed for readability. If at any time you come across any errors, please contact support@lightyeardocs.com.au.

What lawyers sign off on the LightYear Docs documents?

All LightYear documents are prepared and signed off by Abbott & Mourly from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Are the LightYear Docs documents reviewed regularly?

All LightYear Docs documents form part of the LightYear Docs internal review process. We review all documents at least annually or when required to do so due to changes in legislation. Further details of this process and a review schedule is include on this website.

Can I get a sample of this document?

Yes, please email support@lightyeardocs.com.au to request a sample document for you to review.