My elderly parentsHusband and Wife are drafting their wills and have hired a law firm to do so. Upon reading of their draft wills, I'm a little concerned with some of the clauses in it that seem to give too much power to the will's executors/trustees which in this case is the law firm in question.
For example, there is a clause that states that the trustees may make loans to the beneficiaries on whatever terms. Why would it not be under "reasonable" or "market prevailing" terms?
There is another clause that states that they may appropriate any assets of the estate at their value in or towards the satisfaction of a legacy or a share of any person in the estate, without the consent of any beneficiary. Why would any beneficiary allow such a thing without consent? With such a clause, it seems to me that the trustees could sell my parents'the estate's house to settle some debts rather than use any cash assets to do so.
My question is: is it possible for a solicitor to draft a will that is still "legally binding", but gives them free reign to essentially do what they want with the estate, rather than acting in the benficiaries' best interests at all times?
Without approaching another law firm or governing body, is there a somewhat "standard" or "neutral" will template that can be looked at as best practice for a will that ensures that the benficiaries maximally benefit from the will and all associated costs (especially legal fees) are reduced?
Governing law is NSW, Australia.