ESTATE PLANNING & BEYOND:
ROCKWILLS HOSTS 1st INTERNATIONAL ESTATE PLANNING CONFERENCE

PETALING JAYA, SELANGOR, 23 August 2010 – Rockwills International Group, the leading professional estate planning specialist, hosted the first ever estate planning conference in Sunway Convention Centre on 23 August 2010.

Themed “Estate Planning & Beyond”, the conference was targeted at preparing financial planners, wealth management consultants, estate planners and would-be estate planners for what lies beyond for estate planning in Malaysia.

Rockwills International Group Managing Director Saw Leong Aun said: “Rockwills considers it timely for such a conference to be held in Malaysia as we strongly believe that estate planning is on the threshold of a take off for enhanced growth.

“The state of the development in estate planning that stems from greater awareness of the importance to plan well for one’s estate spells exciting times beyond.

“The global economic meltdown have driven home the point of the fragility of things and many businesses and high net worth individuals are sitting up to give wealth distribution and estate planning its due attention, ” added Saw.

Taking cognisance of this, Rockwills included a key topic -- estate planning for the wealthy – as part of its insightful and interesting agenda for the Conference. The session, presented by Rockwills International Group Chairman Johari Low gave delegates critical insights into tackling the complex estate planning needs of high net worth individuals with complex requirements such as multiple families and offshore assets.

The conference featured a range of estate planning and tax specialists from Malaysia and abroad including the Director General of the Society of Will Writers and Estate Planning Practitioners (United Kingdom), Brian McMillan, who gave a presentation on the estate planning scene in the United Kingdom and Europe, the lessons learnt and how these can be applied in Malaysia and Asia Pacific.

Other sessions covered wealth management and tax planning strategies for individuals and corporations.

The conference ended with a panel discussion on the growth, challenges and prospects for estate planning. The panelists were Mike Grover (Tax Specialist), Azhar Hew (General Manager, Rockwills Trustee Berhad), Hiu Chee Fatt (Trust Advisor, Labuan International Business and Financial Centre), Lee Chiwi (Chief Executive Officer, Rockwills Singapore), Low, McMillan and Tan Hooi Beng (Tax Specialist).

“Today’s complex social circumstances due to a rise in divorce rates, emergence of blended families as well as families with special needs members who require additional care among others demand comprehensive estate planning solutions.

“Estate planning is now ready for a new phase of growth – one which will see Wills and Trust services delivered in a comprehensive and well structured manner,” said Saw.

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