Estate Planning
Advice
More than half of Australian adults don’t have a will. Without a proper estate plan, the people you love most could face unnecessary stress, legal complications and financial loss at an already difficult time.
What estate planning involves
How an Estate planning advisor can help
A financial adviser works alongside your legal and tax professionals to make sure your estate plan is comprehensive, tax effective and kept up to date as your circumstances change. This includes coordinating your financial structures, including superannuation, insurance, trusts and investments, with your legal documents so nothing falls through the cracks.
At Viridian, we introduce you to an appropriate estate planning professional and stay involved throughout the process, ensuring your plan continues to reflect your wishes and remains aligned with your superannuation and life insurance arrangements.
To be clear about the boundary: we do not draft wills or provide legal advice. We work with your solicitor, or introduce you to one, and make sure the financial side of your plan matches the legal side. A surprising number of estate plans fail not because the will is wrong, but because the superannuation nomination or the insurance beneficiary contradicts it.
Wills
Your will directs how your estate is distributed. It is the foundation, but it does not control everything you own. Superannuation, jointly held property and assets inside trusts or companies often sit outside the estate entirely. We map what your will actually controls, and what it does not.
Testamentary trusts
A testamentary trust is created by your will and holds assets for your beneficiaries rather than paying them out directly. It can protect an inheritance from relationship breakdown, bankruptcy or poor decisions, and it can change how income from the inheritance is taxed, particularly where children are involved. It is not right for every estate. We help you work out whether it is right for yours.
Powers of attorney
An enduring power of attorney appoints someone to manage your financial affairs if you lose the capacity to do so yourself. Without one, your family may need to apply to a tribunal for the authority to act, which takes time and money at the worst possible moment. Requirements differ between states.
Enduring guardianship
Separate from financial authority, this appoints someone to make medical and lifestyle decisions on your behalf. The terminology and the form differ depending on which state you are in.
Binding death benefit nominations
Your superannuation does not automatically follow your will. Without a valid binding nomination, the trustee decides who receives it. Nominations can also lapse. This is one of the most common and most costly gaps we find in otherwise well prepared estate plans.
Life insurance beneficiary nominations
Who owns the policy and who is nominated determines who receives the payout and how it is taxed. A policy held inside superannuation follows different rules to one held personally. Aligning this with the rest of your plan is straightforward, but only if someone checks.
Trust and company structures
Assets held in a family trust or a company are not owned by you personally and cannot be left in your will. What matters instead is control: who becomes trustee, who holds the shares, who can appoint and remove the trustee. This is frequently overlooked.
Business succession planning
If you own part of a business, your estate plan and the business’s succession arrangements need to agree. Buy sell agreements, insurance funding and shareholder agreements all interact with your will. Where they conflict, the outcome is usually a dispute.
Blended families
Second marriages, stepchildren and children from previous relationships make estate planning genuinely harder. Providing for a current partner while protecting children from an earlier relationship requires deliberate structuring, not a standard will. This is one of the most common reasons estates are contested.
Speak to our experienced team today.
Estate planning by situation
1 – You have remarried or have a blended family
The most common source of contested estates. Providing for a new partner and children from a previous relationship at the same time usually needs a structure, not just a document.
2 – You have a child with a disability
Providing for a beneficiary who may need lifelong support, without affecting their entitlements, requires specific planning. A direct inheritance can do more harm than good.
3 – You own a business
Your share of a business is often your largest asset and the hardest to divide. Succession arrangements and your will need to say the same thing.
4 – You intend to exclude someone
Leaving a family member out of your will does not necessarily prevent them making a claim. There are steps that reduce the risk, and steps that increase it.
5 – A beneficiary lives overseas
Distributing to a beneficiary who is a tax resident of another country raises issues that are easy to miss and expensive to fix afterwards.
6 – You have a large superannuation balance
For many Australians super is the biggest asset outside the home. Because it sits outside the estate by default, it is also the most commonly mishandled.
7 – You have recently divorced
Divorce affects your will differently in different states, and it does not automatically update your super nomination or your insurance beneficiary.
8 – You are a member of a self managed super fund
Control of an SMSF after a member dies depends on the fund’s trust deed and who becomes trustee, not on the will.
9 – You have received a serious diagnosis
If capacity may become an issue, the order in which documents are put in place matters, and there is a point after which some options close.
Who this is for
- Anyone with dependants, property, superannuation or a business
- People in second marriages or blended families
- Business owners and SMSF members
- Anyone whose will was written before a major life change
Who this isn’t for
- Anyone wanting a will drafted and nothing else. A solicitor can do that directly and it will be cheaper.
- People looking for free general information. The Moneysmart website is a good place to start.
Our advice process
01 Evaluation
02 Discovery
03 Strategy
04 Implementation
05 Review
Speak to our experienced team today.
Estate Planning FAQs
What is estate planning and why do I need it?
Estate planning is the process of deciding what happens to your assets, and who makes decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. It covers your will, but also superannuation, insurance, trusts, company structures and powers of attorney. Without a plan, the law decides how your estate is distributed, and that outcome often differs from what you would have chosen. The people affected are usually the ones you were trying to protect.
Is a will enough, or do I need a full estate plan?
A will is essential, but it does not control everything you own. Superannuation, jointly held property, and assets held in trusts or companies generally sit outside your estate and are not directed by your will. An estate plan makes sure those arrangements point the same way your will does. Where they conflict, the outcome is usually delay, unnecessary tax, or a dispute between the people you left behind.
What is a testamentary trust and do I need one?
A testamentary trust is created by your will and holds assets for your beneficiaries rather than paying them out directly. It can protect an inheritance from relationship breakdown or bankruptcy, and it can change how income from that inheritance is taxed, particularly where beneficiaries are children. It also adds cost and ongoing administration. Whether it is worthwhile depends on the size of your estate, your family circumstances and what you are trying to protect against.
What happens to my superannuation when I die?
It does not automatically follow your will. Superannuation is held by a trustee, and where it goes depends on your nomination. A valid binding nomination directs the trustee. Without one, or if the nomination has lapsed or is invalid, the trustee decides, taking your circumstances into account. Who receives it also affects how it is taxed, because the tax treatment differs depending on the recipient’s relationship to you. This is one of the most common gaps we find.
How often should I review my estate plan?
Every few years as a baseline, and immediately after any significant change. Marriage, separation, divorce, a new child or grandchild, a death in the family, buying or selling a business, a large change in assets, or moving interstate can all affect whether your plan still works. Some nominations also lapse on their own regardless of whether anything in your life has changed.
Who should I appoint as my executor?
Someone you trust, who is organised, and who is likely to outlive you. The role involves real work: locating assets, paying debts, dealing with the tax office, and distributing the estate, sometimes over a long period. Appointing a beneficiary is common and usually fine, but can be difficult where family relationships are strained. You can appoint more than one person, or a professional executor. It is worth asking the person first.
Can I leave my superannuation in my will?
Only indirectly. Because superannuation is not owned by you personally, it cannot be left in a will the way other assets can. You can nominate your legal personal representative as the beneficiary, which directs the money into your estate so that it is then distributed according to your will. That approach has advantages and disadvantages, including how the money is taxed and whether it becomes available to creditors or open to challenge.
What happens if I die without a will in Australia?
Your estate is distributed according to the intestacy rules of your state or territory. These follow a set formula based on family relationships, which may not reflect what you would have wanted, particularly in blended families or where you have a partner you are not married to. Someone must also apply to the court for authority to administer the estate, which adds time and cost at a difficult moment.