Estate Planning
Plan what you leave, before it’s decided for you.
Estate planning is usually treated as a legal job. Make a will, sign a power of attorney or enduring guardian, put it in a drawer.
That’s the paperwork. The part that decides how much actually reaches the people you intended is tax and structure, and it’s routinely left out. A well-drafted will that ignores the tax consequences can still hand your family a bill they didn’t expect and can’t avoid.
Map the assets, their ownership and the documents that control what happens next. Individual arrangements need review.
The largest asset after the home
Superannuation doesn’t pass under your will
This surprises almost everyone.
There are strategies for this, and they need to be considered while you’re alive and well.
- It is not an estate asset
Unless a valid binding death benefit nomination or a reversionary pension is in place, it is paid at the trustee’s discretion.
- Nominations lapse
Many binding nominations lapse after three years without anyone noticing. Not every fund offers every option, which is itself worth checking.
- Adult children are generally not tax dependants
Death benefits paid to a dependant for tax purposes are treated differently from benefits paid to a non-dependant, so the taxable component left to an adult child can be taxed in a way it wouldn’t be if left to a spouse.
The hard part
A business does not divide neatly
That’s the root of most estate disputes involving business families.
Equal thirds creates two silent partners
One child works in the business and two don’t. The working child gets two partners who don’t work there, and two siblings now depend on a business they can’t influence.
Leaving it to one looks like favouritism
Unless the estate has other assets to balance it, which most don’t.
The workable answers all need a number
Buy-sell agreements funded by insurance, differential asset allocation, a staged transfer during your lifetime — all of them require knowing what the business is worth.
Business ValuationBecause “divide it fairly” is not a plan until someone has valued it.
Business Succession & Exit PlanningThe version of this that happens while you’re still here to manage it.
Testamentary trusts
A trust created by your will
They’re not right for every estate — they carry administration and cost — but they’re under-used relative to how often they’d help.
- Tax
Income distributed to minor beneficiaries from a testamentary trust is generally taxed at adult marginal rates rather than the penalty rates that normally apply to children’s unearned income. For a family with young children, that can be worth a great deal over many years.
The concession is restricted to income from assets that actually came from the estate, so a testamentary trust cannot simply be topped up with unrelated assets to access it. The deed and the funding both have to be right.
- Protection
Assets held in a trust are not owned outright by the beneficiary, which can help in a bankruptcy or a relationship breakdown. It is not a guarantee — family courts routinely treat a trust interest as a financial resource — but it gives you options an outright gift does not.
Capital gains
Equal on paper isn’t equal after tax
Death itself is generally not a CGT event for assets passing to a beneficiary or legal personal representative.
The tax is usually deferred rather than eliminated, with the beneficiary inheriting the cost base. So an estate that looks evenly divided may not be, once the embedded tax on each asset is taken into account. That’s fixable in the planning. It’s not fixable afterwards.
Two children receiving assets of equal market value can receive materially different after-tax amounts.
Enacted 26 June 2026 · effective 1 July 2027
What changes for long-held assets
The reform brings pre-CGT assets — those acquired before 20 September 1985 — into the regime from 1 July 2027, for all entities holding them, including companies. Assets held on 30 June 2027 are also deemed sold immediately before 1 July 2027 and reacquired at market value.
Farming families are the clearest example
Land held in the same family since before 1985 has been outside the CGT net for four decades and won’t be after that date. If that describes your situation, the estate planning conversation has become time-sensitive, and it needs a valuation attached to it.
Outside the will
More than people expect
For a business family, that list can account for most of the wealth. A will that carefully divides the remainder is dividing the smaller half.
Tick what you own
“Which of these does my will actually control?”
Nothing ticked yet. Five asset types to check.
Every one of these sits outside your will.
- Superannuation
Unless a valid binding nomination directs it to your estate.
- Assets owned as joint tenants
They pass automatically to the survivor regardless of what the will says.
- Assets held in a family trust
You may control them but you do not personally own them, so they cannot be gifted by your will.
- Company assets
What passes is your shares, rather than the assets themselves.
- Life insurance held outside super
Paid to the nominated beneficiary directly.
When to do this
Every three to five years, and after anything changes
A marriage, a separation, a birth, a death in the family, a business restructure, a significant change in wealth, or a beneficiary’s circumstances changing. Nominations lapse, laws change and families don’t stay the same shape.
The most common failure isn’t a bad plan. It’s a good plan that was made in 2011 and has been quietly wrong since about 2016.
What to bring
The documents, the entities and the family
- The current documents
Your will and any powers of attorney or enduring guardian documents.
- The entities
Company constitutions, trust deeds, and specifically who holds the appointor role in any trust.
- Superannuation and insurance
Statements, your current binding nominations, and any life insurance inside super and out.
- A picture of the family
Including anything complicated. Second marriages, blended families, a beneficiary with a difficult relationship or a health issue, someone already helped financially. Those are the facts that shape the plan.
Retirement Planning for Business OwnersWhere estate planning sits in the wider picture.
Start with a consultation
We’ll tell you what needs attention and what can wait.
Bring your current will, powers of attorney or enduring guardian documents if you have them, and a rough picture of the family.
Book a consultationGeneral advice warning — placeholder. This page contains general information only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not legal advice. Before acting, consider whether it is appropriate for you.