Life rarely stands still, and your estate plan shouldn’t either.

Estate planning is not something you do once and put away. Major life events can change your family, finances, responsibilities and priorities, which means the arrangements you made years ago may no longer reflect the life you’re living today.

This may affect who you want to benefit from your assets, who you trust to make decisions on your behalf and how your wealth should be managed and passed on.

An estate plan can include much more than a Will. Depending on your circumstances, it may involve your Will, Enduring Power of Attorney, Advance Care Directive, superannuation and pension beneficiary nominations, asset ownership structures and other arrangements that help give effect to your wishes.

The important question is not simply whether you have an estate plan, but whether it still reflects what matters to you. Here are some of the key life events that should prompt you to take another look.

Marriage, Divorce, Separation or the Death of a Partner

Few life events change your circumstances quite as much as a change in relationship. When the people closest to you change, it’s worth checking whether your estate plan still reflects those relationships.

This change can have a major impact on:

• Family structure, who inherits your assets
• Beneficiaries, who are these
• Executors, who acts for you
• Attorneys, who have you appointed
• Who receives your super / pension benefits.
• How to protect children, especially with new blended families.

I find it’s not uncommon for people to discover that their estate planning still reflects circumstances from many years ago, rather than their current family, financial and personal situation.

Following a significant relationship change, I recommend reviewing your estate plan, Will, Binding Death Nomination and Enduring Power of Attorney to ensure they continue to reflect your wishes and provide clear direction for those who may need to act on your behalf.

The Birth of Children or Grandchildren

When a family grows, your priorities can change, and your estate plan may need to change with them.

For parents, one of the most important considerations is what would happen to minor children if they were no longer around to care for them.

The birth of a child or grandchild is also an opportunity to consider how assets will be passed on and protected. Parents and grandparents may want to:

• Provide financially for children or grandchildren
• Consider who they would want to care for minor children and how that care would be funded
• Review how and when assets should be distributed
• Consider structures that can help protect assets and provide greater control over how and when beneficiaries receive them.

This is where thoughtful estate planning can make a meaningful difference. I work with families to understand their circumstances and priorities, then consider the right structures and strategies to provide for the people they care about while protecting family wealth.

Depending on your circumstances, there are a range of structures and strategies that can be used to manage how assets are passed on, including testamentary trusts and other arrangements designed to provide greater control, flexibility and protection for beneficiaries.

As families grow and circumstances change, we can also review existing arrangements to ensure they continue to reflect your wishes.

Receiving an Inheritance or Accumulating Significant Wealth

An inheritance or significant increase in wealth can change both your priorities and the complexity of your estate.

I regularly help clients navigate inheritances, deceased estates, widowhood and intergenerational wealth transfers. These changes can significantly alter your financial circumstances, and the estate plan that made sense years ago may no longer be right for you.

This is particularly relevant as Australia enters a period of significant intergenerational wealth transfer. Research by JBWere, building on Productivity Commission analysis, estimates that up to $5.4 trillion of wealth could transfer between generations in Australia over the next 20-25 years, creating important opportunities for families to consider how wealth will be managed, protected and transferred to the next generation.

Yet many Australians still don’t have a Will. According to Australian Seniors’ Inheritance & Retirement Report 2024, nearly one-third (31%) of Australians over 50 had not created a Will.

I see a significant change in wealth as an opportunity to step back and look at the bigger picture, working alongside solicitors and estate planning specialists to help ensure your financial strategy and estate planning arrangements work together.

Entering Retirement

Retirement is more than a change in how you spend your time. It can also be a significant change in how your wealth is structured and how you receive your income.

For many people, superannuation becomes one of their largest assets outside the family home, while pension accounts begin providing an income stream. At the same time, adult children may have established families of their own, creating new considerations around how you want your wealth to be passed on.

This makes retirement an important time to review your estate planning arrangements, including:

• How your superannuation and pension accounts are structured
• Whether your Binding Death Benefit Nominations remain appropriate and up to date
• Who you want to benefit from your superannuation and pension death benefits
• How your adult children and other beneficiaries feature in your estate plan
• The potential tax implications of different beneficiaries receiving superannuation or pension death benefits.

In my experience, the most important first step is taking the time to understand what you want your retirement and your legacy to look like, so your financial plan reflects what matters to you. This becomes the guiding point as we work through how superannuation, pension, investments and other assets fit together, who you want to benefit and what needs to be considered when it comes to tax and your estate planning.

Supporting Ageing Parents or Facing Health Changes

Population Projections, Australia | Australian Bureau of Statistics

• Australia’s population in 2022 (26 million) is projected to reach between 34.3 and 45.9 million people by 2071.
• People aged 65 years and over will increase from 17% in 2022 to between 25% and 27% in 2071
• People aged 85 years and over will increase from 2.1% in 2022 to between 5.2% and 6.4% in 2071

Some of the most important estate planning conversations begin when a health event or age-related changes raise questions about who will make decisions on your behalf if you lose the capacity to do so.

I see this particularly when a client’s parent or spouse begins experiencing cognitive decline or another health condition that may affect their capacity to make financial or personal decisions. Having the appropriate documents in place before that point can give you greater control over who can act on your behalf and how your affairs are managed.

It’s worth considering questions such as:

• Who can make financial decisions on my behalf if I lose capacity?
• Who knows what assets and accounts I have?
• Who can communicate with my doctors and advocate for my healthcare wishes?
• Have my wishes about medical treatment and future care been documented?
• Where are my Will, Enduring Power of Attorney and other important documents?
• Does someone I trust know where these documents are and who prepared them?

Families often discover gaps or outdated arrangements at the point when they need them most. By then, it may be more difficult to put the right arrangements in place.

We spend considerable time planning for retirement, including how much we will need, where our income will come from and how long our money might last. I think it is just as important to consider what would happen if we could no longer make those decisions for ourselves.

For me, the important thing is to put the right arrangements in place while you have the capacity to make those choices and make sure the people you trust know your wishes, understand where your important documents are and know who to turn to if they need to support you.

These conversations can be difficult, but having them early can give you greater control over your affairs and make things clearer for the people who may need to step in later.

Common Misconceptions or Mistakes

Estate planning is broader than having a Will. Your Will sits alongside other documents and arrangements, including powers of attorney and superannuation nominations.

One of the most common misconceptions is that once a Will has been prepared, it can simply be put away and forgotten. Your circumstances, relationships and financial position can change significantly over time, so it is important to revisit your estate planning and make sure your documents still reflect your wishes.

It is also easy to assume you remember what your documents say. I have seen situations where clients were surprised to discover that the beneficiaries named in their Will, their chosen Executor or the people appointed under their Powers of Attorney were not who they thought they were. Taking the time to read your documents and confirm that they still reflect your intentions can help avoid difficult conversations later.

Another common mistake is assuming your superannuation will automatically be distributed according to your Will. Superannuation is generally held in trust by your super fund, and the trustee may determine who receives your death benefit depending on the circumstances and whether you have a valid nomination in place. This also applies to self-managed super funds, where the rules and governing documents need to be considered carefully.

I encourage clients to review their superannuation nominations alongside their broader estate planning, rather than treating them as separate arrangements. Making sure your Will, Powers of Attorney, superannuation nominations and other important documents are consistent can help ensure your wishes are understood and carried out as intended.

What Should You Consider?

Some of the biggest estate planning issues I see arise simply because documents haven’t been reviewed for years.

People named as Executors may have died, moved overseas or become unable to take on the role. Attorneys may no longer be the right people to make decisions on your behalf. Family circumstances may have changed, beneficiaries may be different, and important documents can become difficult to locate.

Regularly reviewing your estate planning gives you the opportunity to check that the people you have nominated are still appropriate, your documents are up to date and your loved ones know where to find them when they need them.

Practical Takeaways

Estate planning is one of the simplest ways to make things easier for the people you care about. A few practical checks can make a significant difference when your family needs to navigate your affairs.

• Review your superannuation and pension beneficiary nominations. This includes SMSFs.
• Know where your important documents are and make sure someone you trust knows where to find them.
• Don’t assume you remember what your documents say. Take the time to check.
• Review your arrangements when circumstances change.

A complete estate planning review may include:

• Will
• Enduring Power of Attorney
• Enduring Guardianship
• Advance Care Directive
• Superannuation and pension beneficiary nominations
• How your assets are owned and structured
• Whether your documents and nominations remain current and consistent with your wishes

Taking the time to review these arrangements with the right adviser now can give you greater clarity about your affairs and make things easier for the people who may need to support you later.

If you think it might be time to review your estate plans, talk to an Esencia adviser about how it could fit within your broader financial strategy.