Checklist: Is your Estate Planning up to date?

Your estate planning documents play a critical role in ensuring your affairs are managed smoothly and in accordance with your wishes. From the moment you may lose mental capacity, right through to when your estate passes to the people you’ve chosen to benefit from your hard work. Yet many people set and forget their documents, not realising how much damage an outdated estate plan can cause. Major life changes such as a separation, the birth of a child, or a shift in your business structure can render your existing documents ineffective or even void.

That’s why we recommend reviewing your estate plan at least annually, and updating it every 3 to 5 years, or whenever a significant life event occurs.

If you aren’t sure if your estate planning needs an update, you can complete our checklist below and submit it to our team, we will review your responses and get back to you to discuss your options!

Is your Estate Planning up to date?

If you answer 'Yes' to any of these questions, we will reach out to discuss your options - no obligation!
Have you changed address, or any of your primary contact details, e.g. phone or email?
Has your relationship status changed? Married, single, separated, divorced or in a de facto relationship.
Has your family changed, through births, deaths or marriages?
Have you bought or sold any properties?
Have you incurred or paid off any major debts?
Have you changed super funds?
Have you set up a self-managed super fund?
Has it been more than 3 years since you made your superannuation 'binding death benefit nomination'? (Do you have a binding death benefit nomination?!)
Have you taken out or cancelled a policy of life insurance, disability or trauma insurance, or income protection insurance? Have you changed the reason why you hold this insurance, e.g. to pay off debts or to fund other obligations?
Have you lent or gifted any money to your children (or other family members)?
Have you or your partner entered another phase of life, e.g. work, unemployment, retirement, marriage, divorce, children, grandchildren?
Have your children (or grandchildren) entered another phase in their life, e.g. school, university, marriage, divorce, retirement?
Have you experienced any changes in family or relationship dynamics that may change how you want to gift your estate?
Are you in business, or buying into or selling out of a business?
Have you set up or shut down a 'family trust', private company or other business or investment structure?
Have you sold any assets that are currently gifted to a specific person in your Will?
Have you bought any new assets that you would like to give to a specific person in your Will?
Have any of the people you have appointed to be your Executor, Enduring Attorney or alternate medical 'decision maker' changed?
Does your family include any step-children, or people who may expect to benefit from your estate but are not included in your Will?

Our Great Lawyer Guarantee

We want to be part of your team over the long term. We'll achieve this by sticking closely to the following principles:

  • We'll listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve. Then we'll thoroughly explain our advice and step you through the documents. You can be sure you'll know the full consequences.
  • Our lawyers work as a team, so someone will always be available to answer your questions, or point you in the right direction. You will also benefit from a range of perspectives and experience.
  • One of our key goals is to pass on as much knowledge as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions. We want to make you truly independent.
  • We only do what we're good at. You can be confident that we know what we're doing and won't pass on the cost of our learning.
  • For advice and documents, we provide a fixed or capped quote so you don’t take price risk. If you're in a dispute, we'll map out the process and costs so you know what to expect.
  • We're not in this game for our egos. We're in it for a front row seat to witness your success.

We measure our success on how efficiently we have facilitated your objectives, enhanced your relationships, and reduced the level of stress for all involved.

If we sound like people you can work with, call us now and speak directly with a great lawyer.