You may have made a Will at some point in your life, put the copies in a safe place and not thought about it since. You may have the mindset that this document is a “set and forget”, and you are all sorted if you were to pass away.
However, life is constantly shifting; your family grows, your assets change, your wishes may not necessarily be aligned with what they were 5 or 10 years ago. Rarely is anything static, and your estate planning should not be either.
Signing a Will which lists where your assets are to go when you die, is just one part of estate planning. The process also typically includes putting in place enduring powers of attorney (see our recent article for further discussion), review of how changes to the law may affect your situation, and review and advice in respect to any structures you may hold your assets in, such as discretionary trusts or in the superannuation environment.
In light of this, here are some potential triggers to consider, which should turn your mind to reviewing and potentially updating your estate planning.
Changes to personal circumstances
This is generally the major prompt for people to review their estate planning.
Events such as entering into a domestic relationship (i.e. living with a partner), marriage or having children should have you at the least, checking your old Will to see if it appropriately reflects your wishes.
Some people are not aware that legal marriage revokes an existing Will, so if you have married since you last signed your Will, and it was not made in contemplation of that marriage taking place, then your Will may have been revoked.
Separation and divorce from a partner are other triggers. Separation alone does not automatically mean that they no longer benefit from provisions in your Will, so if you do not want an ex-partner to automatically receive anything under your Will, your Will needs to be updated.
Another consideration are the circumstances of your children as they grow into adults and potentially have their own families. Factors such as where a child is living (i.e. interstate or overseas), vulnerability issues such as financial literacy, addition or disabilities, early advances of ‘inheritance’ either via loan or gift, or relationship breakdowns are all things that can impact your objectives, particularly to ensure that you have the right protections and safeguards for them in your Will.
Relationships with chosen executors may change as well over the years and they may not be the most appropriate people to be nominated to look after your estate. This can be due to age, illness, residency or breakdown of relationship. It is important to ensure the person or people you have chosen to be executors are appropriate.
Changes to your assets
If you have specifically gifted an asset in your Will and it has been sold, there may be unintended consequences for the beneficiary who was supposed to receive this asset. An update would usually be required to remove the specific gift completely or replace it with another asset.
You may have received inheritance, put in place structures such as a discretionary trust, or started your own business and created a private company. These all need to be taken into consideration when you review your estate plan. Further, if you have started your own self-managed superannuation fund, those documents should be reviewed and advised on to ensure that your superannuation is distributed to your chosen beneficiaries. Sometimes, superannuation is your most valuable asset and needs to be dealt with accordingly.
Asset ownership structures and changes to these in light of asset protection strategies can also impact your estate planning and it may be recommended that certain structures are added into the Will to extend asset protection post-death.
Changes to the law
This consideration usually goes under the radar. However, laws are constantly changing. Something that was put in place 5 or 10 years ago may not have contemplated changes in the law that have since come into place.
An estate planning review takes into consideration changes in areas of law that affect deceased estates and is something that should be taken into account even if you are comfortable with the executors and beneficiaries in your current Will.
How we can help
If you think that now is the right time to review your estate planning and update your Will, our experienced lawyers in the Moores Wills, Estate Planning and Structuring team can assist you with a comprehensive estate planning review to ensure that your hard-earned assets are distributed in accordance with your wishes.
Contact us
Please contact us for more detailed and tailored help.
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