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Estate planning

Check you have the documents every family should have.

A checklist in your state’s own names, marked from your vault, plus your cover across every policy and who each one pays. For the documents themselves, we introduce a solicitor or your state’s Public Trustee if you ask.

  • What every family should have
  • Your cover, in one place
  • A solicitor if you ask

Your family checklist

Choose your state to see the documents every family should have, under your state’s names. Each is marked once it’s in your vault.

Fill in your details above to see your result.

    A solicitor or your state’s Public Trustee makes these documents. We keep them, mark what is missing and tell you before anything lapses.

    What it is

    Estate planning decides who acts for you if you can’t and who receives what you leave. It rests on a will, powers of attorney for money and for health, plus nominations on your super and life cover. Super, life cover and jointly owned property don’t pass under your will. Each follows its own rules.

    What to know

    Good to knowBinding nominations can lapseA binding nomination to an APRA-regulated fund lapses after three years unless you renew it, or unless your fund offers one that does not lapse. Your statement shows which you have.Source: SIS Regulations 6.17A; Moneysmart
    Good to knowWithout a will, state law decides who inheritsEach state has its own formula for who inherits. In NSW, if all your children are also your spouse’s, your spouse takes everything; otherwise your spouse takes a set amount and half the rest, and your children share the balance.Source: NSW Government
    Good to knowInterstate powers of attorney generally workAn enduring power of attorney made in another state generally works to the extent the same power could be given locally. Western Australia needs an application to its tribunal first.Source: Compass, funded by the Attorney-General’s Department

    What we do

    • Keep the checklist, marked from your vault, with the date anything lapses

    What we don’t

    • Give legal or financial advice

    What a will costs

    What a will costs through the Public Trustee.

    Each state’s Public Trustee writes wills for a set fee. Naming it as your executor means its fees apply to your estate later.

    StateWhoWhat it charges
    NSWNSW Trustee and Guardian$462 for a standard will; from $583 for a complex one. Free if you are eligible for the full Age Pension.
    VictoriaState Trustees Victoria$69 online; $330 with a will writer, $600 for a couple. Discounts for concession card holders and for naming State Trustees as executor.
    TasmaniaPublic Trustee TasmaniaFree for Seniors and Pensioner concession card holders who appoint the Public Trustee as executor.
    QueenslandPublic Trustee of QueenslandFree for everyone, whether or not you name it as executor. Free storage. Enduring power of attorney $216.25, or $329.35 for a couple.
    WAPublic Trustee WA$416, or $277 each for a couple. Concession holders $54, or $44 each. Capped at $1,650.
    SAPublic Trustee SAFree if you are eligible and name it as executor, with free updates and storage.
    ACTPublic Trustee and GuardianDoes not write wills. It refers eligible people, including those on $50,000 or less, to law firms at $702, or $879 for a couple.
    NTNT Public Trustee$154 for a simple will naming it as executor, $382.80 for a complex one, $30.80 with a concession card. Free storage.

    Fees include GST where the Trustee says so. WA’s fees from 1 July 2026. Sources: each Public Trustee’s own fees page.

    Your cover, in one place

    Every policy you hold, and who each one pays.

    Your cover is spread across your super, private policies and your employer. We add it up from the policies and statements in your vault and show who would be paid. We show what you hold; what you do about it is your decision.

    Your total cover

    Read from your policies and super statements

    Examplea nurse with a partner and two childrenAs at 11 Sep 2026
    Death cover in your super
    $212,000, paid under your fund’s nomination
    Death cover, a private policy
    $500,000, paid to your partner, as named
    Total and permanent disability
    $212,000, inside your super
    Income protection
    $4,800 a month after 90 days, inside your super
    Your super balance
    $96,400, paid under your nomination, not your will
    Nomination on your super
    Binding, lapses 2 March 2027

    Your super and its cover are paid under your fund’s nomination, which lapses in March. Your private policy pays your partner directly.

    Example figures. We read your cover; we do not recommend it.

    What your will covers and what it doesn’t

    By type of asset

    • Your will covers what you own in your own name.
    • Super, and the cover inside it, is paid under your fund’s nomination or its own rules.
    • A private life policy pays the beneficiary it names, or your estate if it names none.
    • Property owned as joint tenants passes to the other owner; a share owned as tenants in common goes through your will.
    • Property in the UK or Ireland: Citizens Information suggests a will in each country where you own property. UK inheritance tax can apply to UK assets, and to worldwide assets for someone resident in the UK in 10 of the last 20 years.

    Source: Moneysmart; ATO; Citizens Information; gov.uk.

    What to know

    RequirementSuper does not follow your willYour fund pays your super death benefit under your nomination, or under its own rules if you have none. A valid binding nomination is the one the fund must follow; nominate your estate if you want your will to decide.Source: ATO; Moneysmart
    Good to knowSuper paid to an adult child is taxedA super death benefit is tax-free to a dependant for tax purposes: a spouse, a child under 18, or someone who depended on you. An adult child usually pays up to 15% plus the Medicare levy on the taxable part, and 30% on any untaxed part.Source: ATO

    What we do

    • Show your cover across every policy, and who each one pays

    What we don’t

    • Tell your fund or insurer who to pay

    Getting it done

    Who makes your will and powers of attorney, and when to update them.

    A will and powers of attorney are legal documents, made with a solicitor or your state’s Public Trustee, or with a kit that one of them checks. We introduce either if you ask. We record where the originals are and their dates.

    Who can make them

    A solicitor or the Public Trustee

    • A solicitor drafts wills and powers of attorney, and can hold the originals.
    • Each state’s Public Trustee makes wills; Queensland’s makes them free for every adult Queenslander.
    • Moneysmart suggests having a solicitor or the Public Trustee check a will kit.
    • We introduce a solicitor or Public Trustee if you ask, and tell you first if we are paid.

    Source: Moneysmart; Public Trustee of Queensland.

    Keeping it current

    When to look again

    • Review after a marriage, a divorce, a child or a new property, and about every five years.
    • NSW Trustee & Guardian’s WillSafe stores wills and powers of attorney for $49 once, or free if it is your executor or attorney.
    • Your vault keeps a copy of each, where the original is, and the date anything lapses.
    • Someone you name can open your vault on a verified death, and nothing before.

    Source: NSW Trustee & Guardian.

    What we do

    • Introduce a solicitor or your state’s Public Trustee if you ask, and tell you first if we are paid

    What we don’t

    • Draft a will or act as executor. A solicitor or the Public Trustee does that