Deeds of Family Arrangement: Varying a Will by Agreement

Wills and Estate Planning
Deed of family arrangement — varying a Will by agreement in South Australia

A Will represents the deceased’s wishes at the time it was made, but it is not always the final word on how an estate is actually distributed. Where all the relevant beneficiaries agree, it is often possible to vary the distribution set out in a Will (or under the rules of intestacy) by entering into a deed of family arrangement. This can be a faster, cheaper, and less adversarial alternative to a family provision claim or other estate litigation, but it comes with its own legal, tax, and practical considerations that are worth understanding before beneficiaries shake hands on an informal deal.

Business succession planning for Australian business owners — integrating your Will with your business structure

Choosing the Right Business Structure for a Smooth Succession

Business Succession, Wills, Wills and Estate Planning
Business owner reviewing documents at an office desk

Business owners typically choose their operating structure – sole trader, partnership, company, or family trust – based on tax efficiency, liability protection, or simply what their accountant recommended at the time the business began. Succession is rarely the first consideration, and yet the structure a business operates under has an enormous influence on what happens to it when an owner dies, becomes incapacitated, retires, or wishes to bring in the next generation. Revisiting whether the original structure still serves the business’s succession needs is one of the most valuable, and most neglected, exercises a business owner can undertake.

Special Disability Trusts in Australia — securing long-term financial care for a loved one with a severe disability through estate planning

Special Disability Trusts: Securing the Future for a Loved One with a Disability

Special Disability Trust, Wills and Estate Planning
Special Disability Trusts in Australia — securing long-term financial care for a loved one with a severe disability through estate planning

For parents and carers of a person with a severe disability, the question of “what happens when I am no longer here?” can be one of the most anxious preoccupations of their lives. How will their loved one be cared for? Who will manage their affairs? Will a sudden inheritance disqualify them from means-tested government support? A Special Disability Trust (SDT) is a legal structure specifically designed to address these concerns, offering significant tax and social security advantages while providing a dedicated fund for a beneficiary’s care and accommodation needs.

SMSF Succession Planning: Why Your Self-Managed Super Fund Needs Its Own Strategy

Estate Planning, Superannuation
SMSF succession planning in Australia

Self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) are one of the most powerful wealth-accumulation vehicles available to Australians, and for many families they represent the single largest asset outside the family home. Yet despite their significance, the succession planning dimensions of SMSFs are frequently neglected or poorly understood. A comprehensive estate plan that addresses your Will, enduring power of attorney, and advance care directive, but leaves your SMSF succession arrangements to chance, is incomplete in a way that can have serious and expensive consequences for your family.

Elder financial abuse in South Australia — protecting older Australians from financial exploitation

Elder Financial Abuse: How to Protect Yourself and Those You Love

Asset Protection, Wills and Estate Planning
Elder financial abuse in South Australia — protecting older Australians from financial exploitation

Financial abuse of older Australians is more prevalent than most people realise, and its consequences can be devastating. An elderly person who has spent a lifetime accumulating assets may find those assets stripped away through manipulation, deception, or outright theft — often by someone they trusted completely. Understanding what elder financial abuse looks like, how it happens, and what the law provides by way of protection is a vital first step for every family.

Contesting a Will in South Australia

Contesting a Will in South Australia: What You Need to Know

Wills and Estate Planning
Contesting a Will in South Australia

Few events test the fabric of a family more severely than a dispute over a deceased person’s estate. Whether it arises from surprise, grievance, or a genuine sense of injustice, a challenge to a Will can be emotionally exhausting and financially costly. Yet the law recognises that there are circumstances in which such challenges are well-founded, and South Australia’s succession legislation provides clear pathways for eligible persons who believe they have been inadequately provided for or that a Will does not reflect the testator’s genuine intentions.

Estate Planning for Problem Children in SA

Estate Planning for Problem Children

Estate Planning, Trusts & Guardianship, Young Children
Estate Planning for Problem Children

For most parents, providing for their children is a fundamental motivation for estate planning. Yet for a growing number of families, the question of how to provide for an adult child is far from straightforward. When a child has a gambling problem, a substance dependency, an unsuitable or unstable relationship, or simply a demonstrated inability to manage money, leaving them an unconditional inheritance may do more harm than good.
This article addresses the estate planning options available to South Australian Will-makers who are concerned about leaving assets to vulnerable or financially unreliable adult children, under the Succession Act 2023 (SA) and related legislation.

Genders and Partners

Accommodation After Death: Providing a Home for Loved Ones Through Your Will

Death Benefits, Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills
Genders and Partners

For many South Australians, the family home is the most valuable asset in their estate. It is also deeply personal – associated with decades of memory and, in many cases, currently occupied by a surviving spouse, a dependent child, an elderly parent, or another family member who has nowhere else to go. The prospect of that person being displaced shortly after the Will-maker’s death, because the home must be sold or transferred to satisfy the terms of the Will, is a genuine source of anxiety for many people making estate planning decisions.

Testamentary trusts in South Australia — protecting beneficiaries, minimising tax, and building flexibility into your Will

Testamentary Trusts: Building a Will That Protects Your Beneficiaries

Testamentary Trusts, Wills, Wills and Estate Planning
Testamentary trusts in South Australia — protecting beneficiaries, minimising tax, and building flexibility into your Will

When most people think about making a Will, they imagine a straightforward document that says who gets what when they die. For many Australians, that basic Will is all that is needed. But for others — particularly those with significant assets, complex family structures, or vulnerable beneficiaries — a Will that simply transfers wealth outright may not be the wisest choice.

What Happens When You Die Without a Will in South Australia

What Happens When You Die Without a Will in South Australia?

Estate Administration, Succession Law, Wills and Estate Planning
What Happens When You Die Without a Will in South Australia

Approximately half of all Australian adults do not have a Will. For some, this reflects a deliberate (if misguided) choice; for most, it is simply the result of procrastination — of assuming there is plenty of time, that it will not matter, or that the law will sort things out. In practice, dying without a Will — a state known as dying ‘intestate’ — can have significant and sometimes distressing consequences for the people left behind.