Estate planning isn’t just about what happens when you’re gone. It’s about making sure the people you care about are protected as your life, family and financial circumstances change.
Your life at 35 can look very different to your life at 55.
Relationships evolve. Children grow up. Wealth accumulates. Businesses change. Super balances become more significant. You may establish an SMSF, help your children financially, welcome grandchildren or find yourself navigating separation, remarriage or a blended family.
Yet while our lives continue to change, estate planning documents can easily remain untouched for years.
That’s why estate planning shouldn’t be thought of as a one-off exercise or something focused only on death. It’s an ongoing conversation about the people you care about, the assets you’ve worked hard to build, and making sure the right structures are in place if circumstances change.
“For me, estate planning is really about protecting the living. It’s making sure that as your life changes, the decisions you’ve made in the past still reflect the people you care about and what you want for them today. These aren’t always easy conversations, but getting things clear can provide enormous peace of mind.”
— Daniel Grusd, Director & Financial Adviser, Onelife Financial
What Made Sense Then May Not Make Sense Now
Think about how much can change over a decade.
In your 30s, your priorities may have centred around buying a home, protecting a young family and establishing your career.
By your 50s, your mortgage may be smaller, your children may be approaching adulthood, your super balance may have grown considerably, and your financial world may include investments, business interests or an SMSF.
The documents and nominations you put in place years ago may no longer reflect that reality.
Marriage, separation or divorce, the birth of children or grandchildren, the death of a beneficiary, changes in asset ownership and business succession can all affect whether an existing estate plan will still deliver the outcome you intended.
That’s why major life changes should also prompt a conversation about your estate plan.
Your Will Is Only Part of the Picture
One of the most common misconceptions around estate planning is that your will controls everything you own.
It doesn’t.
Superannuation generally does not automatically form part of your estate. How a death benefit is paid depends on superannuation law, your fund’s rules and whether you have made an effective beneficiary nomination. ASIC’s MoneySmart recommends regularly reviewing nominations, particularly after events such as marriage, divorce or having children.
That makes beneficiary nominations an important part of any estate planning review.
Some binding nominations expire, while others are non-lapsing, depending on the rules of the fund. If a nomination is no longer valid, the outcome may not be what you expected.
Consider someone who made a binding nomination in favour of their spouse several years ago and has since separated or divorced.
It would be easy to assume that other legal arrangements automatically take care of the change. But beneficiary nominations need to be reviewed in their own right. The same applies when a new partner enters your life, children become adults or your family structure changes.
SMSFs Need Particular Attention
For SMSF members, the conversation can be even more important.
An SMSF death benefit nomination operates in conjunction with the fund’s trust deed and superannuation law. The ATO notes that where the trust deed allows it, members may make binding or non-binding nominations, and trustees must ensure nominated beneficiaries are legally entitled to receive the benefit. Without an effective binding nomination, the remaining trustees may determine how benefits are distributed in accordance with the deed and super law.
That makes it particularly important to ensure your trust deed, nominations and broader estate plan continue to work together.
It isn’t simply a matter of having a document somewhere in a file.
The question is whether it is still current and still achieves what you want it to achieve.
Testamentary Trusts and Changing Rules
Recent discussion around testamentary trusts is another reminder that estate planning doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
The Federal Government announced a 30 per cent minimum tax on discretionary trusts from 1 July 2028, while providing exemptions for genuine discretionary testamentary trusts subject to proposed conditions. Draft legislation was released in September 2026, so the final detail is still evolving.
Testamentary trusts can play an important role in estate planning, including providing flexibility and asset protection for beneficiaries, but changing legislation reinforces why these arrangements shouldn’t simply be established and forgotten.
Your circumstances change.
Legislation changes.
Your estate plan sometimes needs to change with them.
Sometimes the Conversation Starts Because Life Has Changed
This is something Daniel has seen firsthand when helping clients navigate major transitions.
One client, Stewart, described the challenge of managing joint assets, business interests and the end of a marriage while also considering super, insurance and the future needs of his family. He said Daniel helped both parties navigate difficult conversations and reach greater clarity around their ongoing security and their children’s future.
That experience illustrates why estate planning and financial planning are often inseparable.
A separation, for example, doesn’t just change a relationship. It can affect who you want to receive your super, who controls assets, insurance arrangements, business interests and ultimately how you want to provide for your children.
Those conversations aren’t really about death.
They’re about making sure life changes don’t leave important decisions behind.
Protecting the People Who Matter
A good estate plan is ultimately an expression of your intentions.
Who do you want to protect?
Who may need financial support?
Who should make decisions if you can’t?
How do you want wealth to move between generations?
And have the answers to those questions changed since your documents were first prepared?
Having these conversations now can reduce uncertainty later and help ensure the decisions you’ve made over a lifetime are reflected in the structures around you.
Next Steps
You don’t need to wait for a major life event to review your estate planning.
Sometimes the best time to look at it is simply when life has moved on.
If it has been several years since you reviewed your will, super beneficiary nominations, SMSF arrangements or broader estate plan or if your family or financial circumstances have changed it may be worth asking whether everything still works together as intended.
At Onelife Financial, we help clients look at the bigger picture and coordinate the financial elements of these conversations alongside the appropriate legal professionals.
If something in your life has changed, or you simply want the peace of mind of knowing your arrangements still reflect your wishes, we’d welcome the conversation. Contact us here.
i Introducing a minimum tax on discretionary trusts | ATO
ii Discretionary trusts reform implementation | Treasurer
iii Who gets your super if you die | Moneysmart
iv Superannuation interdependency relationships | AFCA
v Superannuation death benefits | ATO
