14 · Wills, powers of attorney and what happens next
A will takes effect when you die. A power of attorney matters while you are alive but unable to act. Households often have the first and not the second, which is the wrong way round in terms of likelihood.
This is the section people postpone, and the postponement is rational in the short term and expensive in the long term. Almost none of it is difficult. Most of it is a single afternoon, one phone call to a super fund, and a printed page kept with the will.
Nothing in this section is legal advice, and the app makes no judgement about whether any document is valid or suitable for you. Wills and enduring appointments are state-based and easy to invalidate by accident. See a solicitor or your state’s public trustee organisation — many offer low-cost or free wills for older Australians.
The four documents
| Document | When it operates | What happens without it |
|---|---|---|
| Will | After death | A formula set by your state decides who receives what — rarely what the household would have chosen |
| Enduring power of attorney (financial) | While alive, but unable to act | An application to a state tribunal to have someone appointed. Slow, public and expensive |
| Enduring medical appointment | While alive, unable to make health decisions | Doctors must fall back on a statutory hierarchy that may not reflect your wishes. This one goes by a different name in nearly every state |
| Super death benefit nomination | After death, outside the will | The trustee decides who receives your super at its discretion |
These are personal documents, not household ones. A household does not have a will; two people each have one — which is why the app gives each adult their own block.
The fact that surprises almost everyone
Your super probably does not pass under your will. It is paid at the trustee’s discretion unless there is a valid binding death benefit nomination — and a lapsing binding nomination runs three years from the day it was signed, then quietly expires. Because most Australian households hold the bulk of their wealth in super, this single item is often worth more than everything the will actually controls.
The action is small: ring each fund and ask two questions — is there a nomination, and when was it made? Record both. The If something happened tab lists every super account from your balance sheet automatically and works out how long ago each nomination was signed.
Whether a nomination suits you, and who it should name, is a question for a licensed adviser or a solicitor — the tax treatment differs depending on who receives it.
What the “If something happened” tab records
One page recording where things are and who acts — deliberately not what they are worth. The balance sheet already prints the figures, and a list of balances is useful to a thief as well as to a family.
- Where each will is kept, who the executor is, and when it was made.
- Whether each adult has an enduring financial and medical appointment, and who holds it.
- Whether each super account has a death benefit nomination, and its date.
- What exists, and where — every account and debt from your balance sheet, with a line to name the bank, fund or insurer against each one.
The app never judges the document. It stores what you tell it and works out one thing: how long ago you told it. There is also no completeness score, on purpose — a score invites you to improve the number rather than ring the fund. A household that has deliberately decided against a document has recorded that just as completely as one that has it.
What never goes on that page
Record the pointer, never the contents. This file has no password on it and the page is meant to be printed. No account, member or policy numbers — the institution’s name is enough for an executor to start. No passwords, PINs, logins or recovery codes. No safe combinations or key hiding places: “with our solicitor” is a location; “taped under the third drawer” is an invitation. And not the contents of the will — putting a second version anywhere else only creates an argument.
Four things worth doing beyond the documents
1. Make the list of what exists
Not the balances — the accounts themselves. Which bank, which super fund, which insurer, which utility, which subscriptions that will keep charging a dead person’s card. Executors routinely spend months discovering things one page could have told them in an afternoon, and unknown accounts are the commonest cause of delay in settling a small estate. Print it, keep it with the will, update it once a year.
2. Write the letter the will cannot
A will says who gets what. It cannot say why — and the why is what families argue about. A short letter kept with the will, explaining the reasoning behind an uneven split, why one child received help earlier, or simply what you hoped the money would do, prevents more conflict than any clause a solicitor can draft. It is not a legal document and does not need to be.
Keep it with the will, not inside it — a letter tucked into a will can raise questions about whether the will was altered. Your solicitor can tell you how to store it properly.
3. Ask whether the other one could manage next fortnight
Not in a year — next fortnight. If the person who runs the money were suddenly unavailable, could the other pay the mortgage, find the insurer, log in to the bank, and know which bills are about to arrive? This is a sharper question than “does everyone know where things are”, and the honest answer in most households is no. Do it while it is a dull afternoon’s task rather than an emergency.
4. Ask what the survivor would actually live on
The hardest conversation, and the one most often postponed. A defined benefit that reverts at 67%, a mortgage that continues, insurance that may or may not exist — the arithmetic is knowable, and knowing it is kinder than not. On the Retirement tab, enter the reversion percentage and, when you are ready, a modelled year: the schedule shows exactly what would be paid, to whom, and until when.
When to review
Marriage, separation, a birth, a death, buying a house, starting a business. Any of these can make an existing will wrong or, in some states, revoke it entirely. Whenever the household changes on the Family details tab, that is your prompt — and the app says so.
Where to get it done: a solicitor, or your state’s public trustee, for the will and the enduring appointments. Your super fund, direct, for a nomination — the form is theirs and it costs nothing. A licensed adviser or solicitor for whether a nomination suits you and who it should name.
If you use a digital vault service, choose one that can outlive you: the ones worth using verify a death independently rather than taking a relative’s word, allow more than one trusted person to gain access, and can tell you what happens to your material if the company ceases trading. Whatever you use, tell the people who would need it that it exists. A vault nobody knows about is no better than a drawer nobody opens.