Estate planning and retirement planning are two things most Australians know they should have sorted. But when it comes to actually doing something about it, the first question is often: who do I even talk to?
Do you need a lawyer? A financial adviser? An estate planner? Some combination of all three? And what’s the difference anyway?
Here’s the plain-English answer for Australians approaching or entering retirement.
What Is Estate Financial Planning?
Estate financial planning is the process of making sure your assets end up where you want them to, in the most tax-efficient way possible, when you die or lose capacity.
Most people think of it as writing a will. That’s part of it, but it’s actually much broader. Estate financial planning covers:
- Your will and how assets are distributed
- Superannuation death benefit nominations (binding vs non-binding)
- Powers of attorney for financial and medical decisions
- Testamentary trusts to protect assets for beneficiaries
- Capital gains tax and super tax implications on death
- What happens to jointly held property
- How to structure gifts to children or grandchildren
- Planning for aged care and what that costs later in life
The reason this matters is that your will doesn’t control everything. Super, for example, sits outside your estate unless you specifically direct it in. Getting this wrong is one of the most common and costly mistakes we see.
Scott and Phil covered exactly how super death benefits, blended families and binding nominations work in Episode 12 of the Wealthlab Podcast. It’s well worth a listen if you have super and want to understand what actually happens when the bucket gets kicked.
Estate Planner vs Financial Adviser: What’s the Difference?
This is where people get confused, and understandably so. The roles overlap, but they’re not the same thing.
An estate planner is typically a solicitor or lawyer who specialises in wills, trusts and estate administration. They draft the legal documents: your will, testamentary trusts, enduring powers of attorney, advance care directives. Their expertise is in making sure your legal intentions are clear, binding and defensible.
A financial adviser who includes estate planning as part of their service focuses on the financial and structural side: how your assets are held, how super is nominated, how the interaction between your estate and things like the Age Pension, capital gains tax and super death benefit tax plays out.
The reality is that good retirement and estate planning needs both. A lawyer can draft a technically correct will that still fails to direct your super properly because no one set up the binding death benefit nomination. A financial planner can identify the right strategy but can’t draft a testamentary trust without a solicitor.
The best outcomes come when both are working together, which is exactly what a good financial adviser will facilitate. They’ll identify what legal documents you need, flag the issues that could cost your estate, and refer you to the right solicitor to get them documented.
Why Retirement and Estate Planning Go Together
Retirement planning is about making your money last while you’re alive. Estate planning is about what happens to whatever’s left when you’re not. They’re two sides of the same coin, but they’re often treated as completely separate exercises.
Here’s why that’s a problem.
The decisions you make during retirement, how you draw down super, whether you convert to an account-based pension, how you hold your investments, directly affect what’s available to your estate and how it’s taxed. A few examples:
Super death benefits and tax: Super paid to an adult child who is not financially dependent on you can be taxed at up to 17%. Super paid to a spouse is tax-free. If you don’t have a binding death benefit nomination in place, the trustee of your fund decides who gets it, not you. For someone with a blended family, this can be catastrophic.
Capital gains tax timing: If you hold investment properties or shares, the timing of when those assets are sold, before or after death, affects the CGT outcome for your estate and your beneficiaries. A financial planner who understands both retirement and estate financial planning can help you sequence this well.
Assets held outside super: How you title assets (joint tenancy vs tenants in common, personal name vs trust) determines what passes through your will and what doesn’t. A financial planner and estate lawyer working together can make sure your will and your asset structure tell the same story.
Age Pension implications: Gifting assets to children or grandchildren before death can trigger Centrelink’s gifting rules and affect your Age Pension. Getting the timing and amounts right requires financial advice, not just legal advice.
Estimate Your Retirement Income: Super, Pension & More
What a Financial Planner Does in Estate Planning
A financial planner who takes estate planning seriously does more than refer you to a solicitor and hope for the best. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Reviews your super nominations. Checks whether you have a binding death benefit nomination in place, who it’s directed to, and whether it’s lapsed (many expire after three years). Flags issues with blended families or financially dependent adults.
Maps your assets against your will. Identifies which assets fall inside your estate (controlled by your will) and which sit outside it (like joint tenancy property or super). Makes sure you know what your will actually controls.
Identifies tax exposure for your beneficiaries. Looks at what your super balance contains (taxable vs tax-free components) and what the death benefit tax implications are for each potential beneficiary. Models whether restructuring now reduces tax later.
Coordinates with your solicitor. Prepares a clear summary of issues and strategies that your estate lawyer needs to know before drafting documents. This is particularly important for testamentary trusts and complex family situations.
Reviews as things change. Life changes. Divorces, deaths, new grandchildren, changed circumstances. Estate planning isn’t a one-time exercise. A good financial planner flags when your existing arrangements need to be revisited.
When Do You Specifically Need an Estate Planning Lawyer?
There are situations where you need a solicitor, full stop. No financial planner can do this work for you:
- Drafting or updating your will
- Setting up a testamentary trust within your will
- Enduring powers of attorney (financial and medical)
- Advance care directives (medical decisions if you lose capacity)
- Challenging or contesting a will
- Deceased estate administration and probate
If you haven’t updated your will since having children, getting married or divorced, or acquiring significant assets, you need a solicitor. The financial planning side can inform and coordinate that process, but the legal documents require a qualified estate planning lawyer.
The Common Mistakes We See in Retirement and Estate Planning
After more than a decade of working with Australians approaching retirement, a few patterns come up repeatedly.
Lapsed binding nominations. Many industry super funds require binding nominations to be renewed every three years. People who set it up at 50 and never revisited it arrive at 70 with an unintended trustee discretion situation. Check yours.
Super not aligned with the will. The will says everything goes to the spouse. But the super nomination from ten years ago still names an adult child from a previous relationship as 50% beneficiary. Your will doesn’t fix this.
No powers of attorney. A surprising number of people approaching 70 have never set up an enduring power of attorney. If you lose mental capacity without one in place, a family member needs to apply to the relevant state tribunal to be appointed as your legal guardian or financial administrator. It’s slow, expensive and stressful.
Ignoring aged care costs. The cost of residential aged care can be substantial and draws down assets much faster than most families expect. Building this into a retirement and estate plan matters, particularly for couples where one partner may need care significantly earlier than the other.
Do You Need a Financial Planner Who Understands Estate Planning?
Most general financial advice firms will acknowledge estate planning exists but stop at “talk to a solicitor.” That’s not enough for anyone with super, property, or a complex family situation.
If any of the following apply to you, retirement and estate planning should be integrated:
- You have a super balance above $200,000
- You have a blended family or children from a previous relationship
- You own investment property or shares
- You’re approaching 67 and thinking about the Age Pension
- You want to pass on wealth to grandchildren in a tax-effective way
- You’ve never had a binding death benefit nomination reviewed
- One partner is significantly younger than the other
Frequently Asked Questions
What is estate financial planning in Australia? Estate financial planning is the process of structuring your assets and legal documents to ensure they pass to your intended beneficiaries in the most tax-efficient way possible. It includes your will, super death benefit nominations, powers of attorney, testamentary trusts and planning for aged care costs. It’s broader than just writing a will.
Do I need an estate planner or a financial adviser? You likely need both, working together. An estate planner (typically a solicitor) drafts the legal documents: your will, powers of attorney and testamentary trusts. A financial adviser handles the structural and tax side: how your super is nominated, how your assets interact with your estate, and what the tax implications are for your beneficiaries. A good financial adviser will coordinate the process and refer you to a solicitor for the legal work.
What is a financial planner estate planning role exactly? A financial planner’s role in estate planning includes reviewing binding death benefit nominations, identifying which assets fall inside and outside your estate, modelling the tax implications of super death benefits for different beneficiaries, and flagging issues with blended families or complex asset structures. They don’t draft legal documents but they ensure the financial strategy is right before the legal documents are written.
What does retirement and estate planning involve? Retirement planning focuses on making your money last while you’re alive. Estate planning covers what happens to what’s left when you’re not. The two are deeply connected because the decisions you make during retirement, how you draw down super, how assets are titled, whether you gift to children, directly affect your estate and how it’s taxed. They should be planned together, not treated as completely separate exercises.
Does my will cover my superannuation? No. Super sits outside your estate unless you specifically direct it in through your will or a binding death benefit nomination. If you die without a valid binding nomination, the trustee of your super fund has discretion over who receives the money. This can override your wishes, particularly in blended family situations. Always check your super nomination alongside your will.
How often should I review my estate planning? At minimum, every three years (because binding death benefit nominations for many funds expire), and after any major life event: marriage, divorce, death of a beneficiary, significant change in assets, or having a grandchild. Many people set up their estate planning in their 50s and never revisit it. By the time they reach their 70s, the world has changed but the documents haven’t.
At Wealthlab, we include estate planning as part of the retirement planning conversation, not as an afterthought. We review super nominations, map assets against existing wills, flag tax issues for beneficiaries, and coordinate with estate lawyers when documents need to be drafted or updated.
Book a free call with the Wealthlab team to talk through where your estate planning currently stands and what, if anything, needs attention.
Or, if you’d rather start with a quick picture of your retirement readiness, take our retirement quiz.