Estate planning Toorak — wills, trusts and succession for Australia's most valuable family estates

If you live in Toorak, your estate is rarely simple. There's often a family company, a discretionary trust or two, an SMSF, a substantial principal residence, perhaps an investment property or a holiday house, possibly assets offshore. There are adult children with their own complicated lives, grandchildren you'd like to look after, and sometimes a second marriage and adult step-children in the picture. Getting all of that to land cleanly when you're gone is not a one-page will — and the people who matter most to you deserve better than that.

At a glance — estate planning in Toorak

Why estate planning in Toorak isn't a one-page exercise

Toorak estates concentrate complexity. It isn't unusual for a single household to hold the family home in their personal names, a substantial investment portfolio in a discretionary trust controlled via a corporate trustee, retirement savings in an SMSF (with its own death-benefit nomination rules), business shareholdings in a family company, and sometimes property or accounts overseas. Each of those vehicles passes differently on death — most don't actually pass through your will. Without a coordinated plan, your will can be technically valid and yet end up controlling only 20% of what you thought you were leaving behind.

Getting it right means looking at the whole picture: who controls the trustee of the family trust after you go, who inherits the bloodline-sensitive shares, where superannuation actually lands, what triggers a foreign-resident CGT event, and how the will, the SMSF death-benefit nomination, the trust deed and the company constitution all line up. That's the work we do.

What we cover

• Wills, properly drafted — including specific bequests, residue, executor appointments, guardianship of minor children if relevant.
• Testamentary trusts — to protect beneficiaries from divorce, bankruptcy, or simply to stage when capital is received. Often essential for estates of this size.
• Family-provision risk planning — adult children, second-marriage step-children, dependent partners. We identify who has standing, what they could realistically claim, and how the estate can be structured (and documented with a statement of wishes) to minimise disruption.
• Business and trust succession — coordinating the will with the family-trust deed, the company constitution, shareholders' agreements and the appointor/principal succession.
• SMSF death-benefit nominations — properly executed binding nominations that interact correctly with the will, and where appropriate, reversionary pensions.
• Enduring Power of Attorney (financial + personal) and Medical Treatment Decision Maker — capacity-loss documents that prevent your family from needing a VCAT application if you become unable to make decisions for yourself.
• Philanthropic bequests — testamentary gifts to charities, private ancillary funds, or naming opportunities at institutions you've supported in life.
• Cross-border issues — assets in the UK, US, Israel, Asia. We coordinate with offshore advisers where required.

When to update your Toorak estate plan

• Any new marriage, separation, divorce or de facto relationship.
• Birth of a child or grandchild — or the death of an existing beneficiary or executor.
• A material change in assets — sale of a business, sale of the family home, a major liquidity event.
• An adult child entering a relationship that gives you pause about asset protection.
• A move overseas or the acquisition of foreign assets.
• Changes to Victorian or Federal estate-tax / family-provision law — we'll flag those for ongoing clients.

If you can't remember when you last looked at your will, it's almost certainly out of date for your current life.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need a lawyer to draft a will, or is a DIY kit enough?

For straightforward small estates a kit can technically work, but the cost of getting it wrong is enormous — invalid execution, ambiguous wording, missed superannuation, missed family-provision risk. For most families in Toorak, where there are real assets, blended-family considerations or a business, paying a lawyer once costs less than what a contested estate or a probate dispute will eventually cost the people you love.

What's a testamentary trust and do I need one?

A testamentary trust is a trust created by your will that holds your estate for the benefit of your beneficiaries (often your children or grandchildren). The main benefits are tax effectiveness (income to minors is taxed at adult rates inside a testamentary trust), asset protection (the assets are not personally held by the beneficiary so they're harder to lose in divorce or bankruptcy), and control (you can stage when beneficiaries receive capital). It's not for everyone — but for families with reasonable wealth or business interests, it's often worth the additional drafting cost.

How often should I update my will?

Update it when life materially changes: a separation or divorce, a new partner, a child or grandchild born, a death of a named beneficiary or executor, a significant change in assets (buying a business, selling the family home), a move interstate or overseas. As a general rule, if you can't remember when you last looked at your will, it's probably time.

What's a Family Provision claim and why does it matter to my estate plan?

Under Part IV of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic), certain people (children — adult and minor, a spouse, a former spouse in some cases, a dependent) can challenge a will on the basis that adequate provision wasn't made for their proper maintenance and support. The Court can re-order the estate. Good estate planning anticipates this — we identify who has standing, what the realistic claim risk is, and structure the estate (often via testamentary trust, sometimes with statements of wishes, sometimes with inter vivos gifts during life) to minimise the disruption.

Should I appoint a professional executor or a family member?

It depends on the complexity. A family member who is organised and on good terms with the other beneficiaries is often the right choice for straightforward estates. For complex estates — business interests, blended families, beneficiaries who don't get along, significant philanthropic bequests, or assets in multiple jurisdictions — a professional executor (a solicitor or a trustee company) takes the burden off the family and provides neutrality. We can discuss the right choice for your circumstances.

What's an Enduring Power of Attorney and a Medical Treatment Decision Maker — and do I need them?

Yes. A will only operates after you die. An Enduring Power of Attorney (financial and/or personal) appoints someone to make decisions for you if you lose capacity. A Medical Treatment Decision Maker (under the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 (Vic)) appoints someone to make medical decisions. Without these, your family may need to apply to VCAT for an administration or guardianship order — which is slow, public and stressful. Putting both in place at the same time as your will is straightforward and brings real peace of mind.

My family has a discretionary trust — does my will need to deal with it?

Not directly — assets held in a discretionary trust aren't yours personally, so they don't pass under your will. What your will (and a coordinated trust-succession document) needs to deal with is the role of appointor or principal — the person who can hire and fire the trustee. That role passes by the trust deed, not the will, and it's the most overlooked aspect of family-trust succession. We look at it explicitly.

Can I leave assets to grandchildren without giving them control too young?

Yes — that's exactly what a testamentary trust does well. Capital can be held until they reach a nominated age (often 25 or 30), with income distributed in the meantime. We routinely draft staged-distribution provisions for grandchildren in Toorak estates.