The review schedule
What triggers an update. The five life events that mean it's time to reread the lot.
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§ Journey
What triggers an update. The five life events that mean it's time to reread the lot.
The will I wrote in 2018 was already wrong by 2020. We'd had another child. The named guardian had moved interstate. The super fund I'd named had been swallowed by a merger. None of these were dramatic. All of them mattered.
A will is not a one-and-done document.
Time-based. Re-read every five years, minimum. If you're over 60 or have a complex estate, drop the interval to three years.
Event-based. When specific things happen in life, the paperwork has to be touched.
These are the eight that should trigger the laptop coming out within a fortnight.
1. Marriage. A new marriage automatically revokes most existing wills in Australia. Without a fresh will, you've effectively died intestate.
2. Separation or divorce. Divorce automatically revokes any gifts to the ex-spouse. Separation (without a divorce decree) does nothing automatically. The most dangerous window is during separation: the will still treats the soon-to-be-ex as the primary beneficiary.
3. New child. A new will, or at least an update, every time a child arrives.
4. Buying or selling a house. A house is usually 60-80 percent of a man's net worth.
5. Starting or selling a business. Business interests are governed by trust deeds and shareholder agreements, not the will.
6. Partner change. New partner, de facto threshold passed, spouse passes away.
7. Major asset shift. Inheritance from your parents. A windfall. A material loss.
8. Age milestones. 50, 60, 70 each carry their own rethinks.
A review isn't a rewrite. Most reviews end with no changes. The point is to look.
The 30-minute review checklist:
If everything checks out, write a one-line note in your calendar and move on.
Three categories of change:
Category 1: The thing fixes itself by updating an external system. Wrong super beneficiary nomination. Outdated phone number. Just log in and fix.
Category 2: The thing requires a will update via codicil or replacement. Different executor, different guardian. A codicil costs $200-$400. A new will costs $400-$1,500.
Category 3: The thing requires a structural rethink. New marriage. New business. Significant change in family circumstances. Specialist solicitor.
Title: "Estate plan check." Frequency: every five years. Recipients: you, your partner.
Underneath that, a one-paragraph note in the reminder body:
"Read the will. Check executor, guardians, asset list. Log in to super funds and confirm binding nominations are current. Read the letter to family and update phone numbers."
A man who does this from age 35 to 75 has reviewed his estate plan eight to twelve times. Each pass takes thirty minutes. Six hours, spread across forty years.
Set the reminder. Read the will. Update the small things.
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