Stephanie Patrick
Wealth Adviser
Effective Estate Planning for High-Net-Worth Families
12 Aug 2025

When you’ve worked hard to achieve financial security, it’s natural to consider how your success might benefit the next generation—and even your wider community. Over the years, working with high-net-worth families in Australia, I’ve seen that effective estate planning is more than just deciding who inherits what. It’s about protecting those you care about, minimising avoidable tax, and making it as straightforward as possible for your wishes to be carried out.
As a financial adviser, my role is to help clients navigate the broad landscape of estate planning options. While I’m not a legal expert, I have considerable experience in this space, and I regularly work alongside lawyers and tax professionals to make sure every strategy fits the unique circumstances of each family. In short—estate planning is very much a team effort.
Charitable Giving: Carving Out a Legacy That Matters
For many clients, there’s a desire to make a positive impact beyond family. Charitable giving has become a significant part of estate planning in Australia, whether through bequests in your will, creating a Private Ancillary Fund (PAF), or setting up a structured giving plan during your lifetime. These approaches can help you support causes close to your heart—anything from medical research and education to local charities.
Charitable giving isn’t just personally rewarding; it can also offer tax advantages for your estate and beneficiaries. For example, in some situations, assets donated to certain charities may be exempt from capital gains tax. For anyone looking to create a philanthropic legacy, there are practical, tax-effective options to consider.
Testamentary Trusts: Going Beyond a Simple Will
One of the more flexible options available to families with larger estates is the testamentary trust. In basic terms, this is a trust set up via your will, which comes into effect after your death. Testamentary trusts allow greater control over when and how beneficiaries receive their inheritance, helping to protect vulnerable people, young children, or large gifts from external risks like business disputes or relationship breakdowns.
From a tax perspective, these trusts also create opportunities to distribute income among beneficiaries in a tax-effective way. But as with any legal structure, it’s important to work closely with a lawyer to make sure all the technical details are right for your family.
Tax-Effective Strategies: Planning for Certainty
When substantial family wealth is involved, getting the tax details right can make a big difference. Strategic planning for superannuation death benefits, managing potential capital gains tax on inherited properties, or equalising gifts to avoid future disputes are all common considerations. Every family’s needs are different, so drawing on the expertise of lawyers and tax professionals—alongside advice from someone who knows your full financial picture—almost always leads to the best outcome.
Bringing It All Together
There’s no one-size-fits-all estate plan. The most rewarding part of my job is helping clients put practical, robust plans in place that allow them to focus on what matters most, secure in the knowledge their legacy is protected.
If you’re thinking about the next step for your family’s legacy—whether it’s providing for loved ones, supporting a cause, or just simplifying the process for those you care about—I’d be delighted to help start that conversation. And when it’s time to bring in a lawyer or tax specialist, we’re well-placed to work together to make sure your plan works just as you intend.
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss what estate planning could look like for you and your family.