Estate planning and wealth transfer planning are critical for Australian business owners and families, and doing nothing poses a significant risk to the next generation’s financial future.
You’ve spent decades building your business. Your super balance is climbing. The kids are doing well. The grandkids are starting to ask about the family history. You’ve built something real, something that matters.
But something no one wants to think about is what happens if you’re not here tomorrow.
And let’s hope it never comes to that until much later in life. But what we know from years of working with Tasmanian families and business owners is: hoping isn’t planning. And that silence, that assumption that “the family will work it out” or “it’s too early to worry about this”, is the greatest threat to everything you’ve built.
We all knew someone who thought they had time and then passed away unexpectedly. And it’s worse for business owners when there’s no succession plan in place. No one with legal authority to access bank accounts. No clear instructions for the family. Months, sometimes years, of legal complications that could have been avoided with a few conversations and the right documents.
Estate planning isn’t about preparing to die. It’s about preparing the next generation to receive what you’ve built. It’s about taking control while you’re alive, so your family doesn’t have to fight for control when you’re gone.
For clarity’s sake, and for your freedom.
The Myth of “I’ve Got a Will, I’m Sorted”
Here’s what most people don’t know: having a will is just one piece of estate planning. It’s a bit like saying you’ve got business insurance sorted because you’ve locked the front door.
Your estate planning and wealth transfer strategy must go beyond a basic will, especially if you own assets across multiple entities.
Phil Hall, one of our financial planners, puts it plainly: “A will only deals with estate assets. There could be a number of assets owned in different entities that may pass to a beneficiary without actually going through the will.”
Your estate actually sits in three separate buckets:
• Personal assets: governed by your will. Your house, your car, and personal savings. If you die without a will (intestate), state laws decide who gets what. In Tasmania, that’s different to Victoria or New South Wales. The government becomes the decision maker.
• Superannuation: dealt with separately, through binding death benefit nominations. Many people assume their super automatically flows through their will. It doesn’t. And if you’ve got adult children as beneficiaries, there are tax consequences most people don’t see coming.
• Trusts and companies: governed by the trustee or company structure. Your will can’t touch these unless you’ve set up the right mechanisms.
“People think estate planning is having a will,” says Andrew Pearce, director at Collins SBA. “That’s only a small piece. What about control of your company? Control of your trust? Your superannuation funds? What about joint assets you own with your spouse?”
When Business Owners Don’t Plan Ahead
Business owners without a proper estate planning and wealth transfer framework risk leaving behind legal chaos and inaccessible business assets.
We once worked with a business owner who did everything right. Kept the documents updated, planned ahead, and stayed on top of compliance. But when the director passed away unexpectedly, the business was suddenly left without a legally authorised decision-maker. Essential licences were at risk, operations were disrupted, and the family spent months navigating avoidable legal complications.
Situations like this aren’t uncommon. They happen across Australia whenever business owners assume they’ll have more time.
When you’re the sole director of your company, you’re the only one with legal authority. If you die without proper succession planning, no one can access bank accounts, pay wages, or lodge tax returns. Your business might be worth a million dollars, but without the right legal mechanisms, it can fold in weeks.
“If it’s a sole director business and that director dies, who’s got the authority to continue paying the bills?” asks Phil Hall, one of our financial planners. “Who’s making sure tax returns get lodged? Are employees getting paid? That’s a legal minefield that should be dealt with before an event occurs.”
The scenario gets even more complex with partnerships. Here’s what happens in a typical two-director business when one partner dies without proper planning:
Let’s say Bill Smith and his business partner each own 50% of a company worth a million dollars. Bill dies without a will, leaving a wife and no children. Under Tasmanian intestacy laws, Bill’s wife now owns 50% of the business.
She may have no desire, skill, or experience running that business. And Bill’s business partner may have no desire to run a business with Bill’s wife.
“It’s a significant problem,” says Nick Davey, another of our financial planners. “The business partner maintains their share and now needs to deal with the estate.”
The solution? Buy-sell agreements backed by insurance. These agreements stipulate what happens when a business owner dies or becomes disabled. Generally, the surviving business owner gets 100% of the business, and the deceased owner’s estate gets cash, funded by insurance, which is typically the most cost-effective option.
But here’s the catch: these agreements need regular review. “Often the buy-sell agreement gets put in place, the insurance gets drawn up, and then the valuation changes over time and neither of them are updated,” Nick explains.
The Tax Trap Most People Miss
Your super balance looks healthy. But have you considered what happens when it transfers to your adult children?
Within superannuation, there are tax-free and taxable components. For non-dependent beneficiaries (that’s adult children), the taxable component is taxed at a significantly higher rate.
One strategy that can save families tens of thousands of dollars? A withdrawal recontribution strategy. “Whilst the client is still alive, we do a withdrawal recontribution strategy,” Phil explains. “We change the taxable components within the superannuation phase. The tax consequences are significantly lower because we’ve changed the components.”
Another scenario: a client who’s significantly ill might be better off withdrawing from super and physically gifting assets to family members while alive. “That may have a more significant benefit to the beneficiaries as opposed to waiting to estate phase, because then that might be taxed at a much higher level.”
These are the conversations that save families tens of thousands of dollars. But they only happen when you start planning early enough.
The Protection Most People Don’t Know Exists
Testamentary trusts. You’ve probably never heard of them, but they can be lifesavers.
Phil recalls a client whose adult child was going through a divorce. If that child had received their inheritance directly, half would have been contested in the separation. Instead, the inheritance was held in a testamentary trust within the will. Once the divorce was finalised, the beneficiary could access the funds safely.
“The testamentary trust is not something that’s talked about enough,” Phil says. “It’s also useful if someone’s receiving government benefits, if they’ve got bankruptcy pending, or if they’re in a high-risk job, going through financial difficulties. It means they can elect to receive those assets at a time of their choosing.”
Testamentary trusts can be held for up to 80 years. They’re not just about divorce protection. They’re about giving your beneficiaries control over when and how they receive what you’ve left them.
The Great Wealth Transfer: Seeing Your Legacy in Action
Nick recently met with a client who’d just sold his business. “He basically said, ‘I don’t want to die with dollars in the bank.’ He’d worked hard, built this wealth, and wanted to see his family benefit from it while he was alive.”
This client wanted to help his children get into property and fund his grandchildren’s education. “If he can put a deposit down on a house for his two children and help educate their grandchildren, then he gets to see the benefit of that,” Nick explains. “But the question becomes: how do we do that and still make sure he doesn’t run out of money?”
That’s financial planning married with estate planning. It’s not just about what happens when you die. It’s about strategically transferring wealth while you’re here to see it make a difference. This is where estate planning and wealth transfer isn’t about documents, it’s about strategy, communication, and reducing the tax hit.
But here’s what Andrew sees most often: fear. “The biggest thing I’m seeing is a fear of wealth transfer from older generations. They tend to think they’ll live forever and don’t need to do anything. They think things will be fine when they die, and the family will work it out.”
It seldom happens that way.
“Usually, if there are no clear instructions, there are arguments,” Andrew continues. “Sometimes people have provisioned things the way they think is fair in their estate planning, but they haven’t actually communicated that to the next generation. It’s been a surprise. That creates argument and animosity.”
What Needs Reviewing, and When
Your will. Your power of attorney. Your enduring guardianship. Your superannuation beneficiary nominations. Your buy-sell agreements. Your insurance coverage.
These aren’t set-and-forget documents. They need review whenever there’s a change in family circumstances, business structure, or asset values. At a minimum, they should be part of your regular progress meetings.
“We also need to look at the parties to the will,” Nick adds. “Who have you designated as executor or trustee? We might have elderly clients who nominated family or friends of similar age, and they’re now not in a position where they could probably adequately carry out that role.”
Life changes. Your estate plan needs to change with it.
Where Collins SBA Comes In
These conversations may happen in first client meetings and regular reviews. Do you want to transfer assets now or later? What are the tax implications? Are there strategies to reduce tax and provide certainty? We help clients work through these questions before they become urgent.
If you’re a business owner without a full financial planning relationship with us, this is your prompt. If something happened tomorrow, what happens to your business? Our role is simple: give you clarity and control so you can make smart, informed decisions about what you’ve built.
Take Control, Then Freedom
The boulder on your shoulder isn’t just running the business day-to-day. It’s wondering whether everything you’ve built will survive without you.
Estate planning lifts that weight. It means your business can continue operating if you can’t. It means your family receives what you intended, with minimal tax and maximum clarity. It means you might even transfer some wealth while you’re alive to see the impact.
Most importantly, it means you’ve taken control. Because if you don’t make the decision, someone else will, whether that’s the government, the courts, or family members arguing over what you “would have wanted.”
At Collins SBA, we guide you through estate planning and wealth transfer with confidence; so your legacy is protected and your intentions are honoured.
You can contact Phil Hall at phall@collinssba.com.au or Nick Davey at ndavey@collinssba.com.au to start the conversation about your estate plan.
For clarity’s sake, and for your freedom.
