GUIDE · PERSONAL AND FAMILY
A plain guide to getting your important papers, accounts and wishes onto one list your family can find, and your professionals can work from. About a six-minute read.
IN THIS GUIDE
General information, not advice. Your lawyer, accountant and adviser advise on your situation.
THE SHORT ANSWER
When something happens, the first weeks often go on searching: emails, drawers, computers and different offices. Families can be left unsure who to call first, or which papers matter.
You don't need to change anything to fix that. You need one list, in one place, that says what exists and who holds it.
Who can act for you, and the papers that say so
You · LawyerYour will, and where the original is
LawyerWhat you own, what you owe, and who it's with
You · AccountantTrusts, companies and super funds, and who steps in
Accountant · LawyerLogins and the everyday
YouWHO HOLDS WHAT
It just sits in different offices, and nobody has the full list. Each professional holds their part. The list is what joins them up.
FIRST
If you couldn't make decisions for a while, someone needs the legal right to act for you. Without it, banks, super funds and even family can be stuck.
Ask your lawyer whether you have these, and where the originals are kept:
The names and forms differ from state to state. Your lawyer will know what applies to you.
Papers only help if someone can find them.
NEXT
Write one list of every account, property, investment, loan and policy. For each, note who it's with. You don't need balances, just enough for someone to know it exists.
Add the things people forget: an old super account, a card in one name, a guarantee signed for a business, money owed to you.
Your accountant can often fill the gaps from your tax returns.
IF YOU HAVE THEM
These have their own papers and their own rules about who takes over if something happens to you. Your will doesn't always decide it.
Ask your accountant and lawyer to list each one, and check:
You don't need to understand the rules. You need to know someone has checked them.
THEN
Much of life now sits behind a login: banking, email, bills and subscriptions. Don't put passwords in a will or send them by email.
Note where your password list is kept, and tell one person how to reach it. Add the everyday things too: what's paid by direct debit, and when rates and insurances are due.
A FICTIONAL EXAMPLE
The same difficult news.
Less time spent searching.
Mark, 58, is a dentist. His practice is owned through a family trust, with a company as trustee. He also has a self-managed super fund. His wife Helen looks after the home and the children.
NO LIST
Mark has a stroke. Helen can't get into his email or the practice accounts.
The bank won't discuss the practice loan with Helen. Nobody can find the power of attorney.
The accountant finds Mark is the only one who can make decisions for the family trust.
Wages and the practice lease need decisions. Helen is still working out who to ask.
Six weeks of searching before anything moves.
ONE LIST
Helen opens the list. It names the lawyer, accountant and adviser, and where each paper is.
The lawyer confirms Helen holds Mark's enduring power of attorney. She can act.
The accountant confirms who steps in for the trust and its trustee company, as checked two years earlier.
Locum cover arranged, wages paid, the insurance claim started.
Same people, same papers. Found in days, not weeks.
A fictional example. Names and details are made up.
KEEPING IT CURRENT
Check the list once a year, and after any big change: a sale, a new property, a new trust or company, a birth, a death or a separation.
Tell your executor and attorney where the list is. They don't need to read it now. They need to know it exists.
For families in Ongoing Coordination, Network Family Office keeps this in one secure vault, kept current, and shared with your professionals only with your OK.
THE LIST
Print it, fill it in by hand, and keep it where your family knows to look. Give a copy to your lawyer or accountant, so they're working from the same list.
Download the list (PDF)WHEN YOU'RE READY
Twelve weeks, one fixed fee, your professionals stay. Not sure where you sit? Take the two-minute self-check first.
Not sure if you need us?
You'll leave with a clear view of what needs to happen, and in what order. If your accountant can handle it, we'll say so.
Arrange a walkthroughClients across Australia. Most walkthroughs are by video.
WHAT HAPPENS IN A WALKTHROUGH
Your situation, in your words, and who's already involved.
What needs to happen, who does it, and in what order.
Whether to go further with us, or carry it on yourself.
FOR ACCOUNTANTS, ADVISERS AND BANKERS
We don't replace you. We make sure your work connects to everything else happening around your client. Your client stays your client.
How we work with professionals
