Estate Planning in Victoria: Your Will, Power of Attorney and Medical Decision Maker

1. Your Will

• Executor: who will administer your estate. You can name a family member, a professional, or both.
• Beneficiaries: who receives what, and what happens if a beneficiary dies before you.
• Guardians for children under 18: your Will can appoint one or more guardians. Think about where they live: a guardian overseas may mean your children moving country.
• Testamentary trusts: inheritances held in a trust to protect young or vulnerable beneficiaries and give tax flexibility. Read more.
• Assets in other countries: often best dealt with by a separate Will in that country, drafted so that neither Will revokes the other.

2. Enduring power of attorney

An enduring power of attorney lets someone you trust make financial decisions, personal decisions, or both, if you lose capacity, and can also start earlier if you choose. In Victoria it must be signed in front of two adult witnesses, one of whom must be authorised to witness affidavits or be a medical practitioner, and your attorney must accept the appointment.

3. Medical treatment decision maker and advance care directive

Under Victorian law you can appoint a medical treatment decision maker to make medical decisions for you if you cannot, and you can record your own instructions and values in an advance care directive.

What your Will does not control

• Jointly owned property: property held as joint tenants passes to the surviving owner automatically.
• Superannuation: paid by the fund’s trustee, guided by your nomination. Read more.
• Family trusts and companies: controlled by the trust deed and company documents, which need to be reviewed with your Will.
• Life insurance with a nominated beneficiary, and assets overseas that are governed by local law.

When to review your plan

Review your documents when you marry (in Victoria marriage revokes an existing Will unless it was made in contemplation of the marriage), separate or divorce, have children or grandchildren, buy or sell significant property, move country, or every three to five years.

How we work

1. A consultation in our Melbourne office or online, in English, Mandarin or Cantonese.
2. A written fixed-fee quote before we draft anything.
3. Draft documents explained to you in your language. If you prefer to read in Chinese, we can arrange for the Will to be explained clause by clause and the signing to be recorded with an interpreter.
4. Signing and witnessing in our office, with your original Will kept safely by us if you wish.

See our Wills & estates fees and our Wills and estates services.

Related guides

• Letters of administration (no Will)
• Testamentary trusts
• Superannuation and your Will
• Executor problems and disputes
• Checklist: the first 30 days after a death
• Do I need probate? 2-minute check
• Professional executor & trustee services
• Wills & estates fees

General information only, not legal advice. It is based on Victorian law unless stated otherwise; the rules in other states and territories differ. Your circumstances should be assessed individually.