Make your Will with NSW Trustee and Guardian

When you book an appointment with us, we'll organise a time for you to attend an in-person or online meeting with an estate planning professional. We'll ask you to bring some documents and information when you attend. Learn more about Wills and what to include.

What documents we need 

• At least one form of valid ID e.g. current driver licence, passport.
• Centrelink income statement if you are receiving the full age pension. View an example of an income statement.

What to think about before your appointment

Do you have capacity?

To make a Will or any other estate planning document, you must have capacity, which is the ability to understand and appreciate the significance of the decisions you're making. You must be able to provide clear instructions and understand the nature and effect of the document(s) you wish to make. 

As part of the appointment process, our estate planning professionals will ask a series of open ended questions in order to assess your capacity.

Do you need an interpreter?

If your primary language is not English, please let us know during our initial phone call with you, as we will need to consider whether you need an interpreter for your appointment.

Are you booking on behalf of someone else?

We'll need to speak with the person before confirming the appointment.

What information we need

There are some things, such as superannuation and life insurance, that may or may not form part of your estate to be distributed as per your Will. We'll discuss this with you at your appointment, but we'll still need details of these things to ensure we can provide you with the correct advice.

Video, audio or screen recording is not permitted to protect the privacy of you and our staff. 

You'll have your initial video conference appointment with one of our experienced estate planning professionals who will take instructions and draft your document(s). The initial appointment can take up to 2 hours, or sometimes longer, depending on your assets and directions.

When you book your online appointment, we'll send you a link to an online meeting invite.

You'll need to make sure you have:

• A good internet connection. If you are able to watch a video over the internet, such as on YouTube or Facebook, then your connection will work for a video call.
• Google Chrome is our preferred web browser, as this works well with Microsoft Teams.
• A device with built-in camera, speakers and microphone that can be connected to internet (such as a computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet).
• Access to sit in a private, well-lit area where you will not be disturbed. Ensuring your privacy is essential to maintain confidentiality and integrity of your personal information.
• A video meeting application. Microsoft Teams is our preferred application. You can join as a guest without signing up, and it works on all devices and operating systems. We may consider other tools should Microsoft Teams be unavailable. 

Payment for your online appointment

An invoice will be sent to you before your document(s) are drafted. Payment can be made online. 

Your Will and estate planning documents are made at no charge if you are:

• eligible for a full Centrelink Age Pension
• receiving a Department of Veterans' Affairs Pension or Disability Support Pension and would otherwise be eligible for a full Centrelink Age Pension.

You’ll be required to provide a Centrelink income statement as evidence of your pensioner status. View a sample Centrelink income statement (PDF 376.71KB).

Receiving your draft documents for review

The drafted document will be sent to you via email or post for you to review.

A second video conference appointment may need to take place if additional instructions or advice about your circumstances are needed.

How to execute and store your documents

The document(s) can be executed by signing it in front of two independent witnesses. It's important to note:

• This can be done face to face, at either an office location or pop-up location.
• Do not pin or staple your original documents together as we need to scan
  your documents when they are returned to us. 

If you're unable to attend an office or pop up location, we can give you instructions regarding signing your Will in front of two independent witnesses (such as your friends, neighbours or colleagues).  It is important that the instructions we give you are followed precisely to ensure validity of your Will.

After you've booked your appointment with us, here’s what you can expect:

Pre-appointment phone call

One of our estate planning professionals will call you to discuss your situation and learn more about you. During the phone call we will:

• ask you questions about your assets, liabilities and relationships
• identify if you need an interpreter
• determine if there is any conflict of interest
• confirm fees.

A follow up call may take place to take initial instructions to draft your documents in advance of your appointment.

Your appointment  

Depending on your circumstances, you may attend your appointment in person or online. At your appointment, we will:

• check your ID and income statement (if you're eligible for a full aged pension)
• take down instructions for your Will, Power of Attorney or Enduring Guardian
• draft your Will, Power of Attorney or Enduring Guardian
• where possible request for you to sign your Will, Power of Attorney or Enduring Guardian
• take payment.

A follow up appointment may be needed if your documents are not drafted during your initial appointment.

We're experienced with a range of different circumstances but there are a few exceptions where we're unable to prepare a Will:

• Wills and/or Powers of Attorney appointing another professional such as a solicitor, accountant, financial planner or other trustee company.
• Where the testator (the person making the Will) wishes to set up family discretionary trusts in their Will with a focus on tax minimisation and asset protection for beneficiaries.
  • These trusts often enable the trustee to distribute between a wide range of potential beneficiaries. However, we do prepare trusts (including discretionary trusts) for adults who lack decision-making capacity.
• Contracts for mutual Wills (except if you and your spouse have previously made contracts for mutual Wills with NSW Trustee and Guardian and you are both returning to update your Wills).
  • An example of contracts for mutual Wills is where spouses (often in a second marriage or second relationship) agree to make their Wills in a certain way and agree that upon the death or incapacity of one of them, the other cannot make a new Will which reduces the provision to their spouse or their spouse’s children/grandchildren.  
• Wills for clients who own businesses, except where the client is:
  • a sole trader
  • the sole director/shareholder of a private company through which the business operates
  • the clients are spouses and they are the only directors and shareholders of a private company through which the business operates.
• Wills dealing with overseas assets, except in limited circumstances, for example, if the overseas assets are of low value and do not include real estate or if the assets are in certain limited overseas countries.
  • If you have overseas assets we are still able to make your Will dealing with your Australian assets.
  • We recommend that you consult a suitably qualified lawyer or Will maker in the overseas jurisdiction to obtain advice and if required put a Will in place dealing with your overseas assets. 

If you own assets of financial value overseas (including real estate, shares or bank accounts) we recommend you make a separate Will dealing with those overseas assets for the following reasons:

• NSW Trustee and Guardian is able to provide advice about your will and estate planning needs (as far as the laws of NSW apply). However, we are not able to give advice about whether your Will is effective to dispose of your overseas assets. The inheritance laws in other countries may be significantly different to those in Australia.
  • For example, some countries have laws that result in certain family members being automatically entitled to a specified share in your estate regardless of the terms of your Will.
• There may be laws regarding who may contest your Will and taxation laws that may impact your estate and your beneficiaries. There may even be different requirements for the execution of a valid Will.
• Having separate Wills dealing with assets in the different countries will minimise the chance of administrative difficulties occurring after your death, which can occur when the original Will is held in one country while there are assets in another country that need to be distributed.
•  If there is a separate Will for each country, this means that authority to administer the estate (in Australia called probate) can more easily be obtained and with less delay.

We recommend that you get professional legal advice in each country, considering issues such as the appointment of executors, the local procedures for estate administration, taxation implications such as inheritance tax and other inheritance laws.

Custom Wills may include any of the following:

• choosing four or more successive levels of alternate beneficiaries to receive a gift
• using life insurance for paying off debts
• ownership of overseas assets
• owing a beneficiary money and/or a beneficiary owing you money
• special conditions for pets and other gifts
• option for beneficiary to purchase property from your estate
• gifts of uncommon assets (e.g. intellectual property, taxi licence)
• appointing a different trustee and executor
• business partnerships with spouse only
• interests in a private company
• interests in self-managed super fund
• contracts or agreements to be considered as part of the Will
• the setting up of: protective discretionary trusts, long-term trusts, special disability trust and charitable trusts.

Yes, we can help you update your Will. We recommend that you review your Will every 3-5 years, and update it when there are significant changes to your circumstances. These may include:

• growing your family (i.e. children, stepchildren or grandchildren)
• relationship changes (i.e. marriage, divorce, entering a de facto relationship or separating)
• the passing of a loved one
• buying or selling property
• starting or ending a business
• travelling or moving overseas
• illness
• coming into an inheritance
• major changes to your financial circumstances

Make an appointment to update your Will