The paperwork nobody wants to do, and what it costs the people you leave behind

Most families never plan for the week after a death, or the day a parent can no longer manage their own affairs. Those who don’t usually find out what it costs at the worst possible time.

The phone call comes on a Tuesday. Dad has had a fall, or Mum has been diagnosed, or someone simply didn’t wake up.

By Friday, three adult children are sitting at a kitchen table with a shoebox of papers. Nobody knows which bank holds the term deposit. Nobody knows the password to the email account the bills go to. Someone thinks there is a will, “probably at the solicitor’s in town”, but nobody knows which solicitor.

This is the most ordinary scene in Australian family life, and almost no one prepares for it. It is not a problem of wealth. A modest estate can be as hard to untangle as a large one, and sometimes harder.

The good news is that most of the pain is avoidable. It just needs to be dealt with while everyone is still well enough to do it.

The numbers behind the shoebox

Wills. Older Australians are better prepared than most, but many still aren’t. A 2026 survey of 882 people by law firm Solomon Hollett found 44% had no will or didn’t know if they had one. Among baby boomers, 10% had none. Nearly half had never had a meaningful conversation about their estate. Only 18% had talked it through in detail with family.

Powers of attorney. A national survey of more than 3,000 adults for the Australian Human Rights Commission found 87% had not set up an enduring power of attorney. Only 6% said they knew a lot about how one works.

Capacity. About 446,500 Australians are living with dementia in 2026, and the number is projected to reach about 812,500 by 2054. Once a person loses capacity, it is generally too late for them to make a will or appoint an attorney.

Lost money. The ATO says more than $21 billion in lost and unclaimed super is waiting to be claimed, at an average of about $41,000 per lost amount. Around 4 million people hold two or more super accounts. When the owner dies, accounts nobody knew about become very hard to find.

The money on the move. About $5.4 trillion is expected to pass between generations over the next 25 years. Lawyers say disputes are already rising.

“Death taxes”: what is true, and what actually catches families

Few topics have caused more anxiety this year. It helps to separate the rumour from the rules.

What is rumour. Australia has no inheritance tax. Death duties were abolished nationwide by the end of the 1970s. The May 2026 Budget introduced a minimum 30% tax on some new discretionary trusts from 2028, which the Opposition labelled a “death tax by stealth”. The government says deceased estates and existing testamentary trusts are exempt. In September the Treasurer ruled out an inheritance tax outright, even as think tanks called for one.

What is real. Super is the tax many families meet without warning. Super paid to a spouse or a dependent child is generally tax-free. Paid to a financially independent adult child, the taxable part is typically taxed at 15% plus the 2% Medicare levy, and in some cases up to 32%. One adviser estimated that on a $1 million balance, up to $320,000 could be lost to tax.

What else is real. Inherited assets usually pass without tax at first. But a beneficiary who later sells, say, an inherited share portfolio or investment property may owe capital gains tax. Super is also not automatically covered by a will. Who receives it can depend on the nomination held by the fund.

The lesson is not to panic about headlines. It is to know what you hold, who it goes to and how, while you can still change it. Those are questions for an adviser, and they are much easier to answer when the details are written down in one place.

What happens when things are left unattended

When no one has authority. Without an enduring power of attorney, a family may have no clear legal right to manage a parent’s money or property once they lose capacity. Bills still arrive. The house may need to be sold to pay for care. Sorting that out can mean an application to a tribunal, with the delay and stress that brings.

When the wrong person has authority. An attorney is only as good as the person chosen. The Human Rights Commission found 37% of people had appointed an attorney showing characteristics linked to elder abuse risk. Only a quarter of people acting as attorneys felt they understood their responsibilities very well when they started.

When families fall out. Will disputes are rising. University of Queensland research, reported by the ABC, found 74% of will challenges that go to trial succeed in overriding the will, rising to almost 100% for estates above $3 million. In a separate 2026 survey by law firm Solomon Hollett, 57% of Gen Z respondents expected an inheritance dispute in their own family. An out-of-date will, or none at all, makes that far more likely.

When money goes missing. The Australian Institute of Family Studies found 2% of older Australians living in the community reported financial abuse in the previous year. Adult children were the largest group of perpetrators, at one third. The most common form was pressure to hand over money, possessions or property.

When nobody knows where anything is. Bank accounts, super funds, insurance policies, online accounts, a safe deposit box, a pre-paid funeral. Every item a family has to discover rather than read from a list adds weeks, cost and strain. Some, like that $21 billion in lost super, are never found at all.

None of these outcomes needs a wealthy family or a dramatic falling-out. They need only time, and a plan that was never written down.

Three free checks you can do today

Before you organise anything, find out whether anything is already lost. These are official government services, and they are free.

Lost super. Log in to myGov, open the ATO’s online services and go to Super, then Fund details. Lost accounts and ATO-held super show up there. No myGov? The ATO’s searching for lost super page lists phone and paper options.
Unclaimed bank accounts, shares and life insurance. Search ASIC’s national database at Moneysmart: find unclaimed money.
Older or state-held money. Some money, including some deceased estate funds, is held by state governments rather than ASIC. Moneysmart points you to your state’s office.

If you are handling a late parent’s affairs, the ATO has a separate process for accessing a deceased person’s super information.

A word of warning. Never pay anyone to find money for you, and never click a link in an unexpected text or email offering to. Moneysmart notes that claim services follow the same process you can do yourself, and may charge a fee. Go straight to the .gov.au sites above.

Whatever you find, write it down. That list is the start of getting organised.

What getting organised looks like

Getting your affairs in order is less about legal documents than people think. The documents matter, and they need a solicitor. But most of the work is simply writing things down, so the people you trust can find them.

Know what you have. Every account, policy, super fund and property, and where the paperwork lives.
Know who decides. A current will, an enduring power of attorney for money, and an enduring guardian or equivalent for health and lifestyle decisions. Each state uses its own names and forms.
Know who inherits what, and how. Check how property is held, whether your super fund holds a nomination and whether it is still current.
Write down what matters to you. Funeral wishes, who to call, what happens to the pets, the passwords to the digital life.
Tell someone where it all is. The best-organised file in the world is no help in a locked drawer nobody knows about.
Review it every year. Marriages, divorces, deaths, moves and new grandchildren all change the picture.

Where Leave It Sorted fits

We built Leave It Sorted to make that list less daunting. It does not replace a solicitor and does not create legal documents. It helps you gather everything before you see one, and leaves your family a clear map afterwards.

The free Leave It Sorted guide explains, in plain English, wills, powers of attorney, how property is held and super nominations.
The Leave It Sorted Organiser ($39, Australian edition) is a fillable PDF and spreadsheet for recording it all in one place: people and documents, money, home, health, digital life, subscriptions, wishes and contacts, plus an annual review. It includes a state-by-state guide to what each key legal document is called where you live.

It is designed for Australian rules and Australian paperwork, not adapted from an overseas template.

Start with the free guide at launchup.com.au/leave-it-sorted, or go straight to the Organiser. Then book that appointment with your solicitor, and arrive prepared.

General information only. This article is not legal, financial or tax advice and does not consider your personal circumstances. Laws differ between states and territories and change over time. Please get independent legal and financial advice about your own situation.

Sources

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