EOFY Estate Planning 2026: Don't Let It Fall Off the List
Written by the team at Copeland Estates Legal — Australian Estate Planning Lawyers This article is prepared by the experienced estate planning team at Copeland Estates Legal. It is general information only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Budget measures referred to are proposed — not yet legislated. Please contact us for advice specific to your circumstances.
Following further Government announcements, all testamentary discretionary trusts — including those established after Budget night — are now proposed to be exempt from the 30% minimum trust tax, provided they are established for genuine estate-planning purposes. This is a more favourable position than initially proposed and is reflected in the summary below. This measure remains proposed only and is not yet law.
Right now, most Australian families are sitting with their accountant going through the same annual checklist — income, deductions, superannuation contributions, investment structures. It's important work. But there's one item that almost never makes it onto that checklist, and it may be the one with the greatest long-term impact on your family's financial future: your estate plan.
This EOFY is different from most. The 2026–27 Federal Budget introduced proposed changes to trust taxation and capital gains that have direct implications for how wealth is structured, distributed, and protected across generations. At the same time, Australian families are managing a genuinely demanding cost-of-living environment — rising prices at the bowser, higher household bills, and economic uncertainty on multiple fronts. The financial pressure is real, and it makes the question of protecting what you've built even more urgent, not less.
The families who will feel those pressures most acutely in future years are the ones who didn't have a plan in place. Estate planning is precisely the kind of work that gets deferred when life is busy — and it's precisely the kind of work that cannot be undone once it's needed.
EOFY Is When You're Already Thinking About Money — Use It
There's a reason financial advisers, accountants, and solicitors all push their clients to use EOFY as a review trigger. It's not arbitrary. End of financial year is the one moment in the calendar when most Australians are already engaged with their finances — reviewing income, thinking about structures, making decisions about investments and contributions.
The problem is that this review almost always stops at tax. Superannuation contributions get topped up. Investment decisions get made. Deductions get claimed. And then the appointment ends and another year passes with the Will still sitting in a drawer — or not existing at all.
This is one of the most consistent patterns estate planning lawyers see. The families who contact us after a death has occurred — scrambling to understand a Will that hasn't been reviewed in a decade, or dealing with an estate that has no Will at all — are almost never people who didn't care. They're people who were busy. People who meant to get to it. People who assumed that because nothing had gone wrong yet, it could wait.
It can't. And this year, with the 2026 Federal Budget changing some of the fundamental rules around how trusts and capital gains are taxed, the EOFY conversation with your accountant should end with a referral to an estate planning lawyer.
What the 2026 Federal Budget Means for Families With Assets
The 2026–27 Federal Budget, delivered on 12 May 2026, proposed some of the most significant changes to trust taxation and capital gains in a generation. These are proposed measures — none are yet law — and the detail is still being developed through consultation. But the direction is clear, and the implications for how families structure and pass on their wealth are real.
Here is a plain-language summary of the key proposed changes relevant to estate planning. Your accountant will be across the tax implications — the question is whether you've also considered what they mean for your Will, your trust structures, and your family's protection.
30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts. From 1 July 2028, trustees of discretionary trusts will be required to pay a 30% minimum tax on the trust's taxable income. Non-corporate beneficiaries receive a non-refundable credit for tax paid — but any excess credit where their own tax rate is below 30% is not refunded. The flexibility that has made discretionary trust structures attractive for distributing income to family members at lower tax rates is significantly reduced for most family and investment trusts. Update: all testamentary discretionary trusts — including those established after Budget night — are proposed to be exempt from this measure, provided they are established for genuine estate-planning purposes. Not yet law.
50% CGT discount replaced by indexation and a 30% minimum tax. The existing 50% capital gains tax discount for assets held over 12 months is proposed to be replaced with cost base indexation (using CPI) and a 30% minimum tax on net capital gains. This applies to individuals, trusts and partnerships. Gains accrued on assets already held before 1 July 2027 retain the 50% discount. New residential builds are exempt. Not yet law.
Negative gearing restricted on established residential property. For established residential properties purchased after Budget night (12 May 2026), negative gearing losses will only be able to offset residential rental income or capital gains — not wages. New builds and existing properties are unaffected. Not yet law. Mentioned here for completeness — your accountant is the right person to discuss the property investment implications in detail.
All three measures above are proposed budget announcements only. None have been legislated as at the date of this article. Design details — particularly around trust structures — are still being developed. The direction of change is clear; the precise impact on your circumstances requires advice from both your accountant and an estate planning lawyer.
The Estate Planning Questions Your Accountant Can't Answer for You
Your accountant is an essential part of your financial team. They understand the tax landscape better than anyone, and the proposed 2026 budget changes are exactly the kind of thing they should be modelling for you right now — what do these proposals mean for your investment structures, your trust distributions, your CGT position on key assets?
But the accountant's remit ends at tax. The questions that follow — and they're the ones that matter just as much to your family's future — are legal ones:
- Does your Will still reflect how your assets are currently held and who you want to benefit from them?
- If you have a trust structure, does your Will account for how assets held in that structure will be dealt with — and does it still do so effectively given the proposed changes?
- Are your superannuation death benefit nominations current, valid, and aligned with your overall estate plan?
- If something happened to you before these proposed laws are finalised, what would actually happen to your estate under the current rules?
- Who have you appointed as your executor, and do they have the knowledge and authority to navigate a more complex tax and legal environment?
- Do you have an Enduring Power of Attorney in place — the document that protects you and your family's finances if you lose capacity before death?
These aren't abstract questions. They're the ones that determine whether the wealth your family has spent years building actually reaches the people it's intended for — in the right structure, at the right time, with the right protections in place.
Estate Planning Is Generational Wealth Planning
There is a tendency to think of estate planning as something you do once — a box to tick, a document to file, a task to move past. It isn't. Done well, it is one of the most powerful financial decisions a family makes.
The assets you've accumulated over your working life — your home, your superannuation, your investments, your business interests — represent decades of effort. How those assets are structured, protected, and ultimately transferred to the next generation can make an enormous difference to what your family actually ends up with. Tax is part of that picture. Structure is part of it. But so is having the right legal documents in place — documents that are current, correctly drafted, and properly understood by the people who will need to rely on them.
Consider what's at stake for an everyday Australian family:
- A Will that hasn't been updated since before a second marriage, or the birth of a child, may distribute assets in ways the family never intended
- A superannuation balance of $300,000–$500,000 with a lapsed death benefit nomination may be distributed by a trustee committee — not the person who earned it
- An estate with no testamentary trust may pass significant assets directly to children who aren't yet equipped to manage them, or who face relationship or financial vulnerability
- A family navigating a blended structure with no clear Will may find a court applying an intestacy formula that serves no one well
- Without an Enduring Power of Attorney, a sudden health event can freeze access to the family's finances at the worst possible moment
None of these outcomes are inevitable. All of them are preventable. The gap between a family that's properly prepared and one that isn't is rarely about wealth — it's about whether the right legal documents exist and are current. And with proposed changes to trust and CGT rules reshaping the tax landscape, the interaction between those legal structures and the tax planning your accountant is doing has never been more important to get right.
When you finish your EOFY review with your accountant, ask: "Given what's changing with trusts and CGT, does the way I currently hold my assets interact with my Will and estate plan in the way I'm assuming?" If the answer is unclear — or if you don't yet have an estate plan — that's the prompt to call an estate planning lawyer. The two conversations should be connected.
Your EOFY Estate Planning Review: 8 Things to Check
Here are the eight most important items to review as part of your EOFY estate planning review. This list is a starting point — not a substitute for specific legal advice.
- Review your Will — when was it last updated? Has anything changed — your assets, your family structure, your relationships, the people you've named? A Will that's more than two to three years old, or one that predates any major life event, should be reviewed. Read our guide on when to update your Will.
- Check your superannuation death benefit nomination — log in to your super fund and confirm your Binding Death Benefit Nomination is current and hasn't lapsed. Most lapsing nominations expire after three years — without any notification.
- Review trust structures in light of proposed budget changes — if you have a testamentary trust in your Will or a family trust holding assets, discuss with both your accountant and estate planning lawyer how the proposed 30% minimum tax may affect your overall plan.
- Consider CGT assets in your estate — investment properties, shares, and other assets with significant unrealised gains will be subject to new tax rules on gains accruing after 1 July 2027. How those assets are held and who inherits them has planning implications worth discussing now.
- Check your Enduring Power of Attorney — this is the document that authorises someone to manage your finances if you lose capacity. Without one, your family may face a costly and slow tribunal process to access funds they urgently need. Read more about Powers of Attorney and Enduring Guardianship.
- Review who you've named as executor — your executor carries real legal responsibilities and will need to navigate whatever tax and legal environment exists at the time of your death. Is the person you've named still the right choice? Do they know they've been named?
- Consider digital assets — cryptocurrency, online investment accounts, and digital business assets are increasingly significant parts of family estates and are frequently overlooked in Wills. Check that yours are documented and accounted for.
- Have the conversation with your family — estate planning only works if the people who matter know what exists and where to find it. Our guide to estate planning conversations worth having is a useful starting point. If you're not sure your plan is still fair and fit for purpose, read our article on whether your Will is fair.
This Is Not Just for High-Net-Worth Families
One of the most persistent — and most damaging — misconceptions about estate planning is that it's a concern for the wealthy. It isn't.
If you own a home, have superannuation, hold life insurance, or have children who depend on you — you have an estate. And without a current, properly drafted Will and the supporting documents that go with it, the fate of that estate — and the people who rely on it — is decided by default rules, not by you. Those default rules are explored in our guide on what happens when you die without a Will.
The proposed 2026 budget changes affect families with trust structures and significant CGT assets most directly. But the broader point applies to every Australian household: the cost-of-living pressures your family is navigating right now make the financial consequences of poor estate planning — or no planning at all — more acute, not less. Rising costs and economic uncertainty are exactly the conditions under which having your affairs in order matters most.
One of the most common estate planning myths is that a Will drafted years ago is still fit for purpose. Life changes. Tax law changes. Asset values change. Relationships change. An estate plan that reflected your life five years ago may bear little resemblance to your life today — and the gap between the two is where things go wrong.
The good news is that reviewing and updating your estate plan is not a complicated or expensive process when done as a matter of course. It becomes complicated and expensive when it hasn't been done and something has gone wrong. Our estate planning booklet is a useful guide to the questions worth thinking through before you meet with a lawyer. For those who haven't yet started, our guide on legal documents every adult should have outlines the essentials.
The Best Time to Review Your Estate Plan Is Now
You're already in financial review mode. You're already thinking about structures, assets, and the future. You're already talking to your accountant about proposed changes that will affect how your wealth is taxed.
Don't let estate planning be the item that gets left off the agenda for another year. The people who matter most to you — your children, your partner, your family — deserve a plan that reflects your actual life and your actual wishes. Not a document from five years ago. Not no document at all. A current, properly structured estate plan that gives your family clarity, protection, and security — whatever the future holds.
If you haven't reviewed your estate plan recently, or you're not sure whether your existing documents still do what you think they do, this is the moment to find out. Our estate planning team works with everyday Australian families on Wills, testamentary trusts, superannuation nominations, and complete estate plans — and we'll give you straight, practical answers about what you need and why.
Frequently Asked Questions
EOFY is when most Australians are already reviewing their finances with an accountant. It's the natural moment to also check that your estate plan — your Will, powers of attorney, superannuation nominations, and trust structures — is current and still reflects your wishes. Catching gaps now costs far less than resolving them later.
The 2026–27 Federal Budget proposed a 30% minimum tax on discretionary trust income from 1 July 2028, and the replacement of the 50% CGT discount with indexation and a 30% minimum tax from 1 July 2027. Both are proposed but not yet law. Updated announcements have since confirmed that testamentary discretionary trusts established for genuine estate-planning purposes are proposed to be exempt from the minimum trust tax. Anyone with a trust structure or significant CGT assets should discuss the implications with both their accountant and an estate planning lawyer.
Yes — following updated Government announcements, all testamentary discretionary trusts established for genuine estate-planning purposes are proposed to be exempt from the 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts, regardless of when the trust was established. This is a more favourable position than initially proposed at Budget night, when only trusts already in existence were expected to be protected. This measure is not yet law.
From 1 July 2027, the 50% CGT discount is proposed to be replaced with cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax on net capital gains for individuals, trusts and partnerships. Assets already held retain the 50% discount on gains accrued before that date. New residential builds are exempt. This is proposed only — not yet law.
Not necessarily annually — but it should be reviewed after any major life event, and as a general check every two to three years. With proposed changes to trust and CGT rules, anyone with assets, a trust structure, or a Will that hasn't been reviewed recently should make it a priority this EOFY.
No. Estate planning is for anyone with assets, dependants, or wishes about who should care for their children. A family home, superannuation, life insurance, and children — that's an estate. Without a current Will and proper planning, how those assets are distributed is decided by a court applying a formula — not by you.
Ask how the proposed 2026 budget changes to CGT and trust taxation may affect your existing structures — and whether those changes have implications for how your assets are held or distributed at death. Your accountant handles the tax; an estate planning lawyer handles the legal documents and structures that carry your wishes forward.
Your accountant has the tax covered. We have the rest.
Our estate planning team works with everyday Australian families on Wills, testamentary trusts, super nominations, and complete estate plans — giving you clear answers about what you need and why. No jargon. No unnecessary complexity.
General information only. This article is prepared by Copeland Estates Legal for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. All budget measures referred to are proposed — announced in the 2026–27 Federal Budget on 12 May 2026 — and are not yet legislated. Details may change through the consultation and legislative process. Please contact our office and a qualified tax adviser for advice specific to your situation. · copelandlegal.com.au
