How to get your Will sorted for the EOFY!

The End of Financial Year is the perfect time to create or update your Will to reflect any recent life changes, such as updating your beneficiaries, listing your assets and any changing your guardianship requirements.

The End of the Financial Year can be a stressful time for a lot of people – full of pesky administrative tasks and chasing up receipts and loose ends to finalise your tax return. But, it's also an excellent opportunity to get your life admin in order and ready for the new financial year.

EOFY is one of the few times per year where we are actively encouraged to start taking a good hard look at the assets we have and how they are organised and managed. One area where you can make a serious dent in getting things sorted out is by creating a legal Will.

Review your assets and income

Looking at where your income and assets are situated is a good way to start listing out what you have.

While you're preparing your taxes, you'll be examining the assets you own, from your property to your investments, and you'll be starting to go through the process of calculating what everything is worth and cataloguing it for the ATO. That's a good thing, because one of the challenges many people face in creating a legal Will online is that they don't have immediate access to the information they need about these assets.

If you're collecting that information anyway, it does make putting together a Will even easier.

Review your current life circumstances and dependants

When reviewing your income and assets, it is also important to consider your life circumstances and those who may depend on you. This could include children, family members or even your furry friends. When you're putting together information about your dependents, start thinking about who might inherit part of your estate, and therefore become a beneficiary for your Will.

For most folks, their beneficiary will be their spouse or their children, and that's going to hold true statistically, right across the board. But it's always a good idea to think a little deeper about it and maybe even have those conversations about what you're planning and where you're starting to make some provisions.

Make plans for the future

Tax time and the EOFY are often when people stop and take stock of where things are headed; whether or not some of their plans for their income, assets, retirement are working out, how their superannuation fund is doing, and what the overall picture looks like. If you're going to start making any changes or adjustments to your future plans, it's also essential to think about how you can and should reflect that in your Will.

Remember - your Will is very personal, and you should go into all the necessary details to keep the information clear and straightforward and ensure your wishes are followed. If you're thinking about ticking it off for the EOFY, working on it through Willed and writing an online Will is a great option.

Disclaimer: The content of this blog is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. This blog should not be relied upon as legal, financial, accounting or tax advice.