Writing, commentary
and public conversation
on wealth transfer.

Labor's death tax on trusts forces millions to redraft wills: estate lawyers

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on why existing wills are caught by the proposed 30 per cent minimum trust tax, because a testamentary trust begins at death rather than when the will is signed, and on the simple design change that would have preserved the exemption.

Trust us: State to rescue on stamp duty costs

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on the testamentary trust exemption from the proposed 30 per cent minimum tax and why, as drafted, most existing wills would need to be re-drafted if the legislation passes.

The exemption most wills won't meet

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

The Government spared testamentary trusts from the 30% minimum tax, then drafted the exemption so most existing testamentary trust wills won't meet it.

Labor accused of waging tax war on tradies and truckies

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on why, as the Bill is drafted, a testamentary trust with any beneficiary beyond individuals or charities loses the exemption entirely, meaning many existing wills would need to be redrafted.

Labor's new family trust laws may force unwanted payouts

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on how forcing trusts to fix their distributions to avoid the new tax would compromise the asset protection small businesses and families rely on, and the cost and capacity problems of redrafting wills.

Testamentary trusts survived the trust tax. The drafting battle has just begun.

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

The fight over testamentary trusts looked settled. Then the draft legislation arrived. Hidden in a technical detail is a question that could force many families to rethink wills they thought were already future-proof.

The new trust tax and testamentary trusts: why most families have little to worry about

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

The exposure draft for the new 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts has landed, and genuine testamentary trusts stay outside it. Here is how the exemption works, in plain English, and the two things worth checking.

Charities want private equity takeovers of trustees blocked

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

Quoted on the risks to charitable bequests and endowment funds as private equity firms move to acquire Perpetual Wealth and Equity Trustees.

My elderly mum has to pay $5.50 a day for a TV. Seems outrageous

Media appearances and commentary · Superannuation and succession

Quoted by Noel Whittaker on superannuation proceeds trusts, explaining how an SPT can help minimise the 15 per cent excess transfer balance cap death benefits tax and allow income to be distributed to minors at adult tax rates.

Testamentary trusts have secured the CGT exemption

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Treasury's latest CGT reform draft delivers a win for testamentary trusts and deceased estates, exempting estate-derived gains from the 30% floor. However, questions on death and divorce rollovers remain unresolved.

A will says where the wealth goes. The best estate planning lawyers ask what it is for.

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Lifetime giving and philanthropy · Intergenerational wealth transfer

For a profession devoted to helping people give things away, we are remarkably uncomfortable talking about giving.

Labor's 'widow's tax' problem not quite dead yet

Media appearances and commentary · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on why the widow's tax is only half fixed: a transfer on death or relationship breakdown could still trigger capital gains tax on an asset that has not been sold.

Expert warns new tax rules offer only 'fragile' protection for inheritances

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted by Noel Whittaker on Treasury's proposed CGT and trust tax changes, the testamentary trust exemption, and why the concession - while real - remains fragile until legislation is finalised.

The $2M charitable bequest, the Supreme Court case, and the real cost of winning

Lifetime giving and philanthropy · Estate planning and testamentary trusts

Charities spend heavily securing gifts in wills. Far fewer invest in making sure those gifts survive the donor.

Noel Whittaker (Ask Noel): Revocable trusts, testamentary trusts and Australian estate planning

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts

Quoted by Noel Whittaker explaining why US-style revocable living trust advice circulating on social media generally does not apply in Australia, and the legal and tax implications of using trusts in Australian estate planning.

Does your will qualify for the discretionary testamentary trust exemption?

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Treasury has confirmed the exemption many families were hoping for. But buried in the fine print are two conditions that could leave some wills on the wrong side of the exemption, despite years of careful planning.

Who built the shadows?

Lifetime giving and philanthropy · Legislative and policy commentary

A non-disclosure agreement is an instrument of power. It has no place where the money is public.

What Treasury's fine print means for every will with a testamentary trust

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Treasury has confirmed the testamentary trust exemption. The drafting questions have only just begun. The important date is not Budget night or 1 July 2028 - it is the day the client dies.

Whose Side Are You On?

Legislative and policy commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts

I thought I was making a technical argument about trusts. It turned into a lesson in motive, power and public debate.

Silence

Intergenerational wealth transfer · Estate planning and testamentary trusts

I was asked recently what most reliably predicts conflict when wealth passes between generations. My answer was a single word.

'Didn't understand': Albo's so-called death tax fumble as Government backs down from Budget measure

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on the Government's backdown from the proposed tax on testamentary trusts and what it means for Australian families and estate planning.

Noel Whittaker (Ask Noel): The tax treatment of testamentary trusts v family trusts

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts

Quoted by Noel Whittaker as the estate planning solicitor whose view is that the testamentary trust concession gives families certainty to keep using a tried and tested way of looking after the people they leave behind.

Death tax on testamentary trusts was always a mistake

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Credited as "the estate planning lawyer who brought this issue to public attention" in commentary on the proposed tax on testamentary trusts.

Noel Whittaker (Money): Quoted on the 2026 Budget's testamentary trust measures

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted in Noel Whittaker's Money column in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 2026 Budget's proposed changes to testamentary trusts and the flow-on effects for ordinary Australian families and estate plans.

Australia has no death duties. Technically.

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Superannuation and succession · Legislative and policy commentary

Australia may not levy formal death duties, but a growing web of tax measures is quietly shaping what wealth passes between generations. The 2026 Budget adds another layer.

How Labor is introducing a death tax by stealth

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on why the Budget's 30 per cent minimum tax on discretionary testamentary trusts operates as a death duty in effect, and how it overlooks the asset protection these trusts provide for ordinary families.

What the 2026 Budget means for your estate plan

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Superannuation and succession · Lifetime giving and philanthropy · Legislative and policy commentary

Testamentary trusts, capital gains, superannuation and the assumptions now worth reviewing.

Discretionary testamentary trusts and the proposed budget measures

Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

A recorded webinar covering what the proposed federal budget measures mean for discretionary testamentary trusts, what needs to be reviewed in existing estate plans, and what advisers and accountants need to know now.

The Money Is No Longer Yours

Lifetime giving and philanthropy · Intergenerational wealth transfer

Reflections on wealth, control and letting go after a decade advising Australia's wealthiest donors.

Noel Whittaker: New 'death tax' on family trusts to squeeze inheritances for thousands

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted by Noel Whittaker on the 2026 Budget's proposed minimum 30% tax on testamentary trust income and who it will really affect - students, surviving spouses, young adults and children the estate plan was designed to protect.

Rachael Rofe on The Exchange: Intergenerational wealth transfer, structured giving and estate planning

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Intergenerational wealth transfer · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

In conversation on The Exchange podcast about Australia's intergenerational wealth transfer, structured giving and the estate planning conversations families need to have.

Anthony Albanese confirms tax on discretionary trusts set up for people's last wills but rebuffs it is a death tax

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on the implications of the Government's proposed tax on testamentary discretionary trusts for Australian families and estate planning.

Most people think the Budget will make inflation worse

Media appearances and commentary · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted in The Australian's editorial commentary on the 2026 Budget and its broader economic and estate-planning implications.

Fears for most vulnerable as strike at wealthy ends up hitting low-income families protecting kids

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on how Budget measures aimed at the wealthy can inadvertently affect low-income families using testamentary trusts to protect children.

How Labor is killing family trusts, starting with the bucket company

Media appearances and commentary · Intergenerational wealth transfer · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on the implications of proposed changes to family trusts and bucket companies for intergenerational wealth planning.

Budget 2026: Surprise death tax buried in small print

Media appearances and commentary · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on the estate planning implications of measures buried in the 2026 Budget that effectively introduce a death tax by stealth.

'A thousand cuts': New death tax slammed as expert reveals budget detail every Aussie needs to know

Media appearances and commentary · Legislative and policy commentary

Quoted on the Budget detail introducing a de facto death tax and what it means for ordinary Australian families.

Structured giving's new moment

Lifetime giving and philanthropy · Legislative and policy commentary

On the convergence of policy changes - including the new Community Charity Trust - that make this a particularly strong moment for families with genuine charitable intent to move from casual giving to deliberate, structured philanthropy.

Div 296 may mean your estate pays tax on assets your beneficiaries never receive

Superannuation and succession · Estate planning and testamentary trusts · Legislative and policy commentary

On how Division 296 can decouple the tax liability from the superannuation asset on death, leaving one set of beneficiaries with the wealth and another with the bill.

The Silver Tsunami: Where Estate Plans Fail (and What Financial Advisers Need to Know)

Intergenerational wealth transfer · Superannuation and succession · Estate planning and testamentary trusts

On the structural failures in estate planning that surface during Australia's intergenerational wealth transfer.

The Hardest Thing About Money Is Giving It Away

Lifetime giving and philanthropy · Intergenerational wealth transfer

What I've seen in the room where wealth and inheritance gets decided.

Division 296 is now law. Is your estate plan already broken?

Superannuation and succession · Legislative and policy commentary

Some families are about to get a tax bill on super they never inherited.

Australian Philanthropic Services launches 'Giving Legacy': a new way to pass on values, not just assets

Media appearances and commentary · Lifetime giving and philanthropy · Intergenerational wealth transfer

Quoted as Head of the APS Foundation on the launch of Giving Legacy, which lets families establish a giving fund during life or through their will. Quoted during my time at Australian Philanthropic Services.

$5.4 trillion wealth transfer poses deep questions on legacy

Intergenerational wealth transfer · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

On the scale of Australia's intergenerational wealth transfer and the deeper questions of legacy, values and family it raises.

Giving booms as donors maximise tax benefits

Media appearances and commentary · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

Quoted on the growth in structured philanthropy and the tax strategies driving increased donor engagement.

Quoted during my time at Australian Philanthropic Services

Eight ways high earners can maximise their tax return

Media appearances and commentary · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

Quoted on how structured philanthropic giving can form part of a high-income earner's end-of-year tax strategy.

Quoted during my time at Australian Philanthropic Services

The $1 billion quiet achiever in Australian philanthropy

Lifetime giving and philanthropy

On the growth of giving funds in public ancillary funds and the move from chequebook charity to structured giving. Written during my time at Australian Philanthropic Services.

How funds offer a smarter way to donate

Media appearances and commentary · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

On donor-advised funds and structured giving vehicles as a more strategic approach to philanthropy.

Optimising your July 1 tax cuts for charity can make a difference

Media appearances and commentary · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

On how the July 1 tax cuts created a timely opportunity for donors to reassess their charitable giving strategy.

Tax deductions should be a focus for donors ahead of June 30

Media appearances and commentary · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

On end-of-financial-year giving strategy and how donors can maximise the tax effectiveness of their philanthropy.

Maximising tax benefits through giving structures

Media appearances and commentary · Lifetime giving and philanthropy

On how structured giving vehicles can be used strategically to maximise tax deductions.