Plan ahead and protect the people you love, with clear, practical help across Queensland and New South Wales.
HQF Lawyers helps individuals, families and business owners across the Gold Coast, Coolangatta and Northern New South Wales with wills and estate planning.
Good planning can reduce uncertainty, avoid delays and make things clearer for the people you leave behind – and because the rules differ between Queensland and New South Wales, it matters that your documents suit the state you live in.
In Queensland, an enduring power of attorney is made under the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 (Qld).
It allows you to appoint one or more people, called your attorneys, to make decisions for you. In Queensland, a single enduring power of attorney can cover financial matters, personal matters and health matters.
You can choose when your attorney’s power for financial matters begins; power for personal and health matters can only be used if you lose the capacity to make those decisions yourself.
In New South Wales, an enduring power of attorney is made under the Powers of Attorney Act 2003 (NSW).
It allows your appointed attorney to make decisions about your financial affairs and property, and it continues to operate if you lose capacity.
Unlike Queensland, a NSW enduring power of attorney cannot be used for health or lifestyle decisions. In NSW, those decisions require a separate document – an appointment of enduring guardian.
Queensland does not have a separate “enduring guardian” document.
Instead, personal and health decisions are dealt with through your enduring power of attorney, which can appoint an attorney for personal and health matters.
Queensland also has an advance health directive – a separate document in which you give directions about your future health care, which operates if you cannot make or communicate those decisions yourself.
In New South Wales, you can appoint an enduring guardian under the Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW).
Your enduring guardian can make personal, health and lifestyle decisions for you – for example, where you live and what medical or dental treatment you receive – but only if you lose the capacity to make those decisions yourself.
An enduring guardian cannot make financial or property decisions.
A will is a legal document that records who is to receive your assets when you die and who is responsible for administering your estate (your executor).
It can also record other important wishes, such as who you would like to care for your children if they are under 18.
It is worth reviewing your will after major life events – marriage, separation or divorce, the birth of a child, or buying or selling significant property – because these events can affect how an existing will operates.
A trust created by your will that comes into effect after your death.
It can offer flexibility in how and when beneficiaries receive their inheritance.
A direction to your superannuation fund about who is to receive your superannuation death benefit.
Superannuation does not automatically form part of your estate, so this nomination is worth reviewing alongside your will.
Straightforward answers to the questions we hear most.
Where the answer differs in Queensland and New South Wales, we’ve set both out.
In most cases, yes. A will lets you choose who receives what you own, appoint the person who will administer your estate, and record wishes such as guardianship of young children. Even a modest estate is simpler and cheaper for your family to administer when there is a valid will. Without one, the law decides who inherits and who may administer the estate.
If you die without a valid will in Queensland, you die “intestate” and your estate is distributed under a set formula. Your spouse and children are considered first, then wider family members. If you leave no eligible relatives at all, your estate passes to the State.
Relatives inherit in a set order, starting with your spouse and children. Where you leave a spouse and also children from a previous relationship, the estate is divided between them under specific rules. Your estate passes to the State only if you leave no eligible relatives.
There is no fixed legal timeframe, but a common approach is to review your estate plan every three to five years, and sooner after any major life event – marriage, separation or divorce, a new child, a death in the family, or a significant change in your assets. These events can change what your documents do, or leave someone out that you intended to provide for.
They are two different documents with two different jobs. An enduring power of attorney covers financial and property decisions. An appointment of enduring guardian covers personal, health and lifestyle decisions. Many people make both.
Queensland does not use the term “enduring guardian”. A Queensland enduring power of attorney can cover both financial matters and personal and health matters within the one document, and an advance health directive can record your specific health care directions.
Book a consultation for clear, practical guidance across Queensland and New South wales.
