We love our State. West Aussies are particularly parochial, one-eyed and rightly proud of what we have here. It’s unique in so many ways; it’s so absolutely mind-bendingly enormous on a scale the rest of the world cannot even comprehend and it’s also so flush with mineral wealth that without us the world may just grind to a halt. And this embarrassment of riches has in turn helped make us one of the wealthiest bunches of humans on the planet.
Our population is now hovering around the 3 million mark, around 11% of the national population. But we’re responsible for about 17% of the national economy, and when it comes to average weekly earnings, we’re the highest State of all, just ahead of the ACT, then NSW.
The scale of inheritance in WA
With the incredible amount of wealth wrapped up in Sandgroper assets — from family homes, businesses, farms, investment properties, superannuation and shares — the inheritances here are also supersized.
Recent data suggests Australian inheritance assets changing hands currently total around $120 billion per year, with predictions this figure will skyrocket to a whopping $500 billion per year over the next two decades. And with around three-quarters of privately owned Australian companies also part of this transition of wealth, succession is a very live issue around the boardroom table, both for key shareholders and directors, who’ve started celebrating birthdays in their 60s and 70s.
Where inheritance gets complicated
With big inheritances come big opportunities (when done right), but also big emotions, big tensions and bigger problems if done wrong. The tensions and problems are particularly significant where there is disharmony, any sense of inequity, or with expectations that may not be met. Most families throughout history have had some kind of upset, disruption and unfairness around inheritance, and it’s not the upset that is the issue — it’s how it’s dealt with, or more relevantly, how it’s not dealt with, that counts.
Policy, inequality, and the Court’s role
Policy makers, leaders and economists are aware that the incredibly fast-rising wealth inequality that is before us in society must be tackled at some point. The little book is not the place to try and solve that huge dilemma, but it’s a very relevant issue for inheritance, both because bigger inheritance pools mean more fights to claim a share to get ahead, and because policy makers are going to have to tackle the question of how to find new ways to bolster the State purse and make provision for those in increasing need.
The increasing need in society for welfare, given the growing distance between the haves and the have-nots, is also reflected in our ageing population. In 1971 the median age in WA was 25 years. Now, it’s over 38 years. It’s well documented that the average Australian retires at 65 with less than half the superannuation they actually need for a comfortable retirement, meaning reliance on government-funded pensions is only continuing to rise and rise.
This is why, when a person makes an inheritance claim, and the Court assesses their needs to try and calculate how much their claim is worth and so how much they should get from the deceased estate, the Court does not take pensions or government entitlements into account. The Court’s view is that if there is a private pool of money available to look after a family member, it should be drawn on first so that the person can cease reliance on the State. This is often greatly upsetting to clients, who want to create estate planning around maximising State handouts and pensions, especially where there is a beneficiary who has special needs who may be entirely funded by disability support or pensions. It’s also why estate planning for people in these situations requires particular care, to try to make sure these entitlements are preserved as best as can be, to preserve the private pool of assets.
The housing divide and its impact on inheritance
This wealth inequality is seen most acutely in home ownership. We have about 1 million dwellings within WA. About 30% are owned outright, 40% encumbered with a mortgage and the remaining 30% rented. Rentals have gone through the stratosphere recently, as have house prices across the country, and the barrier to entry into the housing market is at an all-time high. The Millennial generation fear they may never own their own home unless they receive an inheritance sufficient to at least get them a decent deposit for purchase, because with rent so high, they cannot save enough to make that deposit on their own. At the same time, home ownership is also most often accompanied by a very large mortgage, meaning the ability to save and get ahead is simply not possible.
These sorts of considerations were not ever really on the estate planning radar before, but the need for clients to really sit down and think very hard about how and why they should make provision for loved ones is now more complex than ever before.
Getting the right advice in an era of change
With the largest intergenerational wealth shift in history happening now from the exiting generation down the line, more West Aussies than ever are in need of specialist advice and the right guidance. Advice on how to navigate it all and how to balance it all, to best protect and hand on the lifetimes of wealth, and ensuring this is done in smart, meaningful and impactful ways to ensure legacy lives on well into the future. And of course, that’s where we come in. Talk to us today about putting the right plan in place for you, your family, and the generations to come.
Want to understand the full landscape? Read our 2025 Inheritance State of Play Snapshot to get informed and get ahead.
