There is a conversation happening in Western Australia right now. Or rather – and this is the problem – there isn’t.
Our 2026/27 Inheritance State of Play Report surveyed 882 Western Australians on the state of their estate planning, their family discussions, and their readiness for the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in human history. What we found was a picture not of ignorance, but of deliberate avoidance. People know the stakes. They are choosing, in remarkable numbers, not to act.
Only 18.3% of WA families have had a detailed conversation about estate planning – where the wealth is going, why, and on what terms. A further 33.7% have had partial conversations, which sounds encouraging until you consider what partial means in this context: enough to create a false sense of security, not enough to actually close the gap between intention and outcome. And nearly half of all respondents (48%) have had no meaningful family conversation about estate planning at all.
That is not a planning gap. That is a crisis hiding in plain sight.
Why the silence?
The reasons families avoid talking about inheritance are well understood. Death is uncomfortable. Money is complicated. Family dynamics are fraught. The conversation requires people to sit with their own mortality, to articulate preferences that may upset someone they love, and to confront the reality that their assumptions about what will happen may not match anyone else’s.
But the cost of that silence is now measurable. Our data shows a direct, consistent inverse relationship between meaningful family conversation and anticipated dispute. At every generational level without exception, the more conversation a family has had, the less likely they are to expect conflict. The less they have spoken, the more they are bracing for it.
Among those aged 18–34, only 9.8% have had a detailed estate planning conversation with their family. Yet 57.8% of this same cohort are anticipating a dispute. And 27.5% have made the deliberate decision to never have that conversation at all. The irony — or rather, the tragedy — is that the people most exposed to conflict are the ones least willing to take the one step most likely to prevent it.
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Talking about inheritance is an act of care
One of the most persistent misconceptions we encounter is that talking about inheritance is somehow mercenary – that raising the subject signals impatience or greed. In our experience, the opposite is true. Families who engage in open, honest conversations about estate planning are not the ones who end up in Court. They are the ones who understand what is planned, why decisions have been made, and what they can reasonably expect. That understanding is worth more than any legal document alone.
Talking about inheritance is not a morbid exercise. It is one of the most generous things a family can do for itself.
The gender dimension
Our research surfaces a dimension to this silence that deserves specific attention. Women are less likely than men to have initiated or participated in detailed estate planning conversations – 15.6% of women have had a detailed conversation, compared to 20.6% of men. Women are also significantly more likely to sit in the ‘we’ll get to it’ category. Combined with the fact that women are statistically more likely to be the primary custodians of family wealth in the years ahead, outliving their partners and inheriting stewardship of the estate, this deferral pattern compounds risk in ways that are both foreseeable and preventable.
What to do from here
The data is unambiguous: families who talk openly about estate planning have dramatically lower dispute rates. The conversation does not need to be a formal or confrontational event. It can start simply; a question, a shared document, a conversation with your solicitor about how to structure and socialise a plan that everyone understands.
At Solomon Hollett Lawyers, we help families navigate that conversation with composure and clarity – listening, interpreting, and steering toward outcomes that protect both the wealth and the relationships built around it. If you have been putting it off, the right time to start is now, before circumstances force the issue.
Download the 2026/27 Inheritance State of Play Report or contact our team to discuss your estate planning needs.
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