"I Don't Need a Will, I Don't Own Much"

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me this, I could retire on the estate they think they don't have.

It's usually said by someone in their twenties, thirties or forties. Renting, maybe a car loan, some savings, "nothing worth fighting over." And on the surface it sounds sensible. Wills are for people with houses and share portfolios, right?

Not quite. In fact, the smaller and simpler you think your affairs are, the more likely you are to be surprised by what happens without a will. Here's why.

Meet Liam

Liam is 34. He rents, drives a five-year-old car, has about $12,000 in savings and a dog named Banjo. He's been with his partner Ash for two years, though they've never formally sorted anything. His relationship with his father is complicated. If you asked Liam what his estate is worth, he'd laugh and say "a car and a dog."

Liam is wrong, and here's the first reason why.

You're probably worth more than you think

Most working Australians have superannuation, and most super funds come with default life insurance attached. Liam has $85,000 in super he never looks at, and sitting inside that account is a death benefit insurance policy of around $250,000 he doesn't even remember agreeing to.

So the man with "a car and a dog" would actually leave behind well over $300,000. That's not unusual. It's typical. For most younger people, super plus insurance is the biggest asset they'll ever have, and it's invisible to them precisely because they can't touch it yet.

Here's the twist: super doesn't automatically follow your will anyway. The fund's trustee decides who gets it unless you've made a valid binding nomination. Which means the full answer for someone like Liam is a will and a five-minute nomination form. Neither is hard. Both matter.

Without a will, a formula decides. Not you.

If you die without a will, your estate doesn't go to "whoever makes sense." It's distributed under a fixed legal formula, and someone (usually a stressed family member) has to apply to the court for permission to administer everything. That process is slower, clumsier and often more expensive than if a will had simply named an executor.

The formula also doesn't know your life. It doesn't know that you and your partner never got around to combining finances but absolutely saw yourselves as each other's person. Proving a de facto relationship after one of you has died is exactly as awkward as it sounds: bank statements, leases, statutory declarations from friends, all while grieving. The formula doesn't know you'd want nothing to go to the parent you haven't spoken to in a decade. It doesn't know your best mate lent you money, or that your sister should get Nan's ring.

A will knows all of that, because you told it.

Small estates have big fights

Here's the counterintuitive part. Lawyers will tell you that some of the ugliest estate disputes aren't over mansions. They're over $40,000, a car and a box of photos.

Why? Because grief plus ambiguity is a recipe for conflict, and small estates have no room to absorb it. A dispute that costs $25,000 in legal fees is annoying in a two-million-dollar estate. In an eighty-thousand-dollar estate, it consumes everything, and the family relationships along with it. A clear won't guarantee peace, but ambiguity practically guarantees the opposite.

The things that aren't about money at all

Some of the most important things a will does have nothing to do with assets.

If you have children, your will is where you nominate who you'd want to be their guardian. Without it, that decision lands with a court, informed by whoever puts their hand up. This alone is reason enough for any parent to have a will, even one who owns nothing but debt.

A will can also say who takes care of your dog. What happens to your accounts, photos and everything else that lives on your phone. Whether you'd rather be buried or cremated. Who's actually in charge of sorting all of this out, so your family isn't guessing.

None of that is a "big assets" question. All of it is a "someone will have to decide" question. The only choice is whether that someone is you.

"But it's expensive and I'll do it later"

A straightforward will is one of the cheapest legal documents you'll ever buy, and dramatically cheaper than the administration process your family faces without one. As for "later": a will isn't carved in stone. You update it as life changes: new partner, new baby, new house, new falling-out. Think of it as a document you maintain, not a monument you build once.

And "later" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Nobody plans the timing of needing one.

The short version

If you work, you probably have super, and if you have super, you probably have life insurance you've forgotten about, which makes your "small" estate a six-figure one. Without a will, a legal formula and a court process decide everything, slowly, without knowing anything about your life. Small estates produce disproportionately bitter disputes. And the most important things a will covers, guardianship, pets, who's in charge, aren't about wealth at all.

"I don't own much" is not a reason to skip a will. It's usually just a sign you haven't counted.

This article is general information only and not legal advice. Liam, Ash and Banjo are fictional. Rules about intestacy and superannuation vary and change; get advice on your own situation.