Estate Planning & Wills
You have built something significant. The right plan makes sure it stays that way.
Over time, most families accumulate more than they realise - assets, property, superannuation, a business. The risk is whether the structures around them are incomplete, tax inefficient, or leave those they love exposed.
One appointment, about an hour. · Nothing to prepare. · Fixed quote. · Signing booked before you leave.
Who we work with
More than a basic will.
Our clients are not looking for a standard will. They want the assets they have spent a lifetime building to pass to the people they choose. They want the inheritance protected in the right hands - including for beneficiaries who are young, or vulnerable, or not yet ready to manage it, so that it is applied for their benefit. And they want the taxes that apply on death - on superannuation paid to adult children, on capital gains in the estate - kept to a minimum, so that what reaches the next generation reflects what was actually accumulated. If that is the conversation you need, this is the right place.
WHAT A PROPERLY STRUCTURED ESTATE PLAN GIVES YOU
Confidence
Your assets pass as you intend. Your affairs are in order. You do not have to worry.
Control
You decide who benefits, when they benefit, and on what terms. The structure gives effect to those decisions.
Capability
Your beneficiaries receive what you leave them in a form that protects it. Not just a lump sum, but a structure designed for their circumstances.
Continuity
Your family, your business, your wealth structures and your giving intentions can continue with as little disruption as possible.
Connection
Your estate plan connects your wealth to your values: family, stewardship, responsibility, generosity, and the legacy you want to leave.
Conservation
That your wealth is not unnecessarily eroded by tax, poor structuring, family law claims, creditor risk or avoidable administration issues.
How it works
Three steps. No surprises.
Appointment.
About an hour, at our office, your home, or your adviser's office. Nothing to prepare. We ask what we need to know during the appointment.
Fixed quote.
You leave with a clear picture of what your estate plan needs. We follow with a fixed quote. No hourly billing.
Signing.
Once you accept the quote, we book the signing meeting. You know the cost, the steps and the timeframe from day one.
Rachael Rofe
"Legal structures live on paper. But they only work when they reflect a family's thinking about what fairness, responsibility and legacy actually require."
An estate planning lawyer with more than two decades of practice - and an authoritative public voice on what proper wealth transfer actually requires.
Rachael is an estate planning lawyer with more than two decades of practice - and a rare second career leading Australia's largest philanthropic donor-advised fund. She works with families and advisers across the full arc of wealth transfer.
Her work integrates lifetime giving, philanthropy, family governance and testamentary planning into a single, coherent strategy - bringing clarity, structure and legal precision to decisions that will shape families, capital and responsibility across generations.
Full biography →planning and giving
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The Practice
Rofe + Co.
A specialist legal practice in intergenerational wealth transfer.
Rofe + Co is the legal practice I founded to give effect to this work - a private client firm advising individuals, families and their advisers on lifetime giving, estate planning, family governance and philanthropic structuring, designed as a single coherent strategy rather than separate transactions.
More about the practice →Australia is entering the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in its history.
Over the coming decades, trillions of dollars will move between generations. For many families, the challenge is not simply legal documentation. It is ensuring that capital moves with clarity, responsibility and purpose.
Our work focuses on helping families and their advisers address these decisions before transition becomes event-driven.
Start the ConversationWhat we do
Our work takes three forms.
A will that does what you need it to do
Most wills are drafted as documents. Mine are designed as plans, built around your actual intentions for your family, your assets and your giving.
Protection for every kind of beneficiary
The right testamentary trusts protect an inheritance for young, vulnerable or unprepared beneficiaries - and address the taxes that apply on death, including super tax and capital gains.
Tax on death, minimised
Superannuation paid to adult children can be taxed at up to 32 per cent. A well-structured estate plan uses the right structures and nominations to minimise what is lost before it reaches the people you intend.
In their words
Words from those we have worked with.
We had advisers. We had accountants. But nobody had helped us think clearly about what we actually wanted to happen - across the family, including the giving. Rachael at Rofe + Co did that, and then put structures around it that we trust.
David & Caroline, Sydney
I was not referred to Rachael - I found her through an article she had written. The first conversation was enough to know this was different from any legal advice I had received before. She understood what we were trying to do before we had fully articulated it ourselves.
Margaret, Melbourne
The outcome was a plan that our children actually understand and feel a part of. That matters more than any of the legal structures underneath it, though those are precisely right too.
A family office client, NSW
Thank you for being so thorough with our estate plan, and for making sure every situation was covered under the new legislation, which was not the case with our outdated previous will. We also find it comforting that if the legislation changes, you will automatically take care of it. That gives us both extra peace of mind.
Lou and Liz Farrugia
How we might work together
Three ways to engage
Whether you are seeking advice for yourself, your family, your business or your clients, there is a way to work together.
Working with you directly
Structured conversations and legal frameworks to guide the transfer of wealth, responsibility and purpose, whether across generations, through a business, or toward philanthropy.
Learn more →Adviser Collaboration
Working alongside financial advisers and accountants to support client families through complex intergenerational transitions.
Learn more →Keynotes & Workshops
Education and thought leadership on intergenerational wealth transfer, structured giving and family legacy - for advisers, associations and family offices.
Learn more →For advisers
We work in partnership with financial advisers and accountants.
The adviser who helps a client build a legacy is not just managing a portfolio. They are embedded in a family. And that is a relationship the next generation inherits too.
Referral partnerships
Refer your client for specialist estate planning, philanthropic structuring and family governance. We work alongside your existing relationship on complex wealth transfer - where family dynamics, tax, super and philanthropic intent are designed and documented together.
The Transfer Series
A four-session education program designed for adviser practices - covering client engagement, intergenerational retention and structured giving.
Speaking, workshops & education
Keynotes, workshops and adviser briefings for adviser groups, licensees and professional associations - on wealth transfer strategy, intergenerational retention and the structures that support enduring stewardship.
Frequently asked questions
Questions clients ask before getting in touch.
Newsletter
Estate planning done properly changes what happens to the people you care about most.
Practical thinking on intergenerational wealth and family conversations, straight to your inbox.