Personal Effects Instructions for Your Partner: A Perth Parent’s Plan for the Things That Carry Stories

You’re raising kids in Perth, you share a home with your partner, and the house is full of things that matter — your grandmother’s ring, the guitar your father taught you on, the painting you bought on your honeymoon, the road bike, the box of first-edition books in the study. Your partner knows some of the stories. They don’t know all of them. If something happens to you tomorrow, they’d be guessing which items go to which child, which to siblings, which to friends, and which are worth getting valued before anyone makes a decision.

The problem

Personal effects cause more family disputes per dollar than any other estate category. ASIC’s MoneySmart estate planning guidance points families toward wills and powers of attorney for the big-ticket assets — house, super, investments — but most wills handle personal items with a single residual clause (“the rest of my personal effects to my spouse”). That leaves your partner alone with hundreds of small decisions and no record of what you’d actually want.

The disputes that follow aren’t usually about money. They’re about a sibling who assumed they’d get the watch, a cousin who remembers being promised the painting, a child who didn’t know the ring was meant for them. Your partner, grieving and exhausted, has to arbitrate. Without a record of your preferences, they’re guessing — and every guess risks a relationship.

What the Digital Legacy Vault does

The Digital Legacy Vault is an asset-instruction register: you record what you own, where it is, and who you’ve nominated to receive the instructions. The simplified version (built for individuals and families) records, per item or collection: a description, where it lives in the house (or in storage), an appraisal contact if one exists, your intended recipient preference, and any sentimental note you want passed on. For collections — coins, wine, books, vinyl — you record the collection as a whole plus any standout pieces. Your partner sees what you’ve prepared for them, only when you’ve released it.

The boundary matters: the Digital Legacy Vault is not a financial product, not a custody service, and not an advice service. It’s an instructions register. The vault holds the description and the preference — not the jewellery itself, not a valuation, and not a legally binding bequest (that still belongs in your will). That’s what keeps it outside the AFSL regime and outside AUSTRAC reporting.

How it works

  1. You add each significant item or collection — a short description, where it’s kept, the appraisal contact if you have one, and the person you’d like it to go to.
  2. You add the sentimental note where it matters — why the guitar matters, who gave you the ring, why the painting should stay with a particular child.
  3. You name your partner as the recipient for the personal effects module and they accept (the vault records their consent under the Privacy Act framework that governs personal information about named third parties).
  4. If something happens, your partner is notified per your release rules and sees only the personal effects module — not your other modules unless you’ve released them too.
  5. Your partner uses the inventory to brief the executor, contact appraisers where needed, and have informed conversations with children and family. The vault preserves your voice in those conversations.

Why this matters in Perth

Perth families often hold a particular mix of personal effects — items inherited from interstate or overseas parents, collections built over long careers in mining or trades, and items connected to the WA lifestyle (surfboards, boats, fishing gear, instruments). Probate in WA goes through the Supreme Court, and the executor’s job is to distribute according to the will — but the will rarely names individual items. Your partner is the person who fills in those gaps for your children and your wider family. A recorded preference, even an informal note, gives them something to point to when a conversation gets hard: “This is what they wanted.” That single sentence prevents more disputes than any clause a solicitor can draft.

Sources

Join the waitlist

Join the waitlist — first access when the Digital Legacy Vault opens for Perth parents

We’re opening waitlist access in tranches. Sign up to be notified when parents and couples in Perth can register their first personal effects module. The Digital Legacy Vault holds instructions about what exists, where it lives, and what you’d want — so your partner doesn’t have to guess on the worst day of their life.