‘Will I have mattered?’ What legacy means for the child-free
From as far back as she can remember, breast cancer has been part of Rachel Morison’s life. A high school science teacher from Sydney, Morison, 34, watched on as her grandmother was diagnosed with a form of breast cancer, and then her mother, who is now in remission. Her aunt died from the disease earlier this year.
“It’s had a huge impact. All throughout my life I’ve basically had someone dealing with it,” she says.
And given the type of breast cancer the women in her family suffered from is genetic, she has also grown up knowing it may one day affect her, her sister, her niece or her nephew.
34-year-old science teacher Rachel Morison has included a gift to breast cancer research in her will.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The idea of legacy – what we inherit from those before us (willingly or unwillingly), and what we might pass on – is something she’s had a lot of time to think about. Morison, who is single, has known from a young age that she doesn’t want kids but would like to leave her mark nonetheless. She is among a growing cohort of people without offspring who are giving careful consideration to what they will leave behind when they die.
Morison wrote the first version of her will in her 20s, and in 2019 included donations for the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Council. Her niece and nephew are also included in her will.
We are in the midst of the greatest intergenerational wealth transfer ever, with a staggering $3.5 trillion expected to be passed down in the next 20 years in Australia. While the process is often straightforward for multi-generational families, those without children can find it more complex to decide where their money should go.
For some, the pathway is clear.
With a background as a science researcher, Morison is passionate about the work of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. In addition to the charitable gift in her will, she regularly donates to the foundation as a research guardian.
“I really love the idea that we’re heading to a time when there might be zero deaths from breast cancer. It’s one of the real passion areas that I have, given the impact on my family.”
‘What is my place here?’
Megan Barrow always wanted to be a mother, but parenthood just wasn’t on the cards for her. The 53-year-old marketing consultant from Melbourne suffered a nervous breakdown in her early 20s, which triggered years spent in the grip of agoraphobia and poor mental health.
Barrow says this forced her to navigate the grief of childlessness while considering what a life without children means for her.
“People’s legacy is meant to be their children … I don’t have that innate legacy to leave the world. So what is my place here?” she says.
The idea of offspring as bearers of our legacy has quite the stronghold on our cultural imagination.
Patrick Stokes, a philosopher and associate professor at Deakin University, says this notion is a relic from a time when family title mattered most.
It’s a very human desire to want to live on in some form after we pass.
“We don’t want to think that death will simply obliterate whatever we were in the world or that our life will turn out not to have had any kind of significance,” he says.
Stokes says it can be helpful to think about our collective, rather than individual, legacy too.
“It may be that, in fact, your legacy was part of a larger effort to change social structures, or [your legacy] may have been part of the era in which you lived and the way in which your era responded to things.”
Megan Barrow says her legacy lies in her work in the mental health space.Credit: Justin McManus
Barrow has found a way to leave her mark through community work, using her lived experience with suicide and mental ill-health to help others. She volunteers as an ambassador and speaker with charities Beyond Blue and R U OK?
“What will people say, and will I have mattered in the world? That’s what I’m working towards,” she says.
Already, she’s seen this work make a difference.
“I’ve had people say to me, ‘I was about to give up and your story has given me hope’.”
Barrow plans to leave most of her estate to her siblings and her three young nieces.
Plan early
Planning early is key to a smooth transition of funds. More Australians are now including charitable donations in their wills, with a report from Fundraising & Philanthropy finding the number of charitable gifts in wills tripled between 2020 and 2023.
If you don’t have children to inherit, Art of Estate Planning director Tara Lucke says it can be helpful to talk to an estate lawyer.
“Many people think their will is their estate plan, but there’s the power-of-attorney regime, which applies even if you’re still alive but can’t look after yourself, and superannuation.”
Michael Tiyce, principal at family law specialists Tiyce and Lawyers in Sydney, says an estate lawyer can help to guide you on charitable options. Animal charities are popular with his clients, as well as religious organisations and political parties.
It’s worth keeping in mind that superannuation is not automatically included in a will, Lucke says.
Spouses can be nominated to receive your superannuation directly, but other beneficiaries such as nieces or nephews cannot.
If you want to gift your super to someone other than a spouse, you will need to nominate a legal representative (in other words, your will or estate) with your fund, and use your will to give your super.
If you want to include minors in your will, Lucke recommends setting up a testamentary trust.
While 12 million Australians do not have a will, Tiyce says it’s a good idea to start one early.
He recommends that people revisit their will every five years, and again after major milestones such as marriage.
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