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Are you making the most of the rights recently granted to same-sex couples? Have you taken the necessary steps toward protecting your partner and your family?

Have you ensured that your own finances are secure in the event of a break-up, or the loss of your partner?

How do you know if you have all of your affairs in order? Consult this checklist for a quick start, and then follow up with a meeting with your financial planner:

1. Cohabitation agreement - an agreement between you and your partner about how you will share financial responsibility, and, if necessary, how you will handle the dissolution of your relationship in terms of property, assets, superannuation benefits, and child support.

2. Co-parenting agreement - an agreement between you and your partner about how you will share in the financial responsibility of care of your child/ren, and, if necessary, how those responsibilities will change in the event your relationship dissolves.

3. Wills - a document detailing how your estate will be divided. You will need separate wills.

4. Living Wills - a document that names your medical power of attorney, the person authorised to make medical decisions on your behalf, in the event that you are unable to make them. The document also details your preferences with respect to medical intervention on your behalf. You will need separate living wills.

5. Powers of Attorney - documents that, in the event of your death or if you are unable to act on your own behalf, authorise your partner to make legal and financial decisions on your behalf. You will both need to assign powers of attorney.

6. Insurance policies - life, homeowner's, disability, and long-term care insurance.

7. Investment plan - stocks, bonds, managed funds, superannuation accounts, Veteran's benefits, and other investments, organised based on the short-term and long-term financial needs of your family.
Now is the time to take charge of your financial wellness. With a custom financial and estate plan firmly in place, one that takes full advantage of the groundbreaking legislation recently passed, you can put your mind at ease because your family is secure, protected, and comfortable. And with that plan you can build a stronger, brighter, more abundant future for you, your partner, and your family: a future in which you enjoy equal rights, a future in which you are not discriminated against in the courts, a future in which you thrive.

Now is the time.