Expert content reviewers:
All updated content has been clinically reviewed by:
- Dr Lucy Gately, Medical Oncologist, Alfred Health and Walter and Eliza Institute for Medical Research, VIC, and
- Penny Neller, Project Manager, End of Life Law for Clinicians, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, QLD.
This edition is based on the previous edition, which was reviewed by the following panel:
- Dr Lucy Gately (see above)
- Dr Katherine Allsopp, Supportive and Palliative Care Specialist, Westmead Hospital, NSW
- Prof Megan Best, The University of Notre Dame Australia and The University of Sydney, NSW
- Dr Keiron Bradley, Palliative Care Consultant, Medical Director Palliative Care Program, Bethesda Health Care, WA
- Craig Brewer, Consumer
- Emeritus Professor Phyllis Butow, Psychologist, The University of Sydney and Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, NSW
- Louise Durham, Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Outpatients, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Palliative Care, QLD
- Dr Roya Merie, Radiation Oncologist, Icon Cancer Centre, Concord, NSW
- Penny Neller (see above)
- Caitriona Nienaber, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council WA
- Xanthe Sansome, Program Director, Advance Care Planning Australia, VIC
- Sparke Helmore Lawyers
- Peter Spolc, Consumer
Page last updated:
The information on this webpage was adapted from Living with Advanced Cancer - A guide for people with cancer, their families and friends (2025 edition). This webpage was last updated in December 2025.
This page explains the practical, medical and legal issues to consider when you’re told the cancer is advanced.
Organising personal, financial and legal paperwork and making decisions about the future is hard. But planning ahead is important whether you have a serious illness or not.
Sorting out paperwork and getting your affairs in order can help you feel more in control of your life and what the future holds, bring a sense of relief, and allow you to focus on treatment and living.
Organising your paperwork
Keeping paperwork up to date and in one secure place will make it easier if someone needs to help you with money or legal matters.
Discuss your legal arrangements with your family, and let them know how to contact your lawyer
If you have an advance care directive, give a copy to your health care team so they know about any decisions you have made. Documents to get together include:
- social media login and passwords
- birth, marriage/divorce certificates
- bank and credit card details and passwords
- investment information (e.g. shares)
- Centrelink and Medicare details
- superannuation and insurance
- house title/lease
- loan details (e.g. house, car)
- passport
- will
- documents appointing substitute decision-maker/power of attorney
- advance care directive
- funeral information
See Cancer and Your Finances for more detailed information. Fact sheets on superannuation, insurance, debts and funerals are also available to download.
Dealing with bills and debts
There are many different types of costs that can add up during diagnosis and treatment. If you are concerned about money, this can add to the worry and stress of being diagnosed with advanced cancer.
Ask your doctor whether there are ways to reduce your treatment costs. They can also refer you to a social worker for advice.
Depending on your circumstances, you may need to consider ways to manage the financial impact of advanced cancer.
Making payment arrangements
If you are having difficulty paying your utility bills, such as electricity, gas, water, phone or internet, contact your provider.
You may be able to access flexible payment arrangements, discounts, rebates or concessions through their hardship program.
Check with the hospital social worker whether other options are available in your state or territory. You can contact the National Debt Helpline for free financial counselling and advice.
Accessing superannuation early
In Australia, you can access your superannuation (super) if you are 65 years old or if you have retired (depending on your age). You can also apply to access your super early in particular circumstances, including:
- on compassionate grounds, including to pay for medical treatment
- if you are facing severe financial hardship
- if you are diagnosed with a life-limiting illness – you may need to provide supporting documentation, which your doctor can arrange.
You can apply to access your super early through your super fund or the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Cancer Council may be able to connect you with a professional to help you access your super. Call 13 11 20 for more information.
Check your insurance
People often don’t realise that they may have insurance attached to their superannuation. Some super funds may offer insurance by default – so you may be covered as long as you didn’t choose to opt out.
Types of insurance provided through super funds can include:
- income protection
- total and permanent disability, and
- life insurance (may be called death cover).
To find out whether you have insurance through your super or how accessing your super early will affect your insurance entitlements, talk to your super fund and insurer, or to a financial planner.
Advance care planning
It can be a good idea to plan for your future medical treatment and care, and to discuss your preferences and values with your family, friends and health care team.
This process of discussing future care and preparing any necessary documents is called advance care planning.
It ensures your family and health care team know and respect your treatment wishes if you can’t make decisions for yourself (called losing decision-making capacity) or can’t communicate your wishes for any reason.
Planning ahead can give you peace of mind and help your family feel less anxious if they are asked to make important health decisions for you. Advance care planning can involve:
- talking and making decisions about what is important to you for quality of life
- discussing what treatments you may or may not want, including where you want to receive care (e.g. at home if possible)
- completing an advance care directive
- appointing a substitute decision-maker.
Advance care planning may be confronting, but it doesn’t mean that you have given up or will die soon. The process gives you the security to know that you have formalised plans for the future, and that you can now focus on treatment and living.
You can also change an advance care directive at any time if you want or need to.
You can include details about what you want in your advance care planning documents. For example, religious, spiritual or cultural beliefs that may affect your health care decisions can be recorded.
Many advance care planning documents are only used if there comes a time when you can’t make decisions for yourself. However, you will need to be able to make clear decisions (have capacity) to complete an advance care directive, as this is a legal document.
To find out more, visit Advance Care Planning Australia or End of Life Law in Australia. You can also get independent legal advice. Call Cancer Council on 13 11 20 if you feel anxious about planning.
Steps in advance care planning
Talk to others
Use one of the following guides to help you think about your preferences and discuss them with family and friends:
It may also be helpful to talk to your doctor about the kinds of choices that may need to be made in the future.
Record your treatment goals
Many hospitals have their own forms for you to use. If not, you can find information relevant to your state or territory at Advance Care Planning Australia. Documents must include:
- names and contact details of your substitute decision-maker
- outline of treatments, care or services that you do or do not want
- a signature and date for both you and your witness.
Make copies
- Share copies of your advance care documents with your GP, oncologist, palliative care team, substitute decision-maker, hospital and family or friends.
- Ask your doctor or hospital to include the plan in your medical record.
- Save it online at myhealthrecord.gov.au.
- Review the documents regularly – yearly is a good idea – and update them whenever your wishes change.
Create your plan
Preparing legal documents
If you have not already done so, now is the time to think about appointing a substitute decision-maker, preparing an advance care directive and making a will.
For any of these documents to be legally binding, you need to have decision-making capacity at the time of making the document.
In general, having capacity means you are able to understand the choices that are available and the consequences of your decisions, and that you can communicate these choices.
For more information, talk to your doctor or a lawyer. Each state and territory has different laws about what having capacity officially means, making advance care directives and appointing substitute decision-makers.
Making an advance care directive
This written record of your goals, values, treatment preferences, and instructions for any future medical care, is used by your doctors, family and carers if they need to make decisions on your behalf.
This is a legally binding document which has different names depending on where you live. In Victoria it is called an Advance Care Directive.
You can save or print the form specific for your state or territory from Advance Care Planning Australia, or order a printed starter pack to be mailed to you.
You may need the help of your doctor or lawyer to complete the form and make sure it’s signed, dated and witnessed. Some hospitals use their own forms. If your needs change, you can choose to revise or replace it.
Ask your doctor or hospital to add your directive to your medical record. You can also save it online at My Health Record. For more information, call the National Advance Care Planning Advisory Service on 1300 208 582.
Appointing a substitute decision-maker
While you have capacity, you can formally appoint a substitute decisionmaker. This is someone who can make legal, financial and/or medical decisions for you in the future, if you do not have capacity to decide.
Your substitute decision-maker should be someone you trust and who understands your values and what you want for any future care. They do not have to be a family member, and you can appoint more than one person if you want.
In Victoria, an Enduring Power of Attorney, Medical Treatment Decision Maker document is required to appoint a substitute decision-maker.
If you cannot make decisions for yourself (lose capacity), and do not have an advance care directive or an appointed substitute decision-maker, the law in each state and territory outlines who may make medical treatment decisions for you.
This is usually someone close to you, such as your spouse or partner, family member or close friend. For more information about who may make treatment decisions for you, visit End of Life Law in Australia.
Making a will
A will is a legal document that sets out what you want to happen to your assets after you die. These assets are called your estate and may include your house, land, car, bank accounts, jewellery, clothes, household goods or investments.
A will can also record your wishes regarding guardianship plans for any children. Making a will is not difficult but it needs to be prepared and written in the right way to be legally valid.
A will should be reviewed and updated as circumstances change. It is best to ask a lawyer to advise you, or contact the Public Trustee in your state or territory.
Cancer Council may be able to connect you with a lawyer to help you prepare a will. For more information, call 13 11 20.
If you die without a will, you are said to die intestate. Your assets – such as your house, money and belongings – are distributed to family members according to a formula provided by law.
Although any will can be challenged in court, having a valid will usually means that your assets will go to the people of your choice, avoids extra expenses, and simplifies the process for your family.
Making a funeral plan
Having advanced cancer can mean thinking about things you might not have otherwise – like making a will or even how you would want your life to be celebrated.
Some people may want to think about what they want for their funeral, while other people may not.
If you want to plan your funeral, you could discuss your wishes with your family and friends, lodge a plan with the funeral director of your choice or record your wishes in your will.
The executor is the name for the person you appoint to carry out the wishes left in your will. They should follow the directions in your will, but they are not legally bound to do so.
You can personalise your funeral to suit your cultural or spiritual beliefs. You may have just a few simple requests for music you want played or poems you’d like read, or you may have lots of ideas for the full service.
You can also choose not to have a funeral at all or to have a non-traditional event such as a celebration of life. If you change your mind, you can alter these arrangements at any time.
To prearrange or prepay a funeral, talk to a funeral director. You can download a pre-planning information form from Funerals Australia.
It’s important to let your family know of any arrangements like this that you have made. Copies of a prepaid funeral contract should be given to members of your family or filed with your will.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can find information about cancer, Sorry Business and passing into The Dreaming at Our Mob and Cancer.
Voluntary assisted dying
Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is when a person with an incurable, life-limiting condition or illness chooses to end their life with the assistance of a doctor or health practitioner – using specially prescribed medicines from a doctor.
“Voluntary” means that it is the choice of the unwell person to end their life. Voluntary assisted dying is only available to people who meet all the strict conditions and follow certain steps as required by the laws where they live.
This usually includes:
- being aged over 18
- an Australian citizen or permanent resident
- having decision-making capacity; and
- having a terminal illness causing intolerable suffering and likely to cause death within a set timeframe.
It’s essential to check the latest updates and know the law and rules around participating in VAD. Rules may change over time and can vary according to your state or territory.
As of November 2025, VAD is operating in all 6 Australian states and the ACT. The Northern Territory has not legalised VAD, although laws are in development and this may change.
For comprehensive and current information on VAD for your state or territory, visit Queensland University of Technology’s End of Life Law in Australia.