The basic premise of the “Notional Estate” principle is to extend a deceased person’s personal Estate (i.e. their Actual Estate) beyond those assets which are held solely in their own name at the date of their death. The reason this principal was introduced is that, given super and the proliferation of complex asset-holding structures, a deceased’s personal Actual Estate is often worth very little.  Their Actual Estate is often only one slice of the bigger “pie” of assets that the Deceased would have been entitled to enjoy if they had not died. The concept of a person’s Notional Estate becomes very significant in the area of family provision claims. If an eligible claimant (within the Succession Act 2006 (NSW)) believes they have not been adequately provided for, their claim is no longer limited to the Deceased’s Actual Estate – it also takes into account the Deceased’s Notional Estate – if the Actual Estate is insufficient to provide for the successful claimant.