Share Your Story (Anonymously)

"Hi, I’m Drew Browne. By day, I’m a Senior Specialist Financial Adviser at Sapience Financial, but this project is something personal.

I’m researching the real-world fallout of dying without a Will (technically called ‘intestacy’). I want to understand what the last 25 years have really looked like for Australian families left to pick up the pieces. I’m inviting you to share your story anonymously, so we can learn from the past to help protect families in the future."

If you decide to take part, I’ll simply ask you to share your personal story about dealing with intestacy. You can type it directly into the online feedback box below or paste it from another document—whatever works best for you.

It doesn’t need to be a masterpiece, and you don’t need to write a book (up to 500 words is perfect). Don't worry about grammar. Just tell us what happened. Most importantly, the submission form is 100% anonymous, so you can feel completely safe telling it like it is.

Yes, absolutely. This project is built on privacy. I won’t collect your name, your email, or your IP address—it’s just your story, nothing else.

To help keep things completely confidential, I do ask for one favor: when you are writing, please leave out any real names, specific locations, or unique details that might accidentally identify you or your family.

Rest assured, once you hit submit, your story is stored on a secure, password-protected server managed by my team at Sapience. It will be kept safe there for 12 months while I work on the book.

Once you submit your story, the first thing I do is double-check it to ensure it is completely "scrubbed" of any details that could accidentally identify you.

I am collecting these stories to understand the real human cost of intestacy. Your experience may be analyzed for my research or featured in future publications—like my upcoming book or industry reports—to help educate others.

But I want to be clear: whether it is used for research or in print, your story will always remain 100% anonymous.

Yes, absolutely. You retain full copyright of the words you write.

By hitting submit on the form below, you are simply giving me and my team permission (technically called a "royalty-free, non-exclusive license") to use your story. This just means that while you keep the ownership, you’re giving me the green light to publish the anonymous version in my research and future books so we can share these important lessons with others.

Of course. Participation is completely voluntary. If you are halfway through writing and decide you’d rather not share, you can just close the browser window. No hard feelings.

However, there is one important thing to know: because I am stripping away all your personal details to keep this anonymous, once you hit 'Submit', I won’t know which story is yours. That means I won’t be able to find it or remove it later—so please make sure you are happy to share before you click that button.

I’m leading this research, so if you’re unsure about anything or just want to chat before you share your story, please reach out.

You can email me directly at drew+research @ sapience.com.au or give me a call on 1300 137 403.

Alternatively, if you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of this study and would prefer to speak to a book supervisor, you are welcome to contact the team at client.services @ sapience.com.au.