Probate, step by step

What the registry is checking

A grant of probate is the Supreme Court confirming two things: that the document filed with it is the last valid will, and that the person named in that will may act on it. That is the whole of what it decides. It is not approval of how you intend to distribute, and it is not a finding that the will is fair.

The registry looks at how the will was signed and witnessed, whether anything has been attached to it or removed from it, whether a later document exists, and whether the named executor is alive and willing. If something does not add up it sends a requisition, and the application waits until you have answered it.

The stages, and how long each one takes

Banks, share registries and Land Use Victoria all want to see the grant before they will release or transfer anything, so almost everything in the middle depends on the step before it.

From the first meeting to a grant in hand is usually six to ten weeks for a straightforward estate, most of that spent waiting on the registry. A requisition adds two to four weeks. Administering the estate afterwards takes longer than the grant did: three to nine months, depending on what has to be sold.

One deadline is worth knowing. A family provision claim must be brought within six months of the grant, so an executor who distributes before that window closes is carrying the risk personally. Most of our clients wait it out, and we tell beneficiaries why.

• Publish the notice of intention to apply, then wait fifteen days
• File the application with the original will and the death certificate
• Wait for the grant, or answer a requisition
• Collect the assets, pay the debts, lodge the tax returns
• Distribute, and account to the beneficiaries in writing

The four costs that are not our fee

The filing fee is the one that moves. It runs from under $100 for a modest estate to a few thousand dollars for a large one, and the scale is reset each 1 July. We give you the figure for your estate before we file, itemised, not after.

• The online notice of intention, published on the Supreme Court website
• The court filing fee, on a sliding scale set by the value of the estate
• The death certificate from Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria, about $40
• Land Use Victoria lodgement fees, where real property has to be transferred

When you do not need a grant at all

Not every estate needs one. Where everything was held jointly, probate is usually unnecessary, because those assets pass to the survivor without it. Banks will often release a modest balance against a death certificate and an indemnity, though every institution sets its own threshold and many will not move much above $50,000.

If there is real property in the deceased’s sole name, you will need the grant. There is no way around that one, and it is worth checking the title early rather than assuming.

What slows an application down

Every one of these is solvable. Each adds an affidavit, and an affidavit adds weeks, which is the whole argument for keeping the original will somewhere flat, dry and known to the executor.

• The original will cannot be found and only a copy exists
• Staple holes or marks suggesting a page was once attached
• A will signed before only one witness, or left undated
• The named executor has died, moved overseas, or will not act
• A caveat lodged by someone who intends to contest the will

Before you act on any of this

This is general information about probate in Victoria, not advice about the estate you are administering. Timing, cost and whether a grant is needed at all depend on what the deceased owned and how it was held.

If you are holding a will and are not sure what to do next, call us on (03) 9000 1200. The first fifteen minutes are free, and plenty of those calls end with us saying you do not need a solicitor.