Wills & Estates
Deceased Estates & Probate
Practical, patient help for executors and families, from a grant of probate through to the final distribution.
Administering an estate is something most people do once, at the worst possible time, with no idea what is expected of them. Our job is to take the legal weight of it off you, to tell you what actually needs doing, in what order, and what does not need doing at all.
Help for executors
If you have been named as an executor, you carry a real legal responsibility: securing the assets, identifying the debts, applying for probate where it is required, dealing with the tax position, and distributing the estate correctly. We advise executors at every step, and we are candid about what you can safely do yourself and what is worth having us handle.
- Applications for a grant of probate in the Supreme Court of NSW
- Estate administration, from identifying assets to the final distribution
- Advice to executors on their duties and their personal exposure
- Transferring or selling estate property (our conveyancing team handles the transfer)
- Dealing with banks, share registries and superannuation funds
What probate costs in NSW
This is the question we are asked first, and it deserves a straight answer. There are two separate costs, and they work differently.
- The Supreme Court filing fee, set by the Court, and scaled to the value of the estate. A larger estate pays a larger fee; a small estate may pay none.
- Legal costs. NSW publishes a scale of costs for obtaining a grant, also based on the value of the estate. That means a great deal of it is predictable from the start rather than open-ended.
- Disbursements: the searches, certificates and advertising an application requires.
We will work these out for your estate and give you a clear quote up front. In most cases they are paid out of the estate, not out of your own pocket, which is the part that worries executors most, and usually needn’t.
Letters of administration, when there is no will
If someone dies without a valid will, there is no executor to appoint and no probate to grant. Instead, an eligible person applies to the Supreme Court for letters of administration, which appoints them to administer the estate (the same job, arrived at by a different door).
The estate is then distributed under the intestacy rules in the Succession Act rather than according to anyone’s wishes. Those rules are fixed: broadly, a spouse or de facto partner takes first, with children sharing where there is no surviving partner, and the estate passing further out to parents and siblings if there is neither. They do not bend to what the family understood was intended, and they catch people out more often than you would think. We help families work out who is actually entitled, and get someone properly appointed so the estate can be dealt with.
Estate property
Most estates include a house or a unit, and that is where an estate and a conveyance meet. Because we have two Licensed Conveyancers in the practice, an estate transfer or sale is handled in-house. You are not sent to a second firm halfway through, and nothing gets dropped between them.
If the estate is disputed
Sometimes an estate does not proceed quietly. A family member may feel they have been left out or not adequately provided for. We act on both sides of that: advising people considering a claim, and defending executors against one. There is more on contesting a will and family provision claims on its own page.
Planning ahead instead
If you are here because administering someone else’s estate has made you think about your own affairs, that is an extremely common reaction, and a sensible one. See wills, powers of attorney and estate planning.
Deceased estates & probate: common questions
What is probate, and do I actually need it?
Probate is the Supreme Court of NSW formally recognising a will and confirming the executor’s authority to deal with the estate. You do not always need it. It depends on what the person owned and who holds it. Banks, share registries and Land Registry Services will often require a grant before they will release or transfer an asset, and real estate held in the deceased’s sole name almost always needs one. We can tell you quickly whether a grant is needed at all, which sometimes saves the cost of applying.
How long does probate take in NSW?
For a straightforward estate, a grant of probate is often issued within a few weeks of the application being filed with the Supreme Court of NSW, though registry workloads move that around. The longer parts sit either side of the grant: gathering asset details, valuations and the death certificate before you can file, and administering and distributing the estate afterwards. It is also normal to wait before distributing, because a family provision claim can generally be brought within 12 months of the death. We will give you a realistic timeline for your estate rather than a number that sounds good.
What does probate cost in NSW?
Probate costs in NSW have two main parts. The Supreme Court charges a filing fee that is set by the Court and scales with the value of the estate, so a larger estate pays more and a small estate may pay none. Legal costs are the second part, and NSW publishes a scale of costs for obtaining a grant, also based on the estate’s value, so much of it is predictable from the outset rather than open-ended. On top of both sit disbursements: the searches, certificates and advertising an application requires. We will set these out for your estate and give you a clear quote up front. In most cases they are paid out of the estate, not out of your own pocket.
What are the intestacy rules in NSW?
They are the rules that decide who inherits when there is no valid will, and they are set out in the Succession Act. In broad terms a spouse or de facto partner takes first, with children sharing where there is no surviving partner (or, in some situations, alongside one). If there is no partner or children, the estate passes further out through parents, siblings and so on. The order is fixed, it does not bend to what the family believes was intended, and it catches people out surprisingly often. We can tell you quickly where a particular estate lands.
What does an executor actually have to do?
An executor identifies and secures the estate’s assets, works out the debts and liabilities, applies for probate where it is needed, deals with the tax position, and then distributes what is left in accordance with the will, keeping proper records throughout. It is a genuine legal responsibility, and executors can be held personally accountable for getting it wrong. Most people do it once in their lives, which is exactly why it is worth having someone across it.
Do we have to come into the office to deal with an estate?
It is usually helpful to sit down together at the start, particularly if the estate is complex or the family situation is delicate. After that, a lot can be handled by phone and email. We are in Forster Tower and act for families right across Forster, Tuncurry and the Great Lakes, and on NSW estates more broadly.
We’ll take the legal weight off you
Get clear, plain-English advice from an experienced Forster practice. Call us or send an enquiry, and we’ll get back to you promptly.