Step 1: Locate the Will and contact the beneficiaries
If there’s a Will, you need to find it and contact the beneficiaries to provide the following information:
- advise the beneficiaries of their entitlements under the terms of the Will
- explain what’s involved in the estate administration process
- discuss any issues that may affect the estate
- confirm how best to communicate with each beneficiary throughout the process
- explain to beneficiaries that it usually takes an average of 12 months to finalise a deceased estate.
By law there is a waiting period of 6 months for people to come forward and contest or make a claim on a Will. The executor needs to consider this waiting period.
Where the assets are minimal, or the majority are jointly held, you may not need a formal administration process.
If there is no Will, you will need to administer the estate by following the laws of intestacy.
Step 2: Obtain legal authority to administer the estate
You may need to get grant of probate or letters of administration before you are authorised to deal with companies managing the assets of the deceased estate. This is a court order granted by the Supreme Court of Queensland to recognise that:
- the Will is valid
- the executor is authorised to deal with the estate.
If there is no Will, or the executor is not willing to act as executor, you'll need letters of administration instead. Similar to probate, these are also granted by the Supreme Court of Queensland.
Not all estates require a grant of administration. This will depend on the types of assets in the estate. You'll need to check with the organisations involved, such as a financial institution or superannuation fund. Each will have differing requirements. You may not need one if:
- the value of the asset is relatively small, such as bank account with not much money
- the real estate property is to be transferred to a beneficiary named in the Will
- you must sell real estate.
You also don’t need a grant of probate if the asset is in joint names. This is because it already belongs to the surviving joint owner. This is often the case with the family home.
Visit the Queensland Courts website for information about how to apply for a grant of administration. This page includes links to the forms and supporting information you will be required to provide as part of your application.
If you’re seeking assistance with obtaining a grant to administer the estate, we can provide these services for a fee.
Find our fees for our grant of administration application service
Step 3: Confirm the assets and liabilities
Work with the beneficiaries and organisations to identify what the estate owns and what it owes. Organisations to contact may include:
- banks
- insurers
- financial businesses
- government agencies
- superannuation funds.
Assets are all the deceased person’s belongings. These can include:
- cash and bank account funds
- real estate and vehicles
- personal effects such as furniture and jewellery
- life insurance or superannuation
- digital assets, like digital photos on a smartphone or laptop
- shareholdings and investments
- business interests
- Superannuation may not necessarily be paid into the estate. An executor should contact the superannuation organisation to work out whether the proceeds of the superannuation will be paid to the estate.
You can arrange for asset valuations and appraisals to help beneficiaries decide whether to keep, transfer or sell the assets.
You will also need to establish any debts and liabilities such as:
- mortgages
- loans
- owed tax.
Step 4: Manage assets and liabilities
After getting any required probate or letters of administration, you can:
- close bank accounts
- sell assets such as real estate
- pay liabilities including telephone, electricity accounts and rates and then close the accounts
- collect income
- finalise superannuation.
If any assets are to be held in trust, you'll need to manage them until the trust ends. That is, unless the Will instructs you to appoint another person as the trustee.
For instance, you can’t pay a share of an estate to any children under 18. You must wait until they turn 18, or old if instructed in the Will. This means a trust will need to be set up.
Before you can start distributing the estate assets to the beneficiaries, you must first:
- settle all debts
- pay any money owed.
- pay for the funeral expenses
- prepare and lodge a final tax return.
Accountants and other financial institutions can help with tax returns.
Learn more about tax matters for deceased estates
Step 5: Distribute estate to beneficiaries
Before you can distribute the estate assets you must make sure that any claims on the estate have been resolved. By law, certain eligible people can make a claim against an estate for a share or greater share than what they are receiving. These are often family provision claims. They have 6 months to notify you if they intend making such a claim. As such, you'll normally have to wait until after this 6 month period before you distribute any assets. If claims do proceed, any distribution of assets can’t occur until after the claim is resolved.
If a claim is not received within 6 months, you can begin distributing the estate to the beneficiaries. By waiting this period, you are protected against any personal liability related to the claim.
Learn more from our fact sheet, Family provision applications.
It's important that both you and the beneficiaries are aware that some assets may take longer to sell or transfer. This will mean that you may not be able to distribute everything immediately.
At times there will be differing views among the beneficiaries. You may need to work through these issues with everyone. You must act impartially and consider everyone's views when making decisions.
As a guide, you can distribute the estate, when:
- there are no legal claims pending
- any required probate or letters of administration have been obtained
- the beneficiaries have been established
- debts have been paid or accounted for
- tax has been finalised.
Once you’re ready to distribute the estate, you can:
- pay any cash legacies under the Will
- arrange special gifts of personal or real property to be passed to the named beneficiaries
- transfer assets to beneficiaries
- distribute cash to beneficiaries.
Step 6: Finalise the estate
Once you've completed everything, you must prepare a final statement, which includes:
- details on all deceased estate assets
- how you distributed the assets
- the final financial information including any debts paid and all the administration costs and expenses.
You should send this final statement to all the beneficiaries.