Executor Checklist NSW: Probate Steps, Deadlines and Notices

When someone dies in New South Wales and the will names you as executor, the paperwork tends to arrive at a hard time. This executor checklist NSW guide covers what the role involves, how to tell whether the estate needs a grant, the deadlines fixed by law and the usual order of the work.

What an executor does in New South Wales

The executor is the person named in the will to administer the estate. If there is no will, or no executor is able to act, the Supreme Court appoints an administrator. Both are legal personal representatives, the same label the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) uses for the deceased person's tax.

The job has three parts: collect what the person owned, pay what they owed, and pass what is left to the people entitled to it under the will or, without a will, the intestacy rules in Chapter 4 of the Succession Act 2006 (NSW). You act for the estate, not for yourself, so estate money usually goes through a separate estate account with every payment recorded.

Do you need a grant of probate in NSW?

No law requires a grant in every case. The route usually depends on the assets and on what each asset holder asks for:

• No grant: may be possible where there is no real estate held solely or as a tenant in common, and each bank, super fund or insurer agrees to release the asset under its own criteria. Jointly held assets pass to the surviving joint owner.
• Grant of probate: applies where a valid will names an executor and an asset holder requires a grant, or the deceased owned NSW real estate solely or as a tenant in common.
• Letters of administration: apply where there is no valid will, or no executor able or willing to act. Usually the closest relative or a beneficiary applies.

Asking each asset holder what it needs often settles the question.

Legal deadlines for NSW executors

Filing after 6 months is still possible, but an affidavit must explain the delay. The 12-month window matters most at the end: an eligible person can ask the Court for provision, or more provision, from the estate, and the Court can treat some property outside it as notional estate. Executors are often cautious about distributing before those 12 months have run.

Executor checklist NSW: the main steps in order

1. Find the original will and any codicils. The originals are filed with the application and kept by the Court.
2. Get death certificates from the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. The free Australian Death Notification Service then lets you notify several organisations at once.
3. Tell the ATO, Services Australia and each super fund. Super does not automatically form part of the estate: the fund trustee decides who receives it unless a valid binding nomination applies.
4. Ask each asset holder whether it needs a grant.
5. Make sure the notice of intended application is published on the NSW Online Registry. The law requires at least 14 days' notice before the summons is filed, and the Supreme Court's page says the Registry's probate system now publishes the notice automatically when the application is filed, so follow the Registry's current steps. The notice gives creditors and relatives a chance to come forward.
6. File the application: the summons for probate (UCPR Form 111), the executor's affidavit, the draft grant (UCPR Form 112) and the original will.
7. Collect assets and pay debts and tax, including land through NSW Land Registry Services and vehicles through Service NSW.
8. Consider a notice of intended distribution (UCPR Form 114). It is optional and in certain circumstances may protect you from personal liability for claims you did not know about. Then distribute.

Taxes and fees at a high level

There are no inheritance or estate taxes in Australia, including NSW. The executor usually lodges a date of death return on the paper individual return or through a tax agent, since myTax cannot be used, or a non-lodgment advice if no return is needed. If the estate earns income after the death, it may need its own trust tax returns.

Tax owing must be provided for before assets go to beneficiaries, or the representative may be personally liable. Passing an asset to a beneficiary is generally not a capital gains tax event, though tax may apply on a later sale. Court filing and publication fees are set by the Court, so check the current schedule.

When to get professional help

The Supreme Court publishes help for people applying without a lawyer. Legal advice is strongly advisable if the will is unclear, the application is contested or a family provision claim is made.

The Steady Executor New South Wales kit puts this process into five files. The user guide explains the role, deadlines and steps with links to official sources. The executor workbook calculates legal deadlines from your dates and tracks assets, debts, the estate account and distributions. The financial letters cover banks, insurers, super funds, creditors and investment firms; the services and agencies letters cover utilities, landlords, employers and government organisations; and the beneficiary letters include a receipt form for distributions.

Sources

• Supreme Court of NSW: Applying for probate
• Supreme Court of NSW: Notice of intended application
• Supreme Court of NSW: Notice of intended distribution
• Supreme Court of NSW: Filing fees
• Succession Act 2006 (NSW)
• ATO: Doing a final tax return for the deceased person
• ATO: Inherited property and CGT