Probate in Victoria: a step-by-step guide for executors and families

When someone dies, their bank accounts, shares and property do not simply transfer to the family. Someone must be legally authorised to collect the assets, pay the debts and distribute what remains. In Victoria, that authority usually comes from a grant of probate issued by the Supreme Court. Here is how the process actually works, step by step.

What probate is

Probate is the Supreme Court of Victoria's formal recognition that a will is valid and that the executor named in it is entitled to administer the estate. The court issues a document — the grant — which institutions rely on before releasing assets. If there is no will, or no executor able to act, the equivalent grant is called letters of administration, usually made to the closest next of kin, who then administers the estate under Victoria's intestacy rules. Our guide to dying without a will explains how that formula works.

When a grant is needed — and when it is not

Not every estate requires probate. Whether you need a grant depends on what the deceased owned and how it was held:

• Real estate in the deceased's sole name (or owned as tenants in common) almost always requires a grant before it can be sold or transferred.
• Banks and share registries set their own thresholds. Small balances are often released on certified documents and a declaration; larger holdings require the grant. Thresholds vary between institutions.
• Jointly held assets, such as a home owned as joint tenants or a joint bank account, pass to the survivor without probate.
• Superannuation and insurance are usually paid by the fund or insurer under their own rules, sometimes to the estate — in which case a grant may then be needed.

We can usually tell you within one conversation whether a grant is required for the estate you are dealing with.

The process, step by step

Victorian probate applications are filed electronically through the Supreme Court's online system. The usual sequence is:

1. Locate the original will and the death certificate. Only the original will suffices in the ordinary course; copies raise their own complications.
2. Advertise the intended application on the Supreme Court's online notification system. The application cannot be filed until at least 14 days after the notice is published.
3. Prepare the application: the executor's affidavit, an inventory of assets and liabilities, and supporting documents dealing with any quirks — a damaged will, informal alterations, or a deceased known by more than one name.
4. File and respond to requisitions. If the Registrar raises queries, the application is corrected and resubmitted.
5. Receive the grant, then collect assets, pay debts and, in due course, distribute.

How long it takes

Once filed, straightforward applications are commonly processed in a matter of weeks. The longer timeline is the administration itself: closing accounts, selling property, finalising tax. A typical estate is fully administered within six to twelve months of death. Executors are generally advised not to distribute earlier than six months from the grant, because that is the window in which an eligible person may bring a family provision claim against the estate — see the time limits in contesting a will in Victoria. Distributing early can expose the executor personally.

What it costs

There are two costs to distinguish. The first is the court fee for filing the application, which in Victoria is scaled to the gross value of the estate — modest estates pay little or nothing, large estates pay substantially more. The second is professional fees for preparing the application and administering the estate, which we quote in writing once the shape of the estate is known. Both are ordinarily paid from the estate, not from the executor's own pocket.

The executor's personal responsibility

An executor is a fiduciary. That means acting in the interests of the beneficiaries, keeping estate money strictly separate, documenting decisions, paying debts before gifts, attending to the deceased's final tax affairs, and distributing exactly as the will directs. Executors who get it wrong — favouring themselves, distributing too early, ignoring a known claim — can be personally liable to make good the loss. None of this requires legal training, but it does require care, and it is precisely the work we can take off an executor's hands. Our executor's checklist sets out the role in detail.

Common complications

• The will cannot be found. A copy may be admitted in limited circumstances, but the starting presumption is that a missing will was revoked.
• The will was not properly signed. The court can admit an informal document as a will, but only on a fuller, more expensive application.
• Someone signals a challenge. A caveat can be lodged to halt a grant while validity is examined; family provision claims run on their own six-month clock.
• Executors in conflict. Co-executors must act jointly; deadlock can require court intervention or one executor renouncing.
• Insolvent estates. Where debts exceed assets, a strict statutory order of payment applies, and an executor who pays the wrong creditor first can be personally exposed.

Executors who live interstate or overseas

An executor does not need to live in Victoria, but distance makes the practical work harder: original documents must be signed and posted, identity checks completed, and Victorian assets inspected and secured. Where the sole executor is overseas, the court can require additional steps before a grant issues, and some executors in that position choose to appoint an attorney locally or renounce in favour of another executor. If you are administering a Victorian estate from afar, we can act as your hands on the ground — receiving documents, dealing with the court and the institutions, and keeping the administration moving in the right time zone.

First steps in the first fortnight

If you have just been named executor, resist the pressure to do everything at once. Secure the house and valuables, redirect the mail, locate the original will, order the death certificate through the funeral director, and make a simple list of known assets and debts. Do not pay estate expenses from your own pocket without records, and do not promise distributions to anyone. Then take advice — one conversation will map the entire administration, tell you whether probate is needed, and give you a written estimate of the costs.

How we help

Spencer Alexander Lawyers prepares probate and administration applications, advises executors on their duties, and can take on the entire administration — communicating with beneficiaries, realising assets and preparing final accounts. We act with the discretion these matters call for, and we set out our fees in writing before any substantive work begins. Learn more about our wills and estates practice.

This guide reflects the law applying in Victoria as at July 2026. It is general information only, not legal advice, and does not take your circumstances into account.