Guide for executors

Learn more about where to find the Will of someone who has died, and what to do if someone has died without a Will. 

If there isn't a Will, you cannot be appointed an executor, and you cannot apply for a grant of probate(when the Supreme Court recognises that a Will is legally valid and there is permission to administer the estate)

As executor, you're responsible for arranging the funeral and making payments. This can be planned together with the person's family.

There are several factors to consider when planning a funeral or memorial, which may impact cost and timing. 

Learn more about planning a funeral.

A death certificate is the official record of a death. It can be used as proof of death and proof of relationship to the person who has died. 

Learn more about why you need one and how to apply for a death certificate.

Part of your role as executor is to find and contact beneficiaries of a Will. When you are contacting beneficiaries, provide them with information about what has been left to them in the Will.

The executor will need to provide financial information at different points throughout the estate administration, particularly if selling assets or distributing property.

Find out more about who is a beneficiary.

The role of the executor is to find, protect and prepare a list of assets for the estate, this involves:

• contacting financial institutions, service providers, government departments, searching records (especially land and property information) and any other relevant companies
• storing valuables such as jewellery, ornaments and paintings
• investing excess funds after debts are paid and arranging any insurance. You can be legally responsible for any damage to property which hasn't been secured or insured
• preparing a list of household and personal goods, cash, business interests, real estate and securities. It doesn't include:
  • assets that are jointly held with another person (which generally pass to the surviving joint owner)
  • assets that are held in trusts, such as a family trust (which continue on after death)
  • superannuation death benefits (unless they are paid to the estate)
  • life insurance death benefits (unless they were left to the estate, executor, or administrator).

You will need to notify banks, financial institutions and government agencies of the person’s death. This will make sure that debts don't continue and that income such as pensions are stopped.

The Australian Death Notification Service (ADNS) can help you contact multiple organisations using a single online notification. 

Within 6 months of the death, you will usually need to apply for either a grant of probate or letters of administration, depending on the Will. 

This will involve preparing all the documents needed to apply to the Supreme Court for a grant of probate or letters of administration.

Find out more about:

• getting a grant of probate or letters of administration
• when you need a grant of probate
• applying for a grant of probate
• applying for letters of administration.

You can start collecting an estate's assets and paying the debts once probate or letters of administration is granted. You will need to make sure all debts and expenses have been accounted for, paying legacies, transferring specific gifts, establishing any ongoing trusts and transferring or paying any remaining assets to the remaining beneficiaries. 

If you need to sell assets before you distribute the estate, you will need to make sure that you get a fair market price. Beneficiaries could sue you to recover the amount owing to them.

The estate can be distributed to the beneficiaries of the estate after all debts have been paid.

Under NSW law, we recommend that an executor shouldn't distribute an estate any earlier than 6 months after the date of death, (and 30 days after a ‘Notice of Intention to Distribute’ is published).

The executor or administrator can distribute the identified assets to the beneficiaries:

• after a grant of probate or letters or administration is made 
• not less than 30 days after the Notice of Intended Distribution has been published
• all the debts have been paid. 

It can take 9-12 months to finalise an estate and possibly longer if there are legal proceedings relating to the estate.

The process of transferring assets to beneficiaries is different for real estate and personal property.

Transferring personal property

These may be dealt with in the Will as:

• part of the whole estate
• as specific gifts to named beneficiaries 
• what is left after all other gifts in the estate. 

If there is no Will, the personal property will be dealt with as part of the whole estate.

You can find more information about how to transfer personal property to beneficiaries at Law Access NSW.

Transferring real estate

Real property includes land, houses, units, commercial and industrial property.

The process will be different depending on whether the property is owned:

• solely by the person who died 
• by multiple people.

Learn more about how to transfer real estate property at LawAccess NSW

You must be careful when deciding who is entitled to receive money or assets under the terms of the Will. You could be legally responsible for misunderstanding the Will or not correctly identifying all the beneficiaries.

There are tax responsibilities when acting as an executor of an estate:

• you may need to submit tax returns on behalf of the estate
• if you are both an executor and a beneficiary, you may need to declare the assets you receive as part of your own tax return
• you may need to co-operate with various groups including family members if a testamentary trust is established under a valid Will
  • a testamentary trust is a trust set-up under a valid Will
• provide an accounting report of all administration activities to the beneficiaries
  • if beneficiaries are not satisfied they may approach the court to have you removed. 

If you have distributed all the assets of the estate to the beneficiaries and the estate still owes money to the tax office, you may be personally responsible to make the payment.