One of the most important activities an executor of any estate can undertake is attaining a Grant of Probate smoothly from the Supreme Court. It is, however, not only time-intensive, but it may also be a pricey activity.
The estate can normally anticipate losing a certain amount of money by the time advertising fees, solicitor fees, and also Supreme Court filing fees, etc. are paid.
When dealing with any deceased estate, however, it is not always required to petition for such a Grant of Probate. As a result, it is critical to evaluate the entire assets and liabilities with your lawyer to determine whether it is necessary.
Australian probate laws may not be as easy and simple that any executor without any legal knowledge can handle the entire task without involving any probate lawyer from Probate Australia.
What is the purpose of Probate?
The primary reason for probate is that certain entities that hold the assets or maintain certain registers that have the record title to all such assets cannot be released or record a transfer is allowed to the executor to distribute to the beneficiaries unless and until they have got from the Supreme Court a certified copy of their grant of probate.
These include financiers, superfunds, insurance firms, municipal governments, and utility providers. To release the exit entitlement of the deceased, retirement villages nearly invariably need a Grant of Probate.
Therefore, you will need to hire a certain probate lawyer due to the following reasons:
- A lawyer has got the necessary experience and resources to properly administer any estate.
- Help in avoiding any mistakes that can be costly
- A lawyer will know how to defend any challenges
- Having a lawyer can reduce the likelihood of any family feuds.
- An executor may not have enough time to properly administer the entire estate.
When Probate is not required?
There are the following few circumstances where Probate may not be needed:
- Property that is held as joint tenants
Any of the assets that was held by deceased as ‘joint tenants’ with some other person will not require probate. People frequently own their family homes as joint tenants along with their spouses, for example.
The stake of the deceased in such jointly held asset will not be included in the estate of the deceased, but will instead transfer to the present surviving joint tenant without the need for probate.
- Low-value assets
When the only assets are of minor value, e.g., bank accounts or small share parcels, an Executor of an estate may often avoid the requirement for probate.
While each financial institution may have a certain different threshold for how much money they will accept before requiring Probate to release the cash, the average amount is usually between $20,000.00 and $50,000.00.
- Intestacy
The Supreme Court grants the estate executors the authority to transfer assets to beneficiaries through the procedure of ‘probate.’
In circumstances of intestacy, you do not require a grant of Probate if the dead did not have a Will. Instead, you will need to seek ‘Letters of Administration’ from the Supreme Court.