Executor of a Will in Australia: Duties and Checklist

An executor's job runs in a fixed order: find and protect the estate's assets, work out and pay the debts and tax, then distribute what is left to the beneficiaries. The Australian Taxation Office says completing the administration of a deceased estate typically takes 6 to 12 months but can take longer, and that you should finalise any tax obligations before distributing the assets of the estate. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The order matters more than the speed, because some of the steps protect you personally and only work if you do them before you hand money out.

The checklist below follows that order. Probate, the waiting periods and the paperwork differ across states and territories, so each state-specific point below says which state it comes from and links to that state's own page.

What is an executor of a will?

An executor is the person a will names to carry it out. The Supreme Court of Victoria defines an executor as a person appointed by the will to administer the estate. (Source: supremecourt.vic.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) NSW Trustee and Guardian describes the role as administering the estate, meaning the things owned and owed by the deceased, and carrying out the instructions in the will after someone has passed away. (Source: tag.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026)

Being named is the first half. NSW Trustee and Guardian explains that the executor is named in the will and is formally appointed to the role by applying to the Supreme Court and being granted probate, and that if there is no will, the court appoints an administrator instead. (Source: tag.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) The job itself is the same either way, and the checklist below covers it.

The executor checklist, start to finish

Fourteen steps, roughly in the order they happen. The detail behind each one is in the sections underneath.

1. Look after yourself first. The ATO's own checklist opens with this, and lists Griefline on 1300 845 745, Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636, MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978, and Thirrili on 1800 805 801 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)
2. Find the original will, not a copy, and check whether it names you.
3. Let the funeral director register the death and order the death certificates.
4. Secure the house, the car and anything portable, and check the insurance is still current.
5. Redirect the mail and keep every piece of paper that arrives.
6. Tell Services Australia within 28 days.
7. Use the Australian Death Notification Service to tell several organisations at once.
8. Write down every asset and every debt you can find, with an approximate value.
9. Ask each bank, super fund and share registry what they need before they will release anything.
10. Apply for probate or letters of administration if the assets or the organisations require it.
11. Notify the ATO, then lodge the date of death return.
12. Pay the debts, and consider publishing a notice of intended distribution.
13. Wait out the periods that apply in your state before distributing.
14. Distribute, get receipts from the beneficiaries, and keep the file.

Are you actually the executor?

The will answers this. The ATO puts it plainly: if there is a will and it names an executor, that person, and there may be more than one, generally manages the deceased's financial affairs, and if there is no executor the next of kin may take responsibility instead. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

You need the signed original. The Supreme Court of New South Wales tells applicants to check that they have the original will and any codicils, and says the original must be filed with the probate application and is retained by the Court. (Source: supremecourt.nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) A photocopy is a much slower and more expensive application, so it is worth searching properly before assuming the original is gone.

You can also say no. NSW Trustee and Guardian says being chosen as executor does not mean you must accept the role, and that you are under no legal obligation to act. If you decide to turn it down, it suggests doing so as soon as possible and before you start the estate administration. (Source: tag.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) In Victoria, an executor who has not intermeddled in the estate renounces with a renunciation of probate form and an affidavit of verification. (Source: supremecourt.vic.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) If the estate is complicated or the family is not speaking, that is worth raising with a solicitor early rather than halfway through.

Can an executor be a beneficiary?

Yes. The Public Trustee of Western Australia says an executor or administrator can also be a beneficiary. (Source: wa.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) South Australia's Law Handbook, published by the Legal Services Commission, says an executor may also be a beneficiary under the will. (Source: lawhandbook.sa.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) NSW Trustee and Guardian notes that if you are both an executor and a beneficiary, you may need to declare the assets you receive in your own tax return. (Source: tag.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026)

Wearing both hats means your duty as executor comes first. You act for every beneficiary, including the ones you would rather not deal with, and you keep records that would satisfy them.

A beneficiary who witnesses the will is a different matter

The risk sits with witnesses, not executors. In New South Wales, section 10 of the Succession Act 2006 says a gift to a person who witnessed the will is void to the extent that it concerns that interested witness, unless an exception applies, such as at least 2 of the people who witnessed the will not being interested witnesses. (Source: legislation.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) The Public Trustee of Tasmania warns that any beneficiary who acts as a witness may become disentitled to a gift in the will. (Source: publictrustee.tas.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) Rules differ in other states, so a solicitor is the right person to check how a will was signed.

Can an executor be paid?

Sometimes. The Supreme Court of NSW says an executor is generally entitled to apply for commission to compensate them for the time and effort involved, and that no court approval is needed if all the affected beneficiaries agree on an amount. It also notes that an executor who receives a legacy under the will as a condition of taking on the role may not be entitled to apply. (Source: supremecourt.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026) In Victoria, an application for commission, a percentage of the estate, can be made under section 65 of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 after a grant, and the Court warns that filing one could result in legal costs being ordered against the applicant. (Source: supremecourt.vic.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026)

The first week: death certificate, security, insurance

In New South Wales, a funeral director will normally register a death and apply for a death certificate on your behalf, and will register the death within 7 days of burial or cremation. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Other states run their own registries with their own timings, so check your own state's Births, Deaths and Marriages page rather than assuming the NSW timing applies.

Order more certified copies than you think you need. Most organisations want to sight one, and some keep it. As at the date this was checked, the NSW registry charged $70 for a standard death certificate and $105 for the priority service, with online applications taking up to 3 weeks and up to 2 weeks respectively. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Fees and waiting times differ in every state and change without much notice.

Securing the property is not optional housekeeping. The NSW Trustee and Guardian's guide for executors is blunt about the consequence: you can be legally responsible for any damage to property which has not been secured or insured. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) That means checking the building and contents policies are current and telling the insurer the house is now unoccupied, because many policies treat an empty house differently.

Who to tell, and the one service that does several at once

Services Australia has a hard deadline. It says you need to tell it within 28 days, by calling the Older Australians line, completing and submitting the Advice of death form, or visiting a service centre. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) It also publishes a Who to notify checklist you can download to work out who else needs to hear from you. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

The Australian Death Notification Service is the shortcut worth knowing about. Services Australia describes it as a free government service to help you contact multiple organisations at once, and the NSW executor guide points executors to it for the same reason. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) It does not cover everybody, so treat it as the first pass rather than the whole job.

If you need information that Services Australia holds about the person, there is a separate step. It will release that once it has proof you have the authority to act on the estate plus a completed Executor or Administrator Request for information form, and each person listed as an executor has to complete their own form. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Does this estate need probate?

Sometimes, and it depends on the state and on what the person owned. This is the question that most changes how long the job takes.

Victoria's Supreme Court draws the line at real estate. It says that where the deceased owned real estate either solely or as a tenant in common, a grant is always required. It also notes that some organisations, such as banks and insurance companies, may release money without sighting a grant if the amount held in the name of the deceased is minimal and there are no complications, and that where the assets are entirely in a joint bank account, providing a death certificate may be enough for the money to be transferred to the surviving joint holder. (Source: supremecourt.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Queensland Courts frame it as the asset holder's call. A valid will usually gives the named executor authority to handle the estate, but organisations like banks and super funds often require formal proof, called probate, and the practical advice is to check with the organisation involved to confirm their requirements. (Source: courts.qld.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

The ATO adds one of its own. If you are managing a small estate you may not need a grant, but some people or organisations holding assets of the estate, and it names itself among them, may require one before releasing those assets. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

The practical move is to ring each institution before you apply for anything, and ask what they need. One bank asking for probate is enough to decide the question for the whole estate.

Debts, and the notice that protects you personally

Debts get paid before beneficiaries do. The order is not a courtesy, it is what keeps you out of trouble.

New South Wales offers executors a specific protection, and it is optional. The Supreme Court of NSW says that unlike the notice of intended application, publication of a Notice of Intended Distribution is not mandatory, but executors might choose to publish it because it may offer protection from personal liability in future claims about which they had no knowledge before distributing the estate. Publishing carried a prescribed fee of $49 at the date checked. (Source: supremecourt.nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

That is a New South Wales mechanism. Other states and territories have their own arrangements for advertising an intention to distribute, with their own forms, fees and waiting periods, so check your own registry rather than following the NSW steps.

Tax debt is the one that follows you. The ATO says the authorised legal personal representative is liable to pay any outstanding tax related liabilities of a deceased person, up to the value of the deceased estate's assets, and may have to meet those liabilities personally if they distribute the estate's assets where they are considered to have notice of a claim by the ATO. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) In plain terms, paying the beneficiaries before you have dealt with the tax can leave you writing the cheque yourself.

Tax: the two returns people mix up

There are usually two, and they cover different periods.

The first is the date of death return for the person. The ATO says it covers the period from 1 July of the income year in which the person died, up to the date of death, and that this is different to a trust tax return for the deceased estate, which is for the period after the person died. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) You cannot lodge it through myTax or myGov, because those can only be used by the account holder to lodge their own return, so it goes in on the paper individual return or through a tax agent. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

The second is the estate's own return. Where a return is needed the estate is treated as a trust for tax purposes, its first income year starts the day after the person died and ends on the next 30 June, and from income year 4 onwards a trust tax return must be lodged if the estate earns any income, including capital gains. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Before either of those, notify the ATO. It accepts the death certificate, a grant of probate or letters of administration, or the will, and says it takes up to 28 days to update the deceased person's records after it receives the notification. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

One thing that is genuinely national, and worth saying because families ask: the ATO states there are no inheritance taxes in Australia. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) That is not the same as saying nothing is taxable, which is why the returns above exist.

There is also a trap for estates without a will. The ATO says that where the deceased died intestate and nobody has been appointed to administer the estate within 6 months of the date of death, it may raise an assessment of the estate's tax related liabilities and seek to recover any tax owing. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Super and life insurance are usually a separate job

Two of the biggest amounts in a person's life often sit outside the estate entirely, which surprises most new executors.

The Supreme Court of NSW notes that the proceeds of life insurance and superannuation generally do not form part of the estate, though this depends on the terms of the relevant policy. (Source: supremecourt.nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The NSW executor guide says the same about the asset list, excluding super death benefits and life insurance proceeds unless they are paid to the estate. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Super is decided by the fund, not by you. Moneysmart, ASIC's consumer site, says that in most cases the trustee checks whether the person made a valid beneficiary nomination and considers who may be eligible to receive the death benefit, and that the fund may pay it to one or more eligible beneficiaries or to the deceased person's legal personal representative. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) On timing it is honest rather than reassuring: timeframes vary between funds and between claims, and the advice is to ask the fund how long it expects your claim to take and what might slow it down. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Victoria's Supreme Court adds the part that catches people out. Trustees often pay directly to a nominee under a binding death benefit nomination, and if that nomination lapses or is invalid the trustee may choose to pay a spouse or dependants, or the legal representative. Its Probate Office cannot help with superannuation queries. (Source: supremecourt.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) So a lapsed nomination does not just delay things, it can change who receives the money.

Distributing: the waiting periods that catch people out

This is where an executor in a hurry does the most damage, and the rules are state based.

In New South Wales the government's own executor guide sets out two clocks. An executor should not distribute an estate any earlier than 6 months after the date of death, and not less than 30 days after a Notice of Intended Distribution has been published, and only once all the debts have been paid. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The same guide says that within 6 months of the death you will usually need to apply for a grant of probate or letters of administration, that most estates it administers are finalised within 9 to 12 months, and that a family provision claim to contest a will must be filed with the court within 12 months of the date of death. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Those figures are New South Wales figures. Other states and territories set their own periods for distribution and their own limits for family provision claims, and they are not the same, so check the registry or a solicitor in the state where the estate is being administered before you fix a date.

On overall pace, there is no single national deadline. Legal Aid Western Australia, which is a statutory legal aid body rather than a court, puts the expectation this way: an executor must act with great care, and within a year is generally seen as a reasonable time to finish things up in. (Source: legalaid.wa.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) That sits alongside the ATO's 6 to 12 months figure for a typical administration. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

What actually makes this slow

Almost never the law. It is the hunting.

The steps above assume you can answer questions like which bank, which super fund, which insurer, whether there is a second policy, who the accountant was, and whether the shares were ever transferred. Most executors cannot, because that information lived in one person's head and in a drawer nobody has opened. Every unanswered question turns into a phone call, a form, and a wait.

A solicitor is genuinely worth paying for the legal corner, the will itself and a contested estate especially. The rest of it, the map of where everything is, is a kitchen table job. It costs a fraction of what guided help costs and it is the part that decides whether this takes six months or eighteen.

If you are the executor right now, the free Executor Toolkit lays the first twelve months out as a roadmap. If you are reading this because you have been named in someone's will and you would rather they filled the gaps in while they still can, The Estate Organiser is the book they write it all into. It is filled in on your own computer or by hand, so the account numbers and the wishes stay with the family rather than sitting on a company's website.

Common questions about being an executor in Australia

What is an executor of a will?

The person a will appoints to administer the estate and carry out its instructions. The Supreme Court of Victoria defines an executor as a person appointed by the will to administer the estate, and NSW Trustee and Guardian says the executor is formally appointed by being granted probate. (Sources: supremecourt.vic.gov.au and tag.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026)

Can an executor be a beneficiary of the will?

Yes. The Public Trustee of Western Australia says an executor or administrator can also be a beneficiary, and South Australia's Law Handbook says an executor may also be a beneficiary under the will. A beneficiary who witnesses the will is a different issue, and in NSW that gift can be void unless an exception applies. (Sources: wa.gov.au, lawhandbook.sa.gov.au and legislation.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026)

Can you refuse to be an executor?

Yes. NSW Trustee and Guardian says you are under no legal obligation to act as executor, and suggests turning the role down as soon as possible and before you start administering the estate. (Source: tag.nsw.gov.au, checked 2 Oct 2026)

How long does an executor have to settle an estate in Australia?

There is no single national deadline. The ATO says completing the administration of a deceased estate typically takes 6 to 12 months but can take longer. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Legal Aid Western Australia describes within a year as generally a reasonable time to finish things up in. (Source: legalaid.wa.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Separately, some states set minimum periods before you may distribute, which is a different thing from a deadline to finish.

Can an executor be personally liable?

Yes, in specific situations. The ATO says the authorised legal personal representative is liable for the deceased's outstanding tax related liabilities up to the value of the estate's assets, and may have to meet them personally if they distribute the estate where they are considered to have notice of an ATO claim. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The NSW Trustee and Guardian's executor guide also warns that you can be legally responsible for damage to property which has not been secured or insured. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Do you always need probate to act as executor?

No, and it depends on the state and on the assets. The Supreme Court of Victoria says a grant is always required where the deceased owned real estate solely or as a tenant in common, and that banks and insurers may release small amounts without one. (Source: supremecourt.vic.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Queensland Courts advise checking with the organisation involved, since banks and super funds often require probate. (Source: courts.qld.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The ATO notes that a small estate may not need a grant, but that some organisations holding estate assets, including the ATO itself, may require one. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

How soon can an executor distribute the estate?

That is set by the state. In New South Wales, the government's executor guide says an executor should not distribute any earlier than 6 months after the date of death, and not less than 30 days after a Notice of Intended Distribution has been published, and only once all debts are paid. (Source: nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Other states and territories have their own periods, so check the registry in the state where the estate is being administered.

Is superannuation part of the estate?

Often not. The Supreme Court of NSW says the proceeds of life insurance and superannuation generally do not form part of the estate, though it depends on the terms of the policy. (Source: supremecourt.nsw.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) Moneysmart explains that the fund's trustee checks for a valid beneficiary nomination and considers who may be eligible, and may pay the benefit to eligible beneficiaries or to the estate. (Source: moneysmart.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Does the family pay inheritance tax in Australia?

The ATO states there are no inheritance taxes in Australia. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) That does not mean an estate has nothing to lodge. There is usually a date of death return for the person, covering 1 July of the income year of death up to the date of death, and the estate itself may need to lodge a trust tax return. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Who do you have to notify when someone dies?

Services Australia says you need to tell it within 28 days, and publishes a Who to notify checklist to help you work out who else needs to know. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) It also points to the Australian Death Notification Service, which it describes as a free government service to help you contact multiple organisations at once. (Source: servicesaustralia.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026) The ATO should be notified separately, with a death certificate, a grant, or the will. (Source: ato.gov.au, checked 26 Sep 2026)

Related guides

• Just became an executor? What to do in the first few weeks
• What does an executor actually do in Australia?
• What is probate, and will your family need it?
• Where should you keep your will in Australia?

Educational content only. Not legal, financial or tax advice. Estate laws vary across Australian states and territories. Always consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.

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