You are the executor, and the bank is asking for a grant. That is what probate is for.

An executor's authority comes from the will itself, but banks, share registries and the land titles system will generally not act on the will alone. A grant of probate is the Court's confirmation that the will is valid and that the executor named in it may act on it. It is what lets an executor close accounts, deal with real property, pay the debts and distribute what is left under the will.

When a grant is actually needed

It turns on what the estate holds and what each asset holder requires:

• Real property in New South Wales in the deceased's sole name, or held as tenants in common, will ordinarily require a grant before it can be transferred or sold.
• Property held as joint tenants passes to the surviving joint tenant by survivorship. That is a notice of death lodged with the land registry, not a probate application.
• Bank accounts and share holdings — each institution sets its own threshold above which it insists on a grant. Below it, some will release funds on an indemnity instead.
• Superannuation and life insurance are often not estate assets. Where a valid binding nomination directs the benefit to a named person rather than to the legal personal representative, it does not pass under the will.

That is the first thing to establish. A modest estate holding no real property sometimes needs no grant at all, and finding that out early saves an application nobody needed.

What the Court requires

An application is a set of documents filed together. In substance:

• the official death certificate from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages — not the doctor's certificate of cause of death;
• the original will, being the last will that was not revoked, with any codicils. The physical document matters: staple holes, pin marks and anything ever attached to it have to be accounted for;
• confirmation of the executor — that the applicant is the executor named in the will, and what became of any other named executor not applying;
• an inventory of property — the assets and the liabilities of the estate, valued as at the date of death;
• valuations where a value cannot simply be stated — real property, usually.

Notice of the intended application is published on the NSW Online Registry first; the application cannot be filed until a set period has passed.

Where there is no will

If the deceased left no will, the estate is an intestate estate and is distributed according to the order set out in the Succession Act 2006 (NSW) — not according to what the family understood the intentions to be. The application is then for letters of administration, made by a person entitled to a share, usually the spouse or a child. Where there is a will but no executor able or willing to act, it is an application for letters of administration with the will annexed.

Before you distribute

An eligible person — the Succession Act 2006 (NSW) defines who that is — may apply for a family provision order out of the estate. The application runs to a strict time limit from the date of death, which the Court can extend only in some circumstances. An executor who distributes without turning their mind to that can be personally exposed. Publishing a notice of intended distribution under the Act is one of the steps available; it is not blanket protection. The claim itself is dealt with under contesting a will.

How long it takes, and what it costs

We do not put a figure on the timing. It depends on the estate — how many assets, how clean the will is, whether a valuation is needed — and on the Supreme Court's current timeframes. A requisition, which is a query the registry raises on the papers, adds time on top of that.

On costs, we quote per matter in writing before work starts, with the costs disclosure required by the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW). The Court's filing fee on a probate application is scaled by the gross value of the estate, so it differs from estate to estate; it is a disbursement, charged at cost and identified separately from our professional fees, along with GST. If the scope changes, you get an updated figure before that work is done.