Executor duties in Victoria

An executor's task, in the Supreme Court's own summary of finalising a deceased person's affairs, is to collect or gather the assets, pay any debts, and distribute the assets to the persons entitled. Everything else is detail in service of those three things.

• Locate the will, and check whether any later will or codicil exists.
• Attend to the funeral and obtain the death certificate.
• Identify and secure the assets, and keep them insured.
• Establish the liabilities, including tax.
• Obtain a grant where one is required.
• Collect the assets and deal with institutions.
• Keep records and prepare estate accounts.
• Distribute to the beneficiaries, and only then close the estate.

An administrator appointed where there is no will capable of admission does the same work, but without a will to direct the distribution. See letters of administration.

Act in the interests of the estate

An executor holds the estate for the beneficiaries. Personal preference, family pressure and the executor's own interest in the estate must give way to the terms of the will and the law.

Keep estate money separate

Estate funds belong to the estate. They should be held in an estate account, not in the executor's own account, and every receipt and payment should be traceable.

Keep proper records

Records are the executor's protection. If a beneficiary asks in two years' time where the money went, the answer should be a document, not a recollection.

Deal with conflicts openly

Executors are frequently also beneficiaries, and often want to buy an estate asset or continue living in estate property. These situations are manageable, but only if they are identified and handled properly rather than quietly.

Do not delay unreasonably

An estate that drifts causes loss — unmaintained property, uninvested funds, avoidable costs and, eventually, beneficiary complaints.

• Distributing early, before tax, debts and the claim period are addressed.
• Paying one beneficiary ahead of others because they asked loudest.
• Treating an asset that never formed part of the estate — often superannuation or a jointly held account — as though it did.
• Selling property to a family member without dealing with the conflict.
• Losing control of the paperwork and being unable to account.
• Ignoring a foreshadowed claim in the hope it goes away.

An executor must keep proper estate accounts. What a particular beneficiary is entitled to be told, and whether they can require accounts, depends on the nature of their interest, the stage the administration has reached and the circumstances — so beneficiaries do not all have identical rights to information.

Clear and appropriate communication can nonetheless reduce misunderstanding. A short factual update — what has been done, what is waiting on a third party, and the likely timeframe — helps beneficiaries understand how the administration is progressing, and keeps your own records in order.

Where there is a genuine dispute — about the validity of a will, an executor's conduct, or a claim for provision from the estate — early advice matters, because it allows applicable time limits and evidentiary issues to be identified before further steps are taken.

Many executors handle a simple estate themselves, and the Supreme Court says the process is often straightforward. It is worth getting advice where:

• the original will is missing, damaged, altered, or whether it can be admitted to probate is in question;
• an executor has died, lacks capacity, or wishes to renounce;
• the estate holds a business, a trust interest, a farm, or assets outside Victoria;
• the estate may be insolvent, or the debts are unclear;
• there is a blended family, an estranged child, or a possible family provision claim;
• you are an executor who is also a beneficiary and want to acquire an estate asset.

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