Bank Accounts After Death in South Australia: Thresholds, Freezes, and Section 100

The day a surviving family member walks into a bank branch to access their loved one's funds and is told the account is frozen is one of the most distressing moments of estate administration. You're grieving, bills are accumulating, and a bank teller is asking for a Supreme Court grant you haven't even started applying for.

Understanding what actually happens to bank accounts after death in South Australia — and crucially, where the different banks draw their lines — can mean the difference between an informal resolution in days and a months-long probate application.

What Happens When a Bank Is Notified of a Death

When a bank is informed that an account holder has died, it immediately freezes any accounts held solely in the deceased's name. This is standard practice across all major Australian financial institutions and protects the estate from unauthorized withdrawals.

Joint accounts — where both names appear on the account — generally continue to operate normally for the surviving account holder. The deceased's share passes to the survivor automatically, outside the estate entirely.

The freeze on sole accounts isn't permanent. It remains in place until the bank receives either a formal grant from the Supreme Court (probate or letters of administration) or adequate documentation to justify an informal release.

Section 100 of the Succession Act 2023: The $15,000 Statutory Transfer

The Succession Act 2023 (SA), which commenced on 1 January 2025, introduced a statutory safe harbor that many families in South Australia don't know exists.

Under Section 100, any financial institution, individual, or body holding $15,000 or less of the deceased's money or personal property may transfer those funds directly to a surviving spouse, domestic partner, or child — without requiring a formal grant of probate or letters of administration.

This provision applies per holder, not per account. If the deceased had $12,000 at a single bank, that bank can transfer the entire amount to an eligible family member under Section 100 without demanding a court grant.

However, there's an important caveat: receiving a Section 100 transfer doesn't automatically give you the right to keep the money. If the will directs those funds to someone else, you're legally obligated to account for them. Section 100 removes the administrative bottleneck — it doesn't override the terms of the will or the rules of intestacy.

Also be aware that some bank tellers aren't familiar with the new Act. If a branch tells you they can't release funds under $15,000 without probate, ask to speak with the deceased estates team directly and cite Section 100 of the Succession Act 2023.

Where Each Bank Draws Its Line

This is where South Australian estate administration gets complicated. The statutory $15,000 threshold under Section 100 is the legal floor — but banks are not bound by it. Each institution sets its own internal policy for releasing funds informally (without a court grant), subject to the executor or next of kin signing a deceased estate indemnity form.

These internal thresholds are significantly higher than $15,000:

These figures are policies, not legislation — they can change and vary depending on account type, your relationship to the deceased, and the specific branch. Always contact the institution's deceased estates team directly, not the general call centre, to confirm the current threshold for your specific situation.

What this means practically: if your parent had $60,000 in a Commonwealth Bank account and $60,000 in a BankSA account, CBA may release the funds informally on presentation of a death certificate and indemnity form — while BankSA will require a formal grant of probate because their threshold is $50,000.

Funeral Costs: Most Banks Will Pay the Funeral Director Directly

One relief most families don't know about: virtually all Australian banks will release funds from a frozen deceased estate account to pay a funeral director directly, regardless of the total account balance. They simply need a copy of the official tax invoice from the funeral home.

NAB, for example, limits direct funeral payment releases to $15,000. CBA and Westpac will typically authorise the funeral invoice amount regardless of other account restrictions. This is because funeral expenses are a priority debt of the estate — recognized by banks and the law alike.

If you're facing urgent funeral costs and the estate account is frozen, contact the deceased estates team at the bank, present the funeral director's invoice, and ask specifically for a direct payment to the funeral home. Don't wait for probate.

When Probate Becomes Unavoidable

No informal release mechanism applies when:

• The deceased owned real property in their sole name or as a tenant in common (a formal grant is legally mandatory before the title can be transferred)
• The bank balances in solely held accounts exceed the institution's informal threshold
• The estate is intestate (no will) and the bank's policies require formal authority before dealing with next of kin

In those situations, you'll need to apply to the Supreme Court via the CourtSA portal. Filing fees range from $987 for estates up to $200,000, to $3,945 for estates over $1 million — set for the 2025/2026 financial year.

The Public Trustee Option for Small Estates

If the total estate is valued at $100,000 or less and contains no real property at all, there's a third path: the Public Trustee of South Australia can administer the estate under Section 73 of the Succession Act 2023 without any Supreme Court application. The Public Trustee publishes a Gazette notice, and a deemed grant is established.

The trade-off is cost. The Public Trustee charges 4.4% commission on the gross asset value of estates up to $200,000. On a $100,000 estate, that's $4,400 — compared with $987 in court filing fees for a DIY probate application. Whether the time saved is worth the commission depends entirely on your circumstances.

Practical Steps When You're Notified of a Death

1. Notify all banks promptly using the Australian Death Notification Service (a federal initiative that lets you notify multiple institutions simultaneously with one request). This stops ongoing transactions and secures accounts.
2. Obtain multiple certified copies of the death certificate from Consumer and Business Services (CBS) in South Australia — you'll need them for each institution separately.
3. Contact the deceased estates team (not the general helpline) at each bank to ask specifically what documents they require and what their informal release threshold is.
4. For funeral costs, present the funeral invoice and request direct payment to the funeral director before anything else.
5. For accounts under $15,000, invoke Section 100 of the Succession Act 2023 in writing if the bank is resistant.
6. For accounts above the bank's threshold, or if real estate is involved, you'll need to proceed with a formal probate or letters of administration application through CourtSA.

If you're navigating this process and want a clear map of which accounts trigger probate and which don't — including a bank-by-bank threshold table and step-by-step CourtSA instructions — the South Australia Probate Process Guide covers it in full.

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