Probate vs Letters of Administration in the ACT: What's the Difference?

When someone dies, families are suddenly confronted with terms they have never needed to understand before: probate, letters of administration, grants of representation. They all mean something, and they are not interchangeable. Choosing the wrong application wastes time, money, and can require you to start again from scratch.

In the ACT, the question of which application you need comes down to one thing: did the deceased leave a valid Will?

What probate actually is

Probate is a formal declaration by the ACT Supreme Court that a specific document — the deceased's Last Will and Testament — is valid, and that the person named as executor has the legal authority to administer the estate.

When a bank, a land titles office, a share registry, or any institution holds assets that belonged to the deceased, they need to be satisfied that you have the legal right to deal with those assets. They are not going to take your word for it. A Grant of Probate is the court's word — a sealed document that provides that assurance.

A Grant of Probate does not transfer the assets to you. It grants you the authority to deal with them on behalf of the estate, to pay creditors, and to distribute what remains to the beneficiaries named in the Will.

When you need probate versus when you do not

Probate is not automatically required for every estate with a Will. It is a practical necessity when:

• The deceased owned real property solely or as tenants in common in the ACT. The ACT Land Titles Office requires a Grant of Probate (via a Transmission Application, Form 032-TA) before it will process any transfer of the deceased's property share. There is no alternative.
• A bank account exceeds the institution's internal release threshold. Banks such as ANZ (approximately $40,000), Commonwealth Bank and Westpac (approximately $100,000) will not release funds from a sole account above their threshold without probate.
• Share registries or investment platforms hold assets. Most registries require probate for holdings above $15,000 to $25,000.

If the estate consists only of jointly-held assets (which pass outside the estate by survivorship) and modest bank balances below all relevant thresholds, you may not need probate at all — even with a Will in place.

What letters of administration are

Letters of Administration serve the same practical function as probate — they grant a person legal authority to administer the estate — but they are issued in different circumstances.

You apply for Letters of Administration when:

• The deceased died without a Will (intestate)
• The deceased had a Will, but the executor named in it is unwilling or unable to act and no substitute executor was named
• The Will is invalid (unsigned, witnessed improperly, revoked)

In intestate cases, the court grants administration authority to whoever has the right to apply under the Administration and Probate Act 1929 — typically the surviving spouse first, then adult children, then parents, then siblings, in that order.

Letters of Administration do not change who ultimately inherits the estate. The estate is distributed according to ACT intestacy rules regardless of who holds the administrative authority.

How the two applications differ in practice

The application process for both is similar — both require publishing a Notice of Intention on the ACT Supreme Court's online portal, waiting the 14-day statutory period, and then filing the formal application. The differences are in the forms and supporting documents required.

For Probate (deceased had a valid Will):

• Form 3.1 — Originating Application
• Form 3.4 — Grant of Probate (prepared in duplicate)
• Form 3.11 — Affidavit of Applicant (executor confirms they are the person named, the Will is valid, and the estate value)
• Form 3.14 — Affidavit of Search (confirms no previous grant issued)
• The original Will
• The original Death Certificate

For Letters of Administration (no valid Will):

• Form 3.3 — Originating Application
• Form 3.6 — Letters of Administration (prepared in duplicate)
• Form 3.13 — Affidavit of Applicant (confirms the applicant's relationship to the deceased and entitlement to apply)
• Form 3.14 — Affidavit of Search
• The Death Certificate
• Possibly Form 3.21 — Administration Bond (a financial guarantee required in some intestate cases where there is no Will specifying the administrator)

The filing fees are identical and follow the same tiered schedule based on the gross estate value: estates under $50,000 attract no filing fee; estates between $50,000 and $250,000 incur $1,124 for the 2025/2026 financial year.

The administration bond: an extra step sometimes required for letters of administration

In some intestate administrations, the Supreme Court will require the administrator to file a bond — essentially a financial guarantee that the estate will be properly administered and beneficiaries protected. The bond requirement is more likely when the administrator is not the sole beneficiary, there are multiple beneficiaries with competing interests, or the court has reason to require additional protection.

Where a bond is required, Form 3.21 must be filed, and the administrator typically needs to arrange surety from an approved bonding company or provide personal surety supported by a guarantor with sufficient assets. This adds time and cost to the letters of administration process. It is not required in the majority of cases, but administrators in complex intestate situations should be aware it exists.

Which one do you need?

If the deceased left a Will that appears valid, and you are the executor named in that Will, you are applying for probate.

If the deceased left no Will, you are applying for letters of administration.

If the deceased left a Will but the named executor has died, renounced their role, or lacks capacity, you apply for letters of administration (specifically, "letters of administration with the Will annexed" — an application that adopts the Will's distribution instructions but grants authority to someone other than the named executor).

For a step-by-step guide to each application path — including annotated form guidance and the exact documents you need to gather — the ACT Estate Settlement Guide is available at /au/australian-capital-territory/estate-settlement/.

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