General information, not legal advice. An executor’s duties are set by each state’s law and by the will itself. Your state’s public trustee or legal aid service can explain them; links for every state are on the home page.
An executor is whoever the will names to carry out the person’s wishes; in Legal Aid WA’s summary, that means gathering in what the person owned, clearing what they owed, and passing on the rest as the will directs. In NSW the executor can be a family member, a friend, a solicitor, or NSW Trustee and Guardian. The funeral comes early in that work, and in South Australia its bill comes first out of the estate.
The funeral part of the job, as a checklist
Each item is drawn from one state’s own page, named beside it. Most executors will find the same steps in their own state’s guide, but check that guide for the wording that binds you.
- Find the will, and any funeral wishes in it. Where the will records wishes about the funeral or organ donation, Legal Aid WA says it falls to the executor to carry them out.
- Look for papers that might pay for it. Before ringing anyone, the Public Trustee of Queensland suggests gathering the person’s papers: the will, anything about a prepaid funeral, insurance and super policies, and bank details.
- Arrange the funeral. Victoria Legal Aid lists it among the executor’s tasks; Public Trustee Tasmania lists making funeral arrangements; the ACT’s Public Trustee and Guardian describes the executor finding the will and often organising the funeral before getting in touch with beneficiaries.
- Keep the funeral account and receipt. NSW Trustee and Guardian’s document checklist lists the “funeral account and receipt (if it has been paid)” among the estate’s liabilities.
- Pay it from the estate, or be repaid. South Australia ranks reasonable funeral expenses ahead of the estate’s legal costs, tax and other obligations, and other debts. Where the bank can’t pay it from the account, an executor who pays first is reimbursed for a reasonable funeral before other creditors. In Victoria, State Trustees counts the funeral among the costs the executor settles.
- Settle it before anything is handed out. The Public Trustee of Queensland puts the debts and the funeral ahead of any distribution. Legal Aid WA notes that assets sometimes have to be sold to meet the debts.
- Show it in the accounts. State Trustees expects the executor to show the funeral, the debts and any claims in the estate’s accounts, and to give beneficiaries a statement of every transaction.
If you’ve been named but can’t take it on
Being named in a will is not the same as having to act. Public Trustee Tasmania is clear that the law doesn’t oblige you to accept. What happens next is set out differently in each state:
- New South Wales
A named executor who would rather not act can lodge a Renunciation of Probate form with the Supreme Court of NSW, but not after probate has been granted. If no one else is named to take over, the role may go to a lawyer, an accountant or NSW Trustee and Guardian.
- Western Australia
If you decline, any other executor the will names takes over; if there is none, the Supreme Court can be asked to appoint an administrator. Legal Aid WA warns that declining can’t later be undone, and that an executor who is struggling can turn to the Public Trustee for help, or ask it to take over.
- Victoria
Where a will names no executor, Victoria Legal Aid explains that the court usually needs to appoint an administrator, who has the same responsibilities as an executor.
Paying for help, and being paid
Legal advice for the estate is an estate cost. In Victoria, the cost of the lawyer comes out of the estate. In Western Australia, the estate meets the executor’s necessary costs, such as an accountant or valuer, and reasonable legal fees.
The executor’s own time is a different question. In Western Australia an executor is paid only if the will provides for it or every beneficiary agrees, and the Supreme Court can be asked to decide.
How long it tends to take
The funeral is usually settled long before the estate is. In NSW, the application for probate or letters of administration usually goes in no later than 6 months after the person died. Legal Aid WA treats about a year as a reasonable time to wind things up. The Public Trustee of Queensland puts the usual time to finalise an estate at around 12 months on average, and points to a 6 month waiting period, set by law, for anyone who wants to contest or claim on the will. That gap is why the bank account and the order of payment matter so much in the first weeks.