Letters of Administration

A Grant of Letters of Administration is a document issued by the Supreme Court which provides the Court’s recognition of and authority to the person named in the Grant to administer the estate of a deceased person. They are called an ‘administrator’, which is equivalent to the position of an executor in a Will.

There are many different types of LOA, each required in specific circumstances. The two most common situations are:

• A person dies without a Will - you will need Letters of Administration on Intestacy in order to administer the deceased person’s estate; or
• A person has a Will, but they do not appoint an executor, or the appointed executor/s cannot act (for example if they have all died or do not want to act as executor/s) - you will need to apply for Letters of Administration with the Will annexed.

The administrator then deals with the estate in accordance with the intestacy rules of QLD, NSW or VIC, or in accordance with the Will annexed.

This will depend on a few factors. If a person died without a Will but does have an estate that needs to be administered, then a Grant of Letters of Administration on Intestacy will usually be required to administer the estate. If there is a Will, then it can largely depend on the assets of the estate and the institutions you need to deal with (that is, whether they will release assets to you without a Grant or not). For the protection of the person who is administering an estate, we would usually recommend a Grant be obtained. You can read more about the risk of acting (here) and estate claims (here).

The process is similar to obtaining a grant of Probate but with some additional requirements, given that there is no Will, or a Will where there is no nominated executor. It also requires an application to court along with supporting documentation and in addition, the law will prescribe who is entitled to apply to be the administrator.

Letters of administration costs will be quoted and provided as a fixed fee during your initial consultation with one of our expert letters of administration lawyers.

The entitlement to apply for a Grant of Letters of Administration (LOA) is hierarchical and set by legislation in each State.

For Letters of Administration on Intestacy this generally follows the concept of ‘next of kin’, that is, firstly a spouse, then children, and so on. For situations where there is a Will, it is usually determined by the persons who are receiving the control or largest benefit of the residuary (balance) of the person’s estate.

It is important that the person with the highest entitlement to apply is the person who is applying for Letters of Administration or, if not, you have taken appropriate steps to ‘clear off’ anyone with a higher right to apply.

When someone dies without having prepared a Will, they are said to die ‘intestate’, and this creates an ‘intestate estate’.

An intestate estate passes to family members as set by the legislation/laws which are applicable depending on where the person died and also where their assets are held. An intestate estate can get even more complicated where the deceased person has assets in different States and Countries. This is because the laws are different in each State or Country.

An intestate estate is likely to require a grant of Letters of administration and legal assistance is advised to ensure the estate is properly administered.