Succession Act: State Laws and Estate Routes

Which Succession Law Governs the Question?

Identify the deceased’s connections and the question you need to answer before selecting a succession law. The place where a client instructs you does not, by itself, settle the applicable law.

Record the deceased’s domicile, habitual residence and nationality, together with where the will was executed. List the location and ownership of each asset. Establish whether a grant exists and which court issued it. These facts help separate jurisdiction to administer assets from the law governing a particular succession question.

Four questions need separate treatment:

• Will validity asks whether a document can take effect as the deceased’s will, including execution and any relevant capacity issue.
• Intestacy determines entitlement to estate property that is not effectively disposed of by a will.
• Family provision concerns an eligible person’s application for provision from an estate.
• Administration concerns the grant, the personal representative’s authority and the handling of estate assets.

A succession statute is only one source within that framework. General law can also govern an issue, including testamentary capacity. A provision about formal execution does not resolve every ground on which a will might be challenged.

Where the deceased’s connections or assets cross borders, obtain specialist choice-of-law analysis for the particular issue. For example, Queensland’s foreign-connection provisions address formal execution through several connecting factors. They do not establish a single law for every issue in the estate.

Succession Act NSW: Wills, Intestacy and Provision

The NSW Succession Act places wills in Chapter 2, family provision in Chapter 3 and intestacy in Chapter 4. Use that structure to locate the substantive question, then identify the procedure for the relief sought.

Estate question	Statutory starting point	What to locate
Was the will properly executed?	Succession Act 2006, Chapter 2	Section 6 execution requirements and section 8 dispensing power where relevant
What does a will dispose of or mean?	Succession Act 2006, Chapter 2	The construction provisions and any applicable general law
Who inherits property on intestacy?	Succession Act 2006, Chapter 4	The relevant relationship definitions and distribution provisions
Can a person seek family provision?	Succession Act 2006, Chapter 3	Eligibility, the court’s power and the application requirements
Who obtains a grant and administers the estate?	Probate and Administration Act 1898 and Supreme Court Rules 1970, Part 78	The grant sought, evidence, notices and applicable procedure

Open the official Succession Act at the relevant chapter. The court separately explains intestacy and letters of administration and contested probate and family provision proceedings.

The NSW probate application guidance identifies the accompanying administration legislation and Part 78 rules. Keep those sources beside the Succession Act. For the representative’s practical work after identifying the regime, see executor duties.

Section 54: Access to the Will

Section 54 of the Succession Act 2006 concerns access to a deceased person’s will. Direct the request to the person with possession or control, identifying the deceased and the requester’s qualifying category. Request inspection, a copy or both, at the requester’s expense.

The Supreme Court’s will-access guidance identifies the eligible categories. They include people mentioned in the will and beneficiaries under an earlier will. The deceased’s surviving spouse, de facto partner and issue qualify, as do a parent or guardian. Other categories cover intestacy beneficiaries, certain minors’ parents or guardians and people with estate claims. The list also includes the deceased’s former estate manager and enduring attorney.

The statutory definition extends to revoked or purported wills, parts and copies. A request for the will does not confer access to estate accounts or the solicitor’s privileged file. Those documents require their own legal basis. If access is refused, consider court production under section 54(3) and the applicable procedure.

For example, a fictional deceased’s daughter asks the solicitor holding the will for a copy. Her status as issue supports the section 54 request. A demand for every estate bank statement needs a separate entitlement or procedural basis.

Queensland’s Succession Act

Queensland’s Succession Act 1981 covers administration within the Act as well as wills, intestacy and family provision. Its part numbers differ from NSW’s chapter structure.

Estate question	Queensland starting point	Particular navigation point
Making or interpreting a will	Part 2	Execution in section 10 and dispensing power in section 18
Distribution on intestacy	Part 3 and Schedule 2	Definitions and the distribution rules, including partial intestacy
Family provision	Part 4	Definitions in section 40 and the court’s power in section 41
Administration of the estate	Part 5	Devolution, representative powers and duties, including section 52

Read the Queensland Succession Act with its definitions. A relationship description in instructions needs testing against the definition for the relevant provision. Part 7 contains transitional provisions.

For probate procedure, use Chapter 15 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999, alongside the court’s applicable directions and forms. A NSW probate precedent cannot establish the Queensland filing requirements. Separate the substantive power under the Act from the procedural steps needed to invoke it.

The formal citation is Succession Act 1981 (Qld). “Qld” identifies Queensland, while 1981 identifies the Act, not the version of its provisions. Open the official compilation applicable to the matter before choosing a section.

Section 33Z: Inspection and Certified Copies

Section 33Z requires a person holding or controlling a deceased testator’s will to allow an entitled person inspection or a certified copy when asked. Reasonable expenses apply to providing the certified copy. If the will is lost, stolen or destroyed, subsection (2) addresses access through a person holding or controlling a copy.

Entitled people include those mentioned in the will and earlier-will beneficiaries. The list also covers the testator’s spouse, parent or issue, intestacy beneficiaries and specified minors’ parents or guardians. Creditors and other estate claimants qualify, as do people who may apply under section 41. Read section 33Z(4) with the Act’s relationship definitions.

NSW section 54 and Queensland section 33Z have different lists and document wording. Queensland expressly addresses certification and access to a surviving copy where the will is lost. NSW expressly includes the deceased’s former estate manager and enduring attorney. Establish eligibility under the applicable provision instead of copying the other state’s category list.

Victoria’s Administration and Probate Act

In Victoria, the Administration and Probate Act 1958 contains administration, intestacy and family provision law. Will-making rules sit in the separate Wills Act 1997. There is no Victorian Act titled Succession Act that replaces this combination of legislation and court rules.

Estate issue	Governing instrument	Official entry point
Will execution and dispensing with formalities	Wills Act 1997, Part 2	Wills Act, including sections 7 and 9
Grants and estate administration	Administration and Probate Act 1958, Part I	Administration and Probate Act
Distribution on intestacy	Administration and Probate Act 1958, Part IA	Part IA’s application, definitions and distribution divisions
Family provision	Administration and Probate Act 1958, Part IV	Definitions in section 90, application under section 90A and court powers under section 91
Probate application procedure	Supreme Court (Administration and Probate) Rules 2023	Current probate rules

Part IA and Part IV have their own definitions. Read them before applying a family relationship label across the two parts. The Act also contains transitional provisions, which require attention when selecting the law for an older estate.

For a will executed elsewhere, the Wills Act has separate foreign-law provisions. Keep that formal-validity question distinct from the administration court’s authority.

Choose the Statutory Route Before Preparing an Application

Prepare an issue list that names the authority for each proposed application. A single estate can require several routes even when one state’s law governs the questions.

Consider this fictional file. Priya dies domiciled in Victoria with an apartment and bank accounts there. A signed document leaves specified gifts but contains no effective gift of the residue. Her adult child asks about further provision. No grant has issued.

Question on Priya’s file	Source to open	What the solicitor records
Can the signed document take effect as a will?	Wills Act 1997, including sections 7 and 9 where relevant, plus applicable general law	Execution evidence and the precise validity issue
Who takes the undisposed residue?	Administration and Probate Act 1958, Part IA	The partial intestacy and relevant family relationships
Can the child seek provision?	Administration and Probate Act 1958, Part IV	Eligibility, the statutory test and the applicable time limit
Which grant is required?	Administration and Probate Act 1958 and the probate rules	The proposed representative, grant type and supporting evidence

The child’s provision enquiry does not itself establish invalidity of the will. Read who can contest a will for the separate eligibility question. If a Queensland property later appears in the inventory, reopen the jurisdiction and recognition analysis before assuming the Victorian grant resolves the additional asset.

Western Australian Instruments by Issue

Western Australia also divides succession questions between separate Acts. Use the official legislation register to select the applicable compilation for each instrument.

Estate issue	Western Australian instrument	Starting point
Making and interpreting a will	Wills Act 1970	Wills Act entry
Grants and administration	Administration Act 1903	Grant powers and representative duties, alongside applicable probate rules
Intestacy distribution	Administration Act 1903	The relevant distribution provisions and relationship definitions
Family provision	Family Provision Act 1972	Family Provision Act entry

A request for “section 54 of the Succession Act” is incomplete. Establish the jurisdiction, full Act title, applicable compilation and legal issue before using the number. A section number can concern a different subject in another state.

Before preparing the application, complete the following checks:

1. Record the applicable jurisdiction for each issue and the facts supporting that choice.
2. Save the current compilation and identify the version applicable to the estate’s events.
3. Read the definitions in both the Act and the particular part.
4. Identify the applicant’s standing and the statutory power supporting the requested order.
5. Match that power to the procedural rule, practice direction and required evidence.
6. Diary the limitation period and its trigger. Read the official extension and distribution provisions where relevant.
7. Check the application and transitional provisions before relying on the current text for an older estate.

Finish the file note with a separate authority for each issue. That gives the application a defined legal basis before you assemble its evidence.

South Australia’s Succession Act

South Australia’s Succession Act 2023 consolidates wills, probate, estate administration, intestacy and family provision. Its official current text supplies the following starting points.

Estate question	Part of the Act	What to locate
Will-making, construction or formal validity	Part 2	Applicable execution, construction or foreign-will provisions
Granting or revoking probate or administration	Part 3	Court powers and the proposed grant
Managing the deceased estate	Part 4	Representative duties and administration powers
Distribution on intestacy	Part 5	Definitions and distribution provisions
Family provision	Part 6	Applicant eligibility, application conditions and court powers

Schedule 3 repeals the former wills, administration and family-provision Acts. Schedule 4 preserves continuation of proceedings commenced under a repealed Act and unresolved before the designated day. Identify when proceedings began and read the applicable savings provisions before replacing an older citation. Check the court’s procedural requirements separately.

Record the operative provision and the reason it applies to the estate’s events before preparing the application.