How Long Do You Have to Contest a Will in Australia?

Is There a Time Limit to Contest a Will?

Yes, family provision claims have fixed statutory deadlines, with different periods and starting events across Australia. These deadlines govern an application for provision from an estate. They do not determine every dispute about a will.

People sometimes call this the statute of limitations to contest a will. The relevant deadline comes from the jurisdiction’s succession or family provision legislation, rather than a single national limitation period.

A challenge to the will’s validity asks which document the court can admit to probate. It follows probate procedure, including caveats before a grant and proceedings to revoke a grant afterwards. Delay and distribution still affect the practical position. The table below concerns family provision applications.

This article assumes eligibility. Use who can contest a will if that question also needs an answer.

Time Limits in Each State and Territory

The usual filing period ranges from three months after a grant in Tasmania to twelve months after death in NSW. Each row identifies the event to record in your file.

South Australia’s transitional provisions preserve proceedings already commenced under the repealed Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1972. Check which Act governs an existing proceeding.

Queensland’s Notice and Filing Periods

In Queensland, give the executor signed written notice of the intended claim within six months after death. File the application within nine months. Section 41(8) sets the filing period and permits the court to direct otherwise.

The six-month notice period comes from the executor’s distribution protection under s 44. Notice alone does not file the claim or extend the nine-month period. If notice has been given, notify the executor that proceedings have commenced before the nine-month protection point, or serve the application.

Counting From Death: A NSW Example

In this hypothetical NSW matter, the client instructs you eight months after death. Subtract eight months from the twelve-month filing period: four months remain. Probate granted two months earlier does not restart the period. An intended distribution requires separate attention even while those four months remain.

Counting From the Grant: A Victorian Example

In this hypothetical Victorian matter, probate is granted five months after death. Add six months to the grant event: the ordinary deadline falls eleven months after death. If instructions arrive two months after the grant, four months remain. Counting six months from death would produce the wrong deadline.

Calculate the actual calendar deadline from the confirmed event in each real matter. Allow time to file before the final day and check the court’s rules for a deadline falling on a non-business day.

Can You Contest a Will After Probate?

Yes, a grant of probate does not by itself end the right to bring a family provision claim. In NSW, the twelve-month period continues from death. In Victoria, the six-month period starts at the grant. Distribution and any extension requirement must also be checked.

A family provision application can be made before probate in NSW under s 58(1). Queensland s 41(8) also allows the court to hear an application before a grant. Protect a death-based deadline without waiting for the executor to obtain probate. Tasmania’s s 11 expressly allows a summons before the grant as well.

A probate caveat addresses a disputed grant. It does not preserve a family provision filing deadline. The NSW Supreme Court’s contested proceedings guidance distinguishes these claims and identifies Part 78 of the Supreme Court Rules 1970 for caveats.

For a validity dispute, lodge an appropriate caveat while a grant is still pending. After a grant, seek its revocation through contested probate proceedings. Victoria’s caveat procedure is in Order 8 of its Administration and Probate Rules. Queensland’s rules cover caveats in Part 7 and revocation claims in Part 8.

Secure the deadline before moving to the wider steps to contest a will.

Finding the Date the Clock Started

Confirm the death date from the death certificate and the grant date from the court-issued grant. A notice that someone intends to apply for probate proves neither that a grant exists nor when it was made.

Ask the executor in writing for the grant date and a copy of the grant. Request confirmation of any distributions already made or proposed. Diary the filing deadline on the day you receive the information, with an earlier reminder for instructions and preparation.

For death-based periods, enter a protective diary date as soon as you know the death date. Do not postpone it while waiting for probate information.

Once the Estate Has Been Distributed

Distribution can reduce the property available for a claim and can protect the executor from personal liability. Expiry of the filing period alone does not establish that every distribution is protected.

In NSW, s 93 protection can apply after six months from death when the required notice of intended distribution has been published. The notice must allow at least thirty days. Distribution must follow the notice period, with no notice of an application or intended application. The NSW Supreme Court explains the notice’s protective purpose.

In Victoria, s 99A protects proper distribution after six months from the grant where the relevant application notice has not been received. A signed notice of intention lapses after three months unless an application is made. It cannot be renewed. Giving notice does not extend the filing period.

Queensland s 44 protects proper distribution from six months after death without signed written notice of a claim or intended claim. Where intention notice was received, the nine-month protection depends on the absence of written commencement notice or service of the application.

After distribution, distinguish a claim against remaining estate property from recovery of property paid to beneficiaries. Executor protection does not automatically answer whether a beneficiary’s distribution can be reached. For example, NT s 20 permits orders affecting distributed property for an application filed within its twelve-month period, subject to protected maintenance distributions.

An extension application must precede final distribution in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. ACT and NT prohibit an extension application after lawful full distribution. Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian extension provisions also protect distributions made before the extension application.

NSW has limited notional estate powers that can reach some property outside the estate, including property already distributed, when the statutory conditions are met.

Applying to Bring a Claim Out of Time

A late claim needs the jurisdiction’s extension power, and an explanation supported by evidence. In NSW, s 58 requires sufficient cause unless the parties consent to the late application. The court weighs the circumstances together.

Relevant considerations include the following matters.

• How late the application is and why the claimant did not act sooner.
• Whether beneficiaries changed their position and would suffer prejudice because of the delay.
• Whether property has been distributed and what remains available.
• The strength of the proposed claim and the conduct of the people involved.

A year after death can still fall inside a grant-based filing period if probate was obtained later. In NSW, the ordinary period ends twelve months after death. In Queensland, the nine-month period has already expired. Several years or a decade after death requires more than identifying an extension power.

In Morgan v Black [2023] NSWSC 1073, the application was filed more than three years and seven months after death. The court refused an extension. Long periods of inactivity lacked a satisfactory explanation, and the surviving partner had changed her financial position.

Pethers v Pethers [2025] NSWSC 389 concerned a claim brought more than a decade after death. The court refused the extension. The claimant’s belief that her uncle would later provide for her did not establish sufficient cause in the circumstances. Emotional and financial difficulties did not explain the whole ensuing delay.

These decisions show why a duration alone cannot establish prospects. Account for the entire delay, including the period after advice became available. An explanation for the first few months leaves later inactivity unanswered.

Prepare an affidavit recording when the claimant learned of the death and the will, advice sought and actions taken afterwards. Attach correspondence and any medical or other records supporting the explanation. Include evidence of distribution and beneficiary prejudice where available. Keep the substantive family provision evidence separate from the chronology explaining lateness.

How Long a Will Contest Takes

A will contest has no fixed completion period. Filing protects the deadline. Resolution depends on the court timetable, the evidence needed and whether the parties settle.

The usual sequence is filing, a directions hearing, evidence preparation and mediation. If settlement fails, the court sets preparation for a final hearing. The NSW family provision practice note requires early mediation unless otherwise ordered.

Settlement at mediation can end the matter before a hearing. Justice Lindsay’s published observations describe most NSW family provision claims settling, often after mediation. That observation supports preparing for settlement, without promising that a particular matter will resolve at mediation.

Disputes about estate value or transfers before death can lengthen evidence preparation. Missing statement periods and movements across several accounts take time to resolve. Treat the filing deadline as urgent even when financial investigations continue.

When statement review is delaying that investigation, FinTrace saves professional hours by following transfers across supplied accounts and identifying suspicious transactions. The service returns a searchable ledger and a written report with direct references to the supporting PDF pages. Lawyers and forensic accountants can spend their time interpreting the findings and progressing the matter.

Record the claim deadline and the evidence timetable separately. Preserve the claim within time, then organise the outstanding financial work around the court’s directions and mediation date.