When a person dies owning property the law requires that someone be appointed to act as the Legal Personal Representative of the deceased's estate to take charge and control of the deceased's property as Trustee of the estate, pay the deceased's creditors for their debts left behind from any cash in the estate, and sell or transfer assets to those persons legally entitled to a share of the deceased's assets.

The power to appoint someone to be the Legal Personal Representative of a deceased estate rests with the Supreme Court of Victoria in its' Probate Jurisdiction.

If someone dies leaving a Will then the person entitled to apply to the Supreme Court for a Grant of Probate of the Will to them is the person chosen and named by the deceased in their Will to be the Executor of the Will and Trustee of the estate.

If someone dies without a Will ("intestate") then any person with a legitimate interest in the estate can apply to the Court be appointed as the Administrator of the estate. The Court would normally expect a close relative of the deceased (spouse, child etc.) to apply to be the Administrator.

Upon the making of a successful application the Court issues to the Applicant an official Court document, either a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, which is conclusive legal proof that the person named in the document is lawfully entitled to represent the deceased estate and deal with (transfer and dispose of) the assets of the deceased.

Preparation of the legal documents required to apply to the Supreme Court to be appointed the Legal Personal Representative of a deceased estate can be a difficult and complicated task, especially if uncommon circumstances apply to the deceased's Will or the estate. Buller McLeod has years of experience in preparing applications for a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration.

Apart from obtaining the necessary Grant or Letters from the Court the other important area in which a lawyer can assist a person appointed to represent an estate is in locating, identifying, calling in and facilitating the sale and distribution of the assets of the estate including the preparation and execution of any legal documents needed to do this - this is called estate administration. Again, Buller McLeod have years of experience in estate administration and we are only too happy to discuss your needs in this area, and how we can help, on a no obligation basis. Please feel free to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .