12 Dangerous Stresses of Administering a Deceased Estate in SA

12 Dangerous Stresses of Administering a Deceased Estate in SA

Inheritance Claims & Contested Estates, Probate, Probate & Estate Administration
12 Dangerous Stresses of Administering a Deceased Estate in SA

Sometimes the Executor of a Deceased Estate gets pressure from family and other beneficiaries to do questionable things in the administration of the Estate. 

Here are a few of the higher-risk demands frequently directed at nervous Executors by pushy relatives:

1. Obtain a Grant Of Probate As Quickly As Possible

Sometimes relatives and other potential beneficiaries might push an Executor to go faster than they should.  Almost always, those beneficiaries will have their own interests at heart, without necessarily considering your rights, duties and responsibilities as Executor, nor the other interests attaching to a Deceased Estate.  A prudent Executor might do well to remember the adage: Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick 2.

In South Australia, generally Probate cannot be applied for until at least 28 days after death.  In certain circumstances an urgent application can be made faster than this, however special reasons need to be proven.

Genders and Partners | Probate and Estate Administration - Lawyer Adelaide

Probate and Estate Administration Adelaide: Some Interesting Cases

Inheritance Claims & Contested Estates, Probate, Probate & Estate Administration

Estate Planning: Some Interesting Cases

Hornby v Cavenagh

Supreme Court of NSW

This was a claim under the New South Wales equivalent of the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act. The plaintiff was a niece of the deceased and sought to show that she was an eligible person to make a claim under the Act. To satisfy the requirement of an eligible person, the plaintiff had to show that there was some dependency on the deceased, and that she was a member of the deceased’s household.

Although the plaintiff had resided in the same household as the deceased for four years during the 1980s and was partly dependent on the deceased in this time, the relationship in the last 12 years of the deceased’s life was not close.