Ask most people what an executor does and the answer tends to be vague: something about sorting things out. Queensland Courts put it more plainly. Administering an estate often requires a court-issued grant to give someone the legal authority to act. Until that authority exists, the banks, registries and titles office holding the assets generally will not release or transfer anything held in the deceased's name.
Which grant applies depends on the circumstances. Where there is a valid will and the executor named in it is the one seeking authority, that grant is a grant of probate. Where there is a valid will but the named executor cannot or will not act, someone else applies for letters of administration with the will. Where there is no valid will, an application is made for letters of administration and the estate is distributed according to intestacy laws. Three routes, three starting points, and the person holding the will is often the last to learn which one they are on.
Woody Point makes that concrete. The median age here is 53, and 28.1% of residents are aged 65 and over, so for many households the will already exists and the live question is whether the person named in it knows what is coming. A third of the dwellings are flats or apartments, 33.9%, the highest share of the five peninsula localities, with separate houses at 54.4%, the lowest of the five. Unit or house, property held in a sole name is a titled lot that cannot simply be handed over. Around 40% of occupied dwellings are rented, 25.0% carry a mortgage, the lowest mortgaged share of the five, and about a third are owned outright. No single script covers all of that, which is why the Queensland Courts' own wording is that a grant is often required rather than always.
Then there is where it goes. Applications for grants of probate and letters of administration in Queensland are filed in the Supreme Court of Queensland registry. There is no counter for it on the peninsula and no local court that deals with it.
All of that is general information about how Queensland law works, not a service Catton Roderick Lawyers offers. What the firm does offer, in its own words, is help selecting the right executors plus clear written guidance on how to properly care for your estate, prepared alongside the will, while the person you have in mind can still ask questions.
