If you have been appointed in a Will as the executor or as the administrator of a deceased estate dealing with land, terminology your solicitor uses may be unfamiliar to you.
What’s a Transmission Application?
If the deceased left a Will appointing you as the executor, you need to apply for a grant of probate from Supreme Court of NSW. A grant of probate acknowledges the validity of the deceased’s Will and authorises you to administer the estate.
If there is no Will, the next of kin of the deceased needs to apply for letters of administration. This document issued by the Supreme Court of NSW authorises the next of kin (known as the “Administrator”) to administer the estate according to the intestacy rules (in Chapter 4 of the Succession Act 2006 (NSW).
Once the executor/administrator has obtained probate/letters of administration, the land can be dealt with.
In NSW a person can hold Land in one of three ways:
- as an individual;
- jointly with another person, or
- as tenants in common with one or more persons.
These holdings are all dealt with differently as part of a deceased estate.
Transmission to the executor
If the deceased did not leave the land to a beneficiary in his/her Will, the land must be transmitted to the executor by way of a transmission application to the executor and registered with NSW Land Registry Services via an electronic lodgement network operator (ELNO) such as the PEXA platform. Registering a transmission application enables the executor to sell the land. Once sold, the funds of the estate will be distributed to the beneficiaries.
Transmission to a beneficiary
If the deceased left a property to a beneficiary in his/her Will, it will be transferred to the beneficiary by way of a Transmission Application to Beneficiary. Upon the payment of a $50.00 stamp duty fee and registration fees of the Transmission Application to Beneficiary with NSW Land Registry Services via the PEXA platform, the land will be transmitted into the name of the beneficiary.
What’s a Notice of Death?
If the land was held by the deceased jointly with another person, the surviving joint tenant(s) will become the registered proprietor(s). Registering a Notice of Death form with evidence of the death certificate of the deceased with NSW Land Registry Services via an ELNO transfers the land to the surviving joint tenant(s).
How can we help?
Contact us if you or someone you are an executor of a deceased estate we can help you to transfer estate property to the executor or to the beneficiary.
