Increased Probate Office fees come into effect today!

Significant changes to the Supreme Court of Victoria’s Probate Office fees come into force today, Monday 18 November.

The changes include:

• increased estate filing fees based on the value of the estate;
• a new fee for re-advertising applications for grants of representation;
• a new fee for filing an amended originating motion in an application; and
• advertising an intention to apply for grants of representation i.e. grants of probate, which are no longer published on the Supreme Court website.

Increased application filing fees

The most significant of these changes are to the filing fees for applications for grants of representation. A significantly higher fee is now required to be paid to the Court for all deceased estates over $250,000 for which a grant of representation is required.

A comparison between the previous filing fees and the new fees is as follows:

Fees for advertisements and amended originating motions

While not as significant as the increases to the application filing fees, the Court has made changes with respect to the way in which advertisements for applications are published, together with increasing the fee for the publishing of advertisements, and introducing fees for the re-publishing of advertisements and the filing of amended originating motions.

The changes are as follows:

• Advertising a person’s notice of intention to apply for a grant of representation for a deceased estate are to be published on RedCrest-Probate.
• The advertisement fee has been increased from $26.10 to $35.90.
• Re-advertising a notice of intention now attracts a fee of $49.00, which is up from $26.10.
• Filing an amended originating motion as part of an application for a grant of representation when requested to do so by the Probate Office now attracts a fee of $49.00, whereas previously no fee was required

Why are the Probate Office fees changing?

The Supreme Court of Victoria’s civil fees, including Probate Office fees, are set by government regulations. The Victorian Government’s Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) led a review of fees charged for services provided by the Probate Office.

Public consultation on the proposed amendments to the Probate Office’s fees were sought, and 94% of responses were opposed to the changes.

The changes have been implemented despite this overwhelming opposition, and the DJCS have advised that the reasons for doing so are:

• They will see Victoria continue to charge less for probate fees than states such as NSW and SA for estates valued at less than $2 million, which account for 89% of all estates.
• They will reduce fees for people with a lower capacity to pay, especially for estates valued at less than $250,000.
• They better reflect the private benefit that people receive from using the court system. Where there is more work done, or greater benefit, the fees should reflect this (we note the size of the estate does not increase the workload for the Probate Office).
• A tiered system of fees strikes a balance between ensuring financial sustainability of the court system and ensuring fairness for all court users regardless of estate size.

Don’t be caught off guard, take note of the Probate Office fee increases.

Contact us

If you need assistance with an application for a grant of probate, letters of administration or a reseal of a grant from another jurisdiction, please contact a member of our Wills, Trusts & Estates team.