"What if?"

If you ask a lawyer for a quote to handle probate, it will probably be for thousands of dollars and it will probably be accompanied by "what ifs" that are intended to frighten you into employing them. Two common "what-ifs" are:

• "What if your application is rejected?"
• "What if you make a mistake?"
  

Once you have handled your own probate application you will know that these "what ifs" mean nothing.

 

Just in case you hear them though, here are the answers:

What if your application is rejected?

Rejecting applications is not the Probate Office's purpose in life. Its purpose is to accept applications, and if an application is not immediately acceptable it asks the applicant to provide further information to make it acceptable.

 

It is almost unheard of for an application to be "rejected" outright, and if it is, the usual reason is that the Will has some serious fault that makes it impossible for a reasonable person to accept that it represents the last wishes of the Willmaker. An army of lawyers could not change that.

What if you make a mistake?

When you follow our DIY Probate Kit you are not likely to be making "mistakes", but even if you did the result in almost all cases is that you would be asked for further detail.

That would not mean that your application has failed - merely that you are asked for further detail on your road to success.

 

Our Probate Kit reflects 30 years of probate experience, so it alerts you to things that you need to be careful about. Our Probate Kit users have an extremely high "first time success rate".

 

So forget about the "scare-talk" - it's not the way things are.

If there are family disputes

The only time you might need to think about consulting lawyers is if there are disputes about the Will and who gets what.

Such disputes tend to be accompanied by "posturing" (empty threats to "challenge the Will"). Such threats are usually not acted on, but if stroppy family members start sending letters of demand from lawyers, then we ourselves would suggest that it makes sense to seek advice about how to handle the demands.

 

Some disputes start with a demand to see the Will. Here is a list of those who have a right to see the Will. (The list opens in a new window).