What can Parramatta City Legal Do for you?

At Parramatta City Legal, we specialise in wills, estates, probate, and family provisions. Preparing a will is crucial to ensure your assets are distributed according to your wishes after your passing. We can help you draft a legally binding will and appoint a trusted executor to manage your estate.

Probate is the process of proving a will, and our experienced team can guide you through obtaining a grant of probate from the Supreme Court of NSW. We assist in preparing the necessary documentation and determining if probate is required based on the deceased’s estate. In some cases, a formal grant may not be necessary, and our solicitors can help make that value judgment.

If you believe you have been unfairly excluded from a will or received an inadequate share, you may contest the will. Disputes can arise over the validity of the will or the allocation of assets. Our skilled solicitors and barristers can successfully represent your family provision claim and provide a free initial consultation.

At Parra City Legal, we also offer assistance in drafting wills, enduring powers of attorney, enduring guardianship appointments, discretionary testamentary trusts, probate and estate administration, letters of administration, and guardianship board applications. Trust our expertise to ensure your legal matters are handled professionally and efficiently.

Preparing a Will

It is vitally important that you prepare a Will and Testament to ensure that your financial affairs are dealt with in accordance with your wishes once you are gone. A person who leaves a Will is called a Testator. When preparing a Will, you will appoint a trusted person (the executor/executrix) to take charge of all your property when you have passed in order to distribute it to your beneficiaries. We can assist you in drafting a binding and provident will.

Probate – “Proving a Will”

Probate is the process whereby a representative of the estate (usually the executor) makes formal application to the Supreme Court of NSW to have the will proven with a grant of Probate. This then enables the executor to gather and coordinate all the deceased’s assets, pay off any outstanding liabilities prescribed under the will and divide all the assets amongst the beneficiaries in accordance with the wishes of the Testator.

At Parramatta City Legal, we have many years of experience in obtaining grants of Probate from the Supreme Court. We can assist you in preparing the Summons for Probate, drafting the affidavit in support and furnishing all the necessary documentary evidence to the Court to facilitate the grant.

Upon successfully making application to the Court, it will issue a formal Probate document sealed by the Court. The executor/executrix can then provide the grant to various asset holders (for example, a financial institution or NSW Lands Registry Services) to give him/her the legal power to deal with the deceased’s property.

One should also be mindful that Probate is not compulsory. Not all cases warrant a formal application to the Supreme Court for such a grant. For example, the deceased may have left a residential home as a joint tenant and some modest savings. In that instance, a separatee application can be made to NSW Land Registry Services for the deceased’s share of the property to automatically pass to the surviving joint tenant (usually the souse). In most cases, for small amounts of money, the banks will not require a formal grant of Probate to allow an executor access to the deceased’s funds.

You should consult with a solicitor in order to make a value judgment as to whether a grant is necessary at all.

Contesting or challenging a will

If you have been left out of a Will or received an unfair share of the Estate in the Will you may contest, challenge or dispute the Will. You can contest a Will by either challenging the validity of the Will or contesting the amount of money you have been left under the Will.

Disputes about the validity of Wills or entitlements under Wills arise in a number of circumstances.

On some occasions, disappointed beneficiaries (or other persons including the executor named in the Will) approach the Court in respect of the validity of the Will. The circumstances might include:

  • Where there are two Wills made close together.
  • Where there is a doubt about whether the testator has actually executed the Will.
  • Where there is a degree of doubt about whether the testator/ had the capacity to make the Will which is the subject of the dispute.

At Parramatta City Legal, we have skilled and experienced Solicitors and Barristers to successfully run your family provision claim. Contact us now for a free initial consultation. Moreover, we are suitably competent and proficient in assisting you with the following probate and estate matters:

  • Drafting Wills
  • Enduring Powers of Attorney
  • Enduring Guardianship Appointments
  • Discretionary Testamentary Trusts
  • Probate and Estate Administration
  • Letters of Administration
  • Guardianship Board Applications