Apply for Probate in Adelaide

Lodging an Adelaide probate application through CourtSA

The Adelaide Probate Registry

Probate for a South Australian estate is granted by the Supreme Court of South Australia. The Probate Registry is on the lower ground floor of the Sir Samuel Way Building, 241–259 Victoria Square, Adelaide SA 5000. Every lodgement is made electronically through CourtSA, the Court’s online system — but the original Will still has to reach the Registry in Victoria Square, either delivered in person or sent by registered post.

South Australia has no advertisement step

Unlike New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, South Australia does not require you to publish a notice of intention to apply before lodging. There is no newspaper notice, no Gazette notice and no court website notice, which means no publication fee and no waiting period to build into your timeline. An Adelaide application can be lodged as soon as the original Will, the death certificate and the asset information are in hand. Our South Australian probate guide walks through the whole sequence.

The forms an Adelaide application uses

A standard Adelaide application is made up of an Originating Application – Probate (Form PROB1), the Executor’s Oath (Form PROB26) and an Affidavit of Assets and Liabilities (Form PROB46). Where the Will is informal or irregular, an Affidavit of Due Execution (Form PROB35) may be needed as well. These are lodged through CourtSA rather than filed over a counter.

Getting your oath witnessed in Adelaide

The Executor’s Oath and any supporting affidavit must be sworn or affirmed in front of an authorised witness — a lawyer, a barrister, a notary public or a Justice of the Peace. South Australia has JP services at council libraries and community centres across metropolitan Adelaide, and our solicitors can also witness the documents for you.

How long an Adelaide grant takes

The Supreme Court of South Australia indicates that a straightforward application lodged in the correct form should issue in under four weeks. In practice, Adelaide grants commonly take around four to eight weeks, and more complex applications take longer. Because there is no advertising period to serve first, South Australia is often the fastest of the mainland jurisdictions from instruction to grant.

Marking the Will — an SA-specific trap

South Australia has particular requirements about how the original Will is to be marked and provided to the Registry after lodgement. Getting this wrong is one of the more common causes of an Adelaide requisition, so follow the directions CourtSA gives you carefully, and keep a certified copy of the Will before you send the original.

Adelaide property in the estate

Where the estate includes an Adelaide property, the dealing is lodged with Land Services SA once the grant issues. A property held as joint tenants passes to the surviving owner, while a solely owned property or an interest held as tenants in common needs a transmission application before the executor can transfer or sell it. A South Australian conveyancer or property lawyer handles the lodgement.

If there is no Will

If the deceased left no Will, the closest next of kin applies for letters of administration through the same CourtSA process, using the Oath of Administrator forms instead of the Executor’s Oath. Entitlement to apply and to inherit is set by the South Australian intestacy rules. See our South Australian letters of administration guide.

Where we act around Adelaide

We act for executors across metropolitan Adelaide — the CBD and North Adelaide, the eastern suburbs through Norwood, Burnside and Unley, the inner north through Prospect and Enfield, the west through Port Adelaide, Henley Beach and Glenelg, the south through Marion, Mitcham and Brighton, and the north-east through Tea Tree Gully and Salisbury — as well as the Adelaide Hills, the Fleurieu Peninsula and regional South Australia.