Executor Commission & Testamentary Expenses Claim

Any reasonable expenses you or any other person incurred from personal funds relating to the Deceased Estate administration and funeral can be reimbursed from the Estate.

• simplyEstate fees for your subscription, tools and services
• legal practitioner fees
• accountant fees
• financial advisor fees
• funeral and related costs
• application and lodgement fees including Supreme Court
• insurance premiums
• valuation fees
• house clearance fees
• cleaning fees
• real estate agent fees
• travel costs and parking fees
• phone costs
• postage fees
• post redirection fees
• document preparation fees including printing, copying and certifying copies etc.

If you used the simplyEstate Testamentary Costs & Executor Expense Tracker (part of the Essential Executor Checklists & Tools Package), you can simply verify again that all the above costs paid by you or a Next of Kin are listed.
Note: You should make sure each claim can be substantiated with a receipt or other official document.

You should provide the complete list of expenses to all the Beneficiaries and request agreement and sign-off to make payment from the 'Estate of the Late' accounts or the Estate account to the person(s) who incurred these.

Where you have engaged any services to assist you with the Deceased Estate administration and have not yet paid these, you should pay them now unless you are disputing charges or have had any other issues with the provider of the services, which you will need to sort out first.

Common services used during a Deceased Estate administration include the ones listed above.

Executors or Administrators may be paid for their pains and troubles caused by the administration of the Deceased Estate where the administration was particularly complicated and time consuming. If you are also a Beneficiary of the Deceased Estate you may not be eligible for commission.

• the Will specifically states the amount paid for Executor services;
• all the Beneficiaries (that have capacity to agree and are aged 18 or more) authorise payment request; or
• an application to the Supreme Court to seek payment is successful.

You should in the first instance discuss compensation for your time and efforts (based on the Executor & Administrator Timesheet (part of Light Executor Checklists & Tools Package)) with the Beneficiaries if the Will specifically states an amount or if all Beneficiaries agree to pay a reasonable amount. If such an agreement is reached, you should request this in writing and signed by all Beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries need to know that if you believe your time and effort warrant compensation and are forced to apply to the Supreme Court, the costs to apply will be paid by the Estate and the distribution of the Estate will be delayed until a decision is made.

• the size and complexity of the Deceased Estate;
• exactly how much time you have spent on what tasks;
• how you organised yourself;
• how many Executors or Administrators shared the workload;
• how much work was delegated to other professionals such as lawyers, accountants, cleaners etc.;
• how you protected the Estate; and
• if there were additional complications such as other claims against the Deceased Estate that you had to defend.

The Supreme court will generally not authorise payment where you were found to have engaged in bad conduct, were dishonest or engaged in fraudulent activities when acting on behalf of the Deceased Estate.
The court may also deem that the pains and trouble were not significant enough to grant payment authorisation.

If the Beneficiaries did not agree to your payment request and you still want to apply to the Supreme Court to seek commission or payment in the relevant state/territory, follow the below process.

Note: Depending on the state/territory, the Supreme Court may request the Statement of Assets & Liabilities or Accounts with an application for compensation or commission. If you have not lodged these at the time of applying for Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, you should read Step 27.10 – Publish the Statutory Notice first to ensure you have made the required statutory notice before proceeding.