Locate the Will & Insurance Information

First of all, you will need to find out if the deceased person put a Will in place and where this may be located. The spouse, de facto partner, children aged 18 and over, parents, siblings or the Executor (person nominated in the Will to administer the deceased estate) may be able to help with this.

If you are unsure where the Will may be located, you should check:

• filing cabinets at the deceased person’s home
• filing cabinets at the deceased person’s office
• a Next of Kin’s home
• a safe in the home
• a bank deposit box
• the State/Territory’s Public Trustee (WA – Will Bank , NSW – Will Safe, VIC – Will Bank)
• files with an accountant
• files with a lawyer
• the Will Registry

If the Will is stored by someone else, you may need to use the copy of the Will to prove the death until you receive the Death Certificate (see Step 8 – Apply for the Death Certificate) allowing you to obtain the original Will.

There may be instances where multiple Wills or multiple versions of Wills are found. It will be crucial to determine which of the Wills is valid and to be used for the estate administration process.

If you are unsure which Will is valid, it is recommended that you seek legal advice from one of our carefully selected Trusted Partners near you. Their contact details are listed below.

If you have determined that no Will is in place and this is confirmed by family members, then you should still check if any pre-arranged funeral, pre-paid funeral or funeral insurance plans are in place as outlined below.

Note: Where no Will is in place, it is said to be an Intestate estate and will be administered according to the legislation and rules in the relevant State/Territory.

Some commonly known providers for pre-arranged funeral, pre-paid funeral plan or funeral insurance in Australia are:

• AIA Funeral Insurance
• American Express
• ANZ
• Apia
• Real Insurance
• Choosi
• Australian Seniors
• Insuranceline
• Zurich
• Many Funeral Directors also offer such arrangements

4.4.1 If a Will is in Place

After locating the Will, you will be able to search for references to any pre-arranged funeral, pre-paid funeral plan or funeral insurance and with which provider.
It will be worthwhile also checking who the Executor nominated in the Will is for the next Step 5 – Duties of an Executor & How to Determine the Executor or Administrator and for the Executor to hold on to the Will.

The deceased person may have drafted a Will a while ago and as time went on changes were required to amend certain clauses or entire sections of a Will. This can either be achieved by drafting a new Will completely or draft a Codicil, which is a supplementary document to the Will. If a Codicil is in place, the Will and the Codicil(s) will need to be provided.

4.4.2 If no Will is in Place

If no Will was found and the Next of Kin or family confirms that no Will is in place, look for documents of pre-arranged funeral, pre-paid funeral plan or funeral insurance providers such as policy documents, letters, invoices or business cards.

If you have successfully located the provider, you should contact them to inform them of the death and check what services are covered, especially the transportation of the body at this point in time. Also check which provider you can choose from if specified or what restrictions and limits you need to be aware of when you work through Step 6 – Organise Transportation of the Body.

As you are looking for the Will and pre-arranged funeral, pre-paid funeral plan or funeral insurance documents, we recommend that you take all other relevant documents that may be important for the deceased estate administration into your custody if you will be the likely Executor or Administrator. Download our Important Documents Checklist to find out about the most commonly used documents you will need.