Practice area
Wills, Estates, Probate & SuccessionWills, estates, probate and succession
Start from confirmed instructions and the client’s circumstances. Review capacity, assets, beneficiaries, execution requirements and the consequences of each provision before finalising an instrument or estate decision.
Key facts
- Tasks covered
- 35
- Tasks with a step-by-step checklist
- 11
- Local differences
- 3 jurisdictions where this area changes
Jurisdiction
Tasks
GreenLawyer reviewYellowClose supervisionRedLawyer-led
| Task | How AI is used | Human involvement | What the lawyer must review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reconcile the documents for a probate or administration application | Compare names, dates, executors and the asset inventory across the supplied documents, and prepare a table of differences for review. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Reconcile the documents for a Victorian probate application | Compare names, dates, executors and the asset inventory across the supplied documents, and prepare a table of differences for review. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Prepare questions for a will-instructions meeting | Turn the supplied background into an open-question agenda and a blank note structure. Leave answers for the practitioner to record from the client. | RedLawyer-led |
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| Turn a probate requisition into a response checklist | Break the Court’s requisition into separate requests and map each to the existing evidence, missing material and proposed response document. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Prepare the will-instructions pack: capacity, undue-influence and family notes | From the intake, draft an instructions summary, a family and beneficiary tree, and capacity and undue-influence warning signs for the lawyer to test at the meeting. | RedLawyer-led |
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| Screen estate-planning instructions for elder financial abuse | From the instructions and permitted documents, list red flags (sudden changes, new companions, isolation, inconsistent reasons) for the lawyer. | RedLawyer-led |
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| Draft a standard will from the signed instructions | Produce a first-draft will from the instructions note and the firm's precedent, with a list of gifts, substitutes and executor details to confirm. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft a will under the Wills Act 2007 | Turn the instruction note into a structured list of gifts, executors and guardians for the lawyer to settle with the client. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Prepare death-benefit nomination steps against the fund deed | From the fund deed and nomination papers, list valid nomination types, renewal dates and eligible nominees, with a list of deed clauses still to confirm. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Prepare death-benefit nomination steps against the fund deed, including BDBNs | From the fund deed and nomination papers, list binding, non-binding and reversionary nomination types, two-year renewal dates for lapsing BDBNs, and eligible nominees. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Prepare the probate or letters-of-administration application pack | From the will, death certificate and asset list, draft the application, inventory and a requisition-risk checklist. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Build the estate administration ledger: creditors, assets and distributions | From bank statements, titles and bills, draft a working ledger of assets, liabilities, creditor notices and proposed distributions, with gaps flagged. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Assess family-provision, further-provision or elective-share eligibility from the file | From the will, family tree and estate values, table possible claimants, limitation dates and document gaps. | RedLawyer-led |
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| Build a will-validity issues list: execution, capacity and suspicious circumstances | From the will, medical notes the lawyer has cleared, and correspondence, list execution defects, capacity evidence and suspicious-circumstance indicators. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft affidavits and submissions for a contested estate | The tool writes no part of the affidavits. In this task the tool writes no part of the submissions either, because they restate the sworn material. Working only from the source documents — the will, the instructions file, the medical records and the estate accounts — build a strictly tabular, source-tagged chronology: date, actor, event, source document — a working chronology, not an outline or order of paragraphs, and never drawn from the deponent's own account. Against the lawyer's own affidavit draft, index the annexures and list every assertion in that draft with no source in the proofing note. Check affidavit form against the rules that actually govern the claim in the court it is filed in — the affidavit part of that court’s rules and its current approved affidavit form, and the family provision rules and practice note where the claim is for provision, rather than the probate rules, which govern a contest over the grant. Where the court requires a disclosure that generative AI was not used in preparing affidavit content, check that the disclosure is present in the form that court prescribes. Arrange the authorities the lawyer has selected beside the proposition the lawyer's own draft cites it for. The tool states no proposition of law of its own. | RedLawyer-led | The lawyer writes the affidavits from the deponent's own account and writes the submissions. The deponent reads and adopts the evidence before swearing. The lawyer verifies every authority and every exhibit reference in their own draft, checks the chronology entry by entry against the source document named for it, and confirms the affidavit form and the rule and form numbers current in the court where the claim is filed, and, where that court requires it, the disclosure about generative AI, before the affidavit is sworn. |
| Map cross-border estate issues: assets, grants and choice of law | From the asset list, table countries, likely grant requirements, tax flags to refer out, and documents still needed. | RedLawyer-led |
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| Map cross-border estate issues against the Australian state's succession law | Table countries, likely grants, which state's succession law seems to apply (lex situs for immovables, lex domicilii for movables), tax flags and missing documents. | RedLawyer-led |
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| List digital-asset and online-account steps for the estate | From the instructions and device/account list, draft a steps list (access, 2FA, exchange, social media) and a document request. | YellowClose supervision |
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| List the steps to secure and transfer the digital assets in an estate | From the instructions and device/account list, draft a steps list (access, 2FA, exchange, social media) and a document request. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft executor and beneficiary letters from the administration file | Draft reporting letters, information requests and distribution explanations from the ledger and the will. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Prepare a creditor-notice and claims timetable from the grant | From the grant and the estate's jurisdiction, draft a creditor-notice text, publication checklist and a claims-close diary. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Run a Victorian remote will execution under the Wills Act 1997 | Build the remote-execution checklist: AVL, participants physically in Victoria, special witness, certifications. | RedLawyer-led | Supervise execution and confirm each statutory step. |
| Draft first-cut will clauses from structured instructions | Turn the instruction sheet into draft clauses using the firm precedent. | YellowClose supervision | Lawyer settles every clause; check capacity, execution and gifts law for the State. |
| Summarise a deceased estate's documents into an asset and liability schedule | Extract assets, liabilities and account details from statements into a schedule. | GreenLawyer review | Reconcile against source statements and searches. |
| Draft a family provision claim chronology from the file | Build a dated chronology of relationships, contributions and needs from the documents. | YellowClose supervision | Verify each entry; do not upload sensitive material to public tools. |
| Draft a plain-language letter to beneficiaries about the administration steps | Draft an update explaining probate, timing and distribution steps. | GreenLawyer review | Lawyer confirms facts, timing and jurisdiction-specific steps. |
| Check a draft will for internal inconsistencies | Flag inconsistent names, gifts, residuary clauses and defined terms. | GreenLawyer review | Lawyer resolves every flag; AI check supplements proofreading. |
| Draft a warning to clients about AI-generated wills | Explain formal-validity risks. | GreenLawyer review | Lawyer approves. |
| Compare an AI-generated will with a lawyer-drafted precedent | Flag gaps. | YellowClose supervision | Lawyer reviews. |
| Draft informal-will application evidence outline | Outline evidence for a court application. | RedLawyer-led | Lawyer settles. |
| Draft the affidavit in support of a grant of probate in the Supreme Court of New South Wales | Do not generate the affidavit. The lawyer may use a tool only to list the will-file documents the deponent will cover. | RedLawyer-led | The deponent's affidavit is taken in the deponent's own account. Disclose that generative AI was not used to generate its content. |
| Prepare a chronology and index of the will file for a Supreme Court of New South Wales probate application | List dates and document titles from the will file into a chronology and index. | GreenLawyer review | Check every date and title against the will file before the chronology is used. |
| Draft the affidavit supporting a probate application in the Supreme Court of Victoria | Produce a draft affidavit from the will and the executor's instructions for the lawyer to verify. | YellowClose supervision | A person fact-checks, proofreads and confirms every fact. Asking one artificial intelligence tool to confirm what another produced is not verification. A person may check original source material, including source material kept inside a tool. |
| Prepare the inventory of estate assets for a Supreme Court of Victoria probate application | List assets and values from the estate documents into an inventory. | YellowClose supervision | Match every asset and value to an estate document. Remove anything the documents do not show. |
| Prepare the affidavit of assets and liabilities for a Supreme Court of South Australia probate application | List assets and liabilities from the estate file for the affidavit. | YellowClose supervision | Read the South Australian courts' generative AI guidelines and check whether this probate application is a proceeding they cover. Every asset and liability must come from the estate file. |
| Draft the executor's affidavit for a grant of probate in the Supreme Court of Western Australia | Do not substitute the executor's words. The lawyer may list the probate documents the executor will address. | RedLawyer-led | The affidavit stays in the executor's own words. The lawyer who files it is responsible for it. |
| Draft written submissions on a contested probate caveat in the Supreme Court of New South Wales | Draft submissions from the pleadings and the authorities the lawyer has opened. | YellowClose supervision | Verify in the body that every citation exists, is accurate and is relevant. Do not let a generative AI tool be the only check. |
| Prepare a contentious NSW estate affidavit or submission under SC Gen 23 | Prepare a chronology from the disclosed documents for the lawyer to use in a Supreme Court estate proceeding. | YellowClose supervision | Practice Note SC Gen 23 applies to all Supreme Court proceedings from 3 February 2025, including probate and family-provision litigation in that Court. Gen AI must not generate the content of an affidavit, witness statement, character reference, or other material meant to reflect a witness's evidence. Where Gen AI is used for written submissions, the author must verify in the body of the submissions that citations and references to evidence exist, are accurate and are relevant, and that verification must not be done solely with a Gen AI tool. |
| Prepare a South Australian probate or estate court step under the Gen AI guidelines | Turn instructions into a draft chronology or submission for a step in a listed South Australian court. | YellowClose supervision | The guidelines apply from 1 January 2026 to steps under the Uniform Civil Rules in the Supreme Court and the other listed courts. They do not ban affidavits. Gen AI may assist, but the lawyer must ensure the statement fairly records the witness's own memory and is not embellished or cut down, and must not send the witness a draft prepared from other documents before interviewing them. They do not require the document to state that Gen AI was used. They describe Gen AI drafts of character references as rarely, if ever, appropriate. |
| Check the Tasmanian, ACT or NT Supreme Court index before assuming an AI practice direction | Compare the court's practice-direction index with the filing checklist for an estate proceeding. | YellowClose supervision | On 10 October 2026 the Tasmanian practice directions index, the ACT Supreme Court practice directions list and the Northern Territory current practice directions list did not include an AI direction. That check is not a permission to use AI, and it does not replace the solicitor conduct rules. Open the current index again before relying on it. The Tasmanian technology direction from 2019 and the Northern Territory information-technology direction from 2002 were not opened. The Northern Territory expired-directions page was not fetched. |
Firm-wide obligations
| Obligation | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Trust accounting & handling client money | Checks that apply across files. |
| Costs, billing & litigation funding | Checks that apply across files. |
| Client-facing & access-to-justice AI tools | Checks that apply across files. |
| Incoming evidence — deepfakes & synthetic documents | Checks that apply across files. |
| AI decision systems | Checks that apply across files. |
| Confidentiality & client information | Checks that apply across files. |
| AML/CTF — the practice as a reporting entity | Checks that apply across files. |
What changes in Australia
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| Limits on AI assistance |
|
What changes in New Zealand
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| Wills | Wills Act 2007. Most of its new powers do not apply to wills made before 1 November 2007. |
| Intestacy and grants | Administration Act 1969. |
| Claims against estates | Family Protection Act 1955 and Law Reform (Testamentary Promises) Act 1949. No Australian family-provision eligibility list. |
| Superannuation | A KiwiSaver or scheme question, not an SIS binding nomination. |
- Wills Act 2007 · 2026-09-23
- NZLS: Making a will and estate administration · 2026-09-23
- Administration Act 1969 · 2026-09-23
- Family Protection Act 1955 · 2026-09-23
- Ministry of Justice: Family Court legislation and rules · 2026-09-23
- KiwiSaver Act 2006 · 2026-09-23
What changes in United States
Known here as: Wills, estates, probate and succession
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| State law | State law governs this work. Check the statutes, court rules and conduct rules of the state where the matter is. Do not import an Australian statute, form or court AI practice note. |
| What changes | Probate codes, will formalities and intestacy are state law. Check generated clauses against instructions and the execution statute of the state of domicile. |
Precedents for this area
- Will instructions, capacity and undue influence checklist (NSW, with other state notes) (Checklist, AI use Red). Checklist for taking will instructions in NSW: seeing the will-maker alone, testing capacity against Banks v Goodfellow, spotting undue influence and suspicious circumstances, mapping assets outside the estate, family provision risk and an execution plan.
- Will with optional testamentary discretionary trusts (NSW) (Other, AI use Yellow). NSW will precedent leaving the estate to a spouse with a survivorship period, then to children outright or through optional testamentary discretionary trusts, with executor and trustee powers and NSW attestation clauses (in person or by audio visual link).
- Probate application pack (Supreme Court of NSW): notice, summons, affidavit and inventory guide (Court document, AI use Red). Link to the Supreme Court of NSW probate forms page with a step-by-step guide: the 14-day online notice, the documents that accompany the summons, the executor's affidavit (UCPR Form 118), the inventory, requisitions, and SC Gen 23 limits on AI.
- Notice of intended distribution of an estate (NSW): when and how to publish, and the protection it gives (Notice, AI use Yellow). Guide to publishing a notice of intended distribution on the NSW Online Registry under s 92 of the Probate and Administration Act and s 93 of the Succession Act, with the timing rules, the limits of the protection, and an executor's distribution diary.
- Letter of advice on a family provision claim (NSW; claimant or estate) (Letter, AI use Red). Advice letter for a potential claimant or an executor on a NSW family provision claim: eligibility, the 12-month time limit, the two-stage test, the s 60 factors, notional estate, costs and mediation, with Victorian and Queensland notes.
- Checklist: verifying AI-assisted will drafts and handling AI-made or electronic informal wills (Checklist, AI use Yellow). Two-part AI checklist: (A) verifying a will draft prepared with AI help before it is signed, and (B) assessing, preserving and proving a deceased's AI-generated, digital or unsigned document as an informal will, with a client warning about DIY AI wills.
All precedents for Wills, Estates, Probate & Succession. Signed-in accounts can read the full text.