Wills and estates
What a claim against the will could take out of the estate
A family provision claim can move a large part of an estate, and the legal costs usually come out of it as well. Both sides of that are knowable in advance, and almost nobody works them out before the deadline has passed.
The claim is one number. The costs are the other one.
When somebody is left out of a will, or left less than they expected, most states allow them to ask a court for provision out of the estate. Two things then happen to the estate, and only one of them gets discussed. The first is the provision itself. The second is the legal costs, which in a matter that settles typically consume 1% to 8% of the estate and in one that runs to a hearing 8% to 20% of the estate — usually borne by the estate, on both sides.
That second number is why so many of these matters settle, and why the executor who understands it early ends up in a very different position from the one who finds out at the door of the court. Claims succeed at a high rate: around about 74% overall, and about about 88% where the estate is a large one. "We will fight it" is a strategy with a price, and the price is paid by the beneficiaries.
The deadlines are short and they are different in every state — 12 months from the date of death in New South Wales, 6 months from the grant in Victoria, 3 months from the grant in Tasmania.
A claim you did not know was coming is still a claim. A deadline you did not know about is simply gone.
What it works out
- Who is an eligible person in your state. The categories differ, and in some states a stepchild, a former spouse or a member of the household qualifies where in others they do not.
- How the factors a court weighs line up on these facts. The relationship, the size of the estate, the applicant's financial position, competing claims, and any provision already made.
- An indicative range for the provision, as a share of the estate and in dollars.
- The notional estate question, in the states that have one, where assets that left the estate within three years can be pulled back into it.
- All nine ways the claim can end, ranked on what actually reaches the will's beneficiaries — which is a different ordering from what reaches the claimant.
What the full report adds
- Settle against defend, priced. What each additional stage costs the estate, and the point at which defending costs more than conceding.
- Both sides of the table. The same arithmetic works whether you are the executor, a beneficiary or the person considering a claim — the numbers do not change depending on who is reading them.
- Your state's rules in full. Eligibility, the limitation period, notice requirements, and the costs practice, which differs meaningfully between jurisdictions.
- Something to take to a solicitor. Contested estate work commonly runs $20,000 to $40,000; a first appointment with the estate valued and the exposure quantified is a very different appointment.
What it will not do
It is not legal advice, and provision is discretionary — a court decides what is adequate on evidence, and no calculator can predict a judgement. What it can do is show the range these matters fall in, what the costs do to the estate on the way there, and what deadline you are working to. Those three facts are what most people are missing while they decide whether to get advice at all.
Everything here runs on the succession legislation of each state as at 1 September 2026.
What people ask before they run it
Who can contest a will in Australia?
Only an eligible person, and the list is set by each state's own Act. A spouse or de facto partner and a child of the person who died are eligible everywhere. Beyond that it varies. New South Wales also allows former spouses, grandchildren and household members who were dependent, and people who were living in a close personal relationship. Victoria also allows stepchildren, registered caring partners and household members. Queensland is the narrowest of all: spouse, child or dependant. Being eligible is only the door. The court then asks whether the will left that person without adequate provision for their proper maintenance, education and advancement in life.
How long do I have to contest a will?
It depends on the state, and two of them run from the date of death rather than from probate. New South Wales allows 12 months from the date of death. Queensland wants written notice within 6 months of the death and the application filed within 9 months of the date of death. Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT allow 6 months from the grant, the Northern Territory allows 12 months from the grant, and Tasmania is the shortest at 3 months from the grant. A court can extend most of these, but only where there is a reason for the delay, and an estate that has already been paid out is far harder to reach.
How much does a family provision claim cost the estate?
There is one published anchor and it is a power rather than a figure. Where the net distributable value of an estate is less than $1,000,000, the Supreme Court of New South Wales may cap what a party recovers — Practice Note SC Eq 7, paragraph 40. It sets no dollar figure, and no Australian court publishes a scale for these costs at all, so this calculator prices them as an indicative band and says on the page that it is one: roughly 1% to 8% of the estate where it settles, and 8% to 20% of the estate where it runs to a contested hearing. Practitioners publish $20,000 to $40,000 for one side of a simple claim that settles early, and upwards of $100,000 a side for one taken to a hearing.
Can a claim reach superannuation or a jointly owned house?
In New South Wales it can. The notional estate provisions in the Succession Act 2006 let a court designate property that never formed part of the estate — a house that passed to the survivor automatically, a superannuation death benefit paid straight to a nominated person, a gift made in the three years before death — and treat it as though it had been in the estate all along. No other state or territory has anything like it. Everywhere else, what passes outside the will is outside the claim.
Do you give legal advice?
No. This is an information service. It applies the published succession legislation to the figures you enter and shows what they produce, with every working visible. It ranks the ways a claim can end on one stated arithmetic measure — what reaches the will's beneficiaries — and it does not recommend one, does not predict what a court would do, and does not tell you whether to bring or defend a claim.
Everything on Family Provision
The estimate is free, and it is a real one.
Prices what a family provision claim could take out of an Australian estate on your own figures — who counts as an eligible person in your state, how the factors a court weighs line up, an indicative range for the provision, the legal costs the estate usually bears, and the deadline you are working to. Ranks all nine ways the claim can end on what reaches the will's beneficiaries.
Start the Family Provision calculator
