Victorians to be slugged thousands of dollars to claim their inheritance

Victorians claiming estates worth up to $250,000 will have their probate fees waived, but those handling assets of more than $2 million are set to pay thousands of dollars extra under changes announced by the Allan government on Monday.

The biggest increase in costs will be for estates worth between $250,000 and $500,000 – up 645 per cent. The fees for estates in that range, currently about $69, are set to rise to $514. Fees for estates valued at more than $500,000 will jump between 180 per cent and 625 per cent.

The opposition has lashed the government over increased probate fees for multimillion-dollar estates.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Probate fees are essentially the administrative costs paid to the court to validate and approve the distribution of an individual’s estate.

The changes mean that Victorians handling the estate of a deceased loved one worth more than $2 million could be paying almost double – or in some cases more – the equivalent charges in NSW and South Australia.

The state government argues the changes are needed to cover the cost of handling large, complex estates, including those that are challenged in the Supreme Court.

But shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien criticised the government for announcing it on the eve of the Melbourne Cup and argued the new fees – to be introduced on November 18 – couldn’t be justified.

“This is effectively the imposition of a death tax by stealth, to have massive increases in the amount of money that grieving families have to pay when a loved one dies to get probate,” O’Brien said.

“This government will stop at nothing to raid the pockets of dead Victorian and grieving families because Labor can’t manage money.”

Acting Attorney-General Enver Erdogan said the overhaul was necessary because the current fees did not cover Supreme Court costs.

“Victoria will continue to have lower probate fees than comparable states such as NSW and South Australia for estates valued less than $2 million. This accounts for almost 90 per cent of estates probated in Victoria,” Erdogan said.

Acting Attorney-General Enver Erdogan.Credit: AAP

Under the changes, estates valued between $500,000 and $1 million will be charged about $1000, while those worth between $1 million and $2 million will cost $2400. The existing fees are $367 and $686, respectively.

The highest tier – for estates worth more than $7 million – will cost Victorians $16,377 in probate fees, increasing from the current capped cost of $2300.

Nearly 90 per cent of Victoria’s estates are worth less than $2 million. Estates worth more than $3 million account for around 6 per cent, the state government says.

The location of an estate is determined by where the assets are held.

In NSW, the highest probate fee is $6931 and covers all estates valued at more than $5 million. In South Australia, the highest probate fee is $3826 and covers all estates more than $1 million.

Housing Minister Harriet Shing, who is not the minister responsible for the change but addressed the media on Monday, said she couldn’t say how much revenue the increased fees would generate.

“Previously, we had a system of probate which didn’t actually reflect the spread of estates in terms of value,” she said.

“We had people who were paying probate [for estates] around $130,000 or over, and we’ve increased that to $250,000. We’ve also made sure that we’re keeping those rates aligned with other states and making sure that in comparison to, say, NSW or Queensland, our rates remain similar.

“We also want to make sure that when we have higher value estates – that is over $5 million, over $2 million – we are providing a range of sliding-scale assessments. But ultimately, 0.24 per cent will be the maximum that probate is capped at under these new arrangements.”

But O’Brien said increasing the fees was unnecessary.

“The current probate fees already cost recover about 300 per cent more than it costs to run the system,” he said. “This is going up to over 1000 per cent. This is not cost recovery – this is gouging.”

Public consultation led by the Department of Justice and Community Safety found that 94 per cent respondents disagreed with the proposed fee increase.

Among the concerns raised were that the rise in fees could increase the risk of elder abuse, limit Victorian’s access to the justice system, and unfairly affect female legal practitioners, given that wills and estates law is predominantly practised by women.

O’Brien would not commit to reversing the changes if the Coalition was elected in 2026, but said it would be something the opposition would consider.

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