Legal practitioners guide to wills and estates electronic lodgement

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On this page:

Types of wills and estates applications you can submit online

Applications that can be electronically lodged by legal practitioners include:

  • Probate
  • Reseal of probate
  • Letters of Administration with the Will
  • Letters of Administration on intestacy
  • Reseal of letters of administration
  • Reseal letters of administration with the Will
  • Caveat
  • Citation
  • Renunciation
  • Request for exemplification
  • Revocation

Public Trustee only e-lodgements include all those listed above, and:

  • Election
  • Application for an Order to Administer

You can also search for a probate online.

Login to the Online Services Portal

Starting a new application

On the home page, click the ‘Wills and Estates’ card or search ‘wills and estates’ in the search bar.

This takes you to the Wills and Estates applications dashboard where you can start a new application by clicking the green ‘Start new application’ button.

On the ‘Start a new Wills and Estates application' page, click the drop down and select the type of application you want to start.

Once you’ve selected the application type, click the green ‘Start application’ button.

All Wills and Estates forms have the same sequence of pages including:

  • Before you begin page
  • Deceased details page
  • Applicant details page
  • Filing location page
  • Upload files page
  • Review and submit page
  • What happens next

You don’t have to complete the form in this order. Click on the links in the progress bar on the left hand side of the page to jump between different form sections.

Saving your application as a draft

You don’t have to complete and submit your application in one session. You can save a draft application at any time by clicking the save button at the bottom of the page.

Your application will not save unless you click the save button.

Before you begin page

Every application starts with the ‘Before you begin’ page. This page tells you all the information you need prior to completing the form including any steps you need to take prior to lodging your application and the mandatory documents that must be completed and uploaded as PDFs with your application.

There is nothing you need to input into this page. Click on the ‘Begin application’ button when you’re ready to start your application.

Deceased details page

Input the deceased name, address and any aliases (other names) they went by.

Click save and/or continue to go to the next screen in the form.

You can also navigate to different sections of the form using the links in the progress bar on the left hand side of the screen. This progress bar tells you where you are in the form and what you have to complete.

  • Blue shows you where you are in the form
  • Orange tells you that you have not completed all fields on a page
  • Green tells you that you have completed all fields on a page
  • Grey represents pages you have not started.

Applicant details page

Your details will be auto-filled as the legal representative on this page. If you are completing the form on behalf of someone else you can click the ‘Change representative’ button and the person you are completing the form on behalf of. This can only be someone in the same firm that you are registered with in the portal. The email address entered here is the address the registry will use to contact you if they need to.

Fill in the name and address of the applicant/s on this page. An applicant is the person you are acting on behalf of. This address will not be used by the registry for correspondence. The grant and all correspondence will go to the email address of the nominated legal representative.

Start typing the address and it should appear in the pop—up menu. If it doesn’t show you can click the ‘Enter it manually’ link and type in the full address.

Filing location page

Choose which Supreme Court of Queensland you want to file your application to. The options are: Brisbane,. Cairns, Townsville or Rockhampton.

If you have additional supporting documents, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the drop down menu. This shows the different supporting documents you can upload.

Click the name of the document you wish to upload and a new file upload box will appear below. If the document you want to upload is not in the list, select ‘Other’.

If you want to remove a document you’ve uploaded, click the cross in the top right of the file upload box.

Upload files page

Click on the ‘Click to upload’ link in the file upload box and find the file you want to upload. Depending on the type of application you are submitting, there may be mandatory files that you have to upload. Files must be PDF and no larger than 20MB.

If you have additional supporting documents, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the drop down menu. This shows the different supporting documents you can upload.

Click the name of the document you wish to upload and a new file upload box will appear below. If the document you want to upload is not in the list, select ‘Other’.

If you want to remove a document you’ve uploaded, click the cross in the top right of the file upload box.

Review and submit page

This page shows you your application as far as you have completed it. You can’t submit your application until it is complete. If you have uncompleted fields in the form you will get an error message that lists all the sections you have missed. You can click on the link(s) in the error message to be taken to that section of the form.

If you want to make any changes to your form, click the edit link and you will be taken back to that page of the form.

Remember, you can navigate back to the ‘Review and submit’ page by clicking the link in the progress bar on the lefthand side of the screen.

When you’re ready to submit, click the ‘Submit application’ button. You can’t make any further changes to your application once it has been submitted.

Successfully submitted

After you submit, the page will refresh and you will see your application reference number. This page also gives you information about what happens next including:

  • How your application is reviewed
  • How your application is filed and assessed
  • When you will receive your grant
  • How you will receive your grant

The portal does not currently accept payments. When the registry has accepted your application, you will be sent an invoice and a link to pay online.

Your application number

Your application number is not your court file number. This is a reference number you can use to refer to if you need to seek assistance from the registry.

Your application number will always start with REF. E.g. REF-0001524.

Your court file number

You only get your court file number after the registry has filed your application. When this occurs, you will receive an email from the registry advising you of your court file number. You will also be able to see your court file number on your application in the Wills and Estates applications dashboard.

Your court file number will always start with SE. E.g. SE-1311/24.

Wills and estates applications dashboard

To go to your Wills and Estates applications dashboard, click ‘Wills and Estates’ in the breadcrumb (the blue links to the left of the link to your profile).

You could also click the ‘Return to my applications dashboard’ button at the bottom of the page to be taken to your dashboard.

Here you can see all the applications for your firm listed in a table. The most recent application will always be at the top. Use the search, status filter and location filter to reorder the listings in the table. At the bottom of the table you can select different table display options.

The first column in the table listing the applications for your firm is the ‘Application number’ column. This will show your application number (e.g. REF-0001524) for draft applications only. When your application has been filed by the court, this number will change to your court reference number which will always start with SE and end with the year (e.g. SE-1311/24).

The status column may show one of the below statuses.

  • Draft – not submitted
  • Lodged – submitted and being reviewed by the registry
  • Filed - filed by the registry after the filing fee has been paid
  • Assessed – assessed by the registry
  • Referred – referred to a judge
  • Finalised - complete

The last column in the table is the ‘Actions’ column. Here you can click view to go to that application. If an application is a draft you can also delete the draft from here. Click the down arrow and select ‘Delete draft’.

Applications will not expire or be removed from the system. You can keep draft applications open for as long as you need to and review submitted applications at any time.

Notifications from the registry

You will receive an email notification from the registry to confirm when your application has been lodged and filed, and when your grant has been issued.

Requisitions

Requisitions will go to the email address of the person nominated as the legal representative on the ‘Applicant details’ page.

Downloading your court stamped documents

If your application is successful, you will receive an email from the registry with a link to your court sealed documents.

The link will take you to the ‘View proceeding’ page where you can see the details of your application as it was lodged. Scroll to the ‘Documents’ section at the bottom of this page to download your documents.

On the homepage, click ‘Probates search’.

Here you will be able to search wills and estate records with the Supreme Court of Queensland. You can search and filter for records using any information that you have available, including:

  • A court file number
  • Application type
  • Filing location
  • Filing date
  • Deceased given names and family name
  • Applicant family name

Click the search button to see the results.

If there are no results, try refining your search criteria and search again.

If there are results, you will see some brief information on each record, including:

  • Court file number
  • Application name
  • Application type
  • Deceased name
  • Filing location
  • Filed date

If there are multiple results returned, you can sort them by name, filing date or file number using the sort by dropdown.

To view the full details, click on the relevant search result. You will be taken to a new page that shows the information listed above, and:

  • Applicant name
  • Documents

You can only see the type of documents, date filed and a description here. You cannot access the documents. To access the documents you can use the search and copy service.

Last reviewed
6 June 2025
Last updated
6 June 2025