Westpac: deceased estate process & threshold
Updated 20 August 2026 · 5 minute read
What Westpac does when a customer dies, how much it will release without probate, and the paperwork its estates team asks for - as at August 2026.
The threshold
Westpac requires a grant at $100,000 or more in solely-held funds, or where secured loans are involved - and reserves the right to ask below that.
What happens when you notify
Notify the estates team
One notification covers every account. Solely-held accounts are frozen; joint accounts keep operating for the survivor; direct debits from sole accounts stop.
The bank opens a deceased estate file
You'll be sent the document checklist below and a reference for the file.
Below the threshold: release on documents
Certified paperwork plus the bank's release/indemnity form, and funds are paid out - typically inside 1-3 weeks.
Above the threshold: the bank waits for the grant
Once probate or letters of administration arrive, the bank releases to the executor or the estate account.
Documents Westpac asks for
- Deceased Customer Notification & Estate form (signed)
- Certified death certificate
- Certified copy of the will (if there is one)
- Certified ID
Email estatesmanagement@westpac.com.au; overseas +61 2 9155 7590. St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA estates run through the same Westpac Group team.
Like most institutions, the bank can pay the funeral director's invoice directly from the deceased's account, and can release funds to cover probate filing costs - ask the estates team.
If a grant is needed after all
Not sure whether this estate needs a grant at all? Our do I need probate checker runs through the property, bank and super questions in under a minute. One over-threshold institution is enough to send the whole estate down the probate path. Start with how to apply and your state's page, or compare the other banks in the threshold table.
Over the threshold at Westpac?
A fixed-fee probate quote takes two minutes to request, and the whole application runs remotely.
Match me with a probate lawyerDoes the threshold apply per account or in total?
In total per institution - all solely-held accounts at the bank are added together. Accounts at other banks are assessed separately by those banks.
Can I use the money for the funeral first?
Yes - invoice-direct payment to the funeral director is standard at virtually every Australian bank, even from frozen accounts.
How do I get certified copies?
A JP, pharmacist, police officer or solicitor can certify - free at most pharmacies and JP desks in shopping centres and courts.
Which Westpac deceased estate form do I need?
Start with the Deceased Customer Notification & Estate form. It tells Westpac about the death, freezes solely-held accounts and opens the estate file. The other forms people search for, such as the deceased estate account instruction form and the instructions and expense payment form, come later: once the file is open the estates team tells you which instruction form applies to the accounts involved and who has to sign it. If a grant is required, those instructions are signed by the executor or administrator named on the grant, so there is no point completing them before the grant arrives.
What about a Westpac home loan, credit card or joint account?
A joint account keeps running for the surviving holder. A joint home loan continues and the survivor remains responsible for the repayments. Debts in the deceased's sole name, such as a credit card or a loan secured against estate property, are paid from the estate before anything is distributed, and Westpac generally wants a grant where a secured loan is involved regardless of the account balances. Tell the estates team about every product at the first notification so nothing falls into arrears while the estate is sorted out.
Sources
- Westpac deceased estates page (westpac.com.au/personal-banking/services/deceased-estates-settling/faqs/), retrieved August 2026