Transferring a property out of an estate

Hi all,

I'm a long-time stalker but first time poster. Thankyou all for your collective wisdom and sometimes entertainment!

I'm in NSW. I am trying to transfer a property out of a deceased estate myself and having trouble with the forms (the guidance notes are actually worse than the form itself - they refer to a legal textbook of all things!!).

Has anyone done this before or is there someone who can help me? I am following the process here.
How to transfer property to beneficiaries

I have the following specific questions:

• I can’t work out to complete the forms in a way that the property will be transferred to the two beneficiaries as Tenants in Common. I would expect it to be on Form 03AE, but there isn’t a section there for the transferee, just the ‘Deceased’ and the ‘Applicant’ (the executor of the Estate). How do I achieve this?
• Section “(A) Torrens Title” – is this the address of the property, the title reference, or something else?
• How do I complete section “(B) Registered Dealing”? The title reference is say X/123456 – is the number “X” and the Torrens Title “123456”? Having both a section labelled "(A) Torrens Title" and the box in section (B) labelled "Torrens Title" are confusing me.
• Section (F) - is it a transfer of “Land” or “Land and Registered Dealing” if there's a property with a house and no mortgage?
• When completing the eNOS record, is the “Transfer of Shares” section where I register a 50% ownership (i.e. 50 of 100 shares)?

I was keen to do this myself to avoid legal costs but the form itself is stumping me. If there's anyone who can shed light on this, much appreciated!

 

It's surprisingly expensive - I thought it might be around $300 (and therefore worth it) but with all their disbursements it's going to be around $1000!

Definitely a possibility once it's proven I genuinely have no idea. Some the cost is for actually taking the forms to the various places they need to go - which I can do instead and possibly save some costs.

 

Just get a conveyancer to do it.
You are about to find out that property ownership is expensive anyway LOL.

Edit - is this where you are looking?
How to transfer property to beneficiaries

 

It has to go from the name of the deceased to the executor then to the beneficiary

 

Thanks Terry - so then would I use form Form 03AE to transfer to the Executor and another form to transfer to the beneficiaries?

 

Yes that's what I was looking at. I have tried to follow it but it seems to be missing a step (it's called "How to transfer property to beneficiaries" but following it, I don't think there's steps to get the property from the executor to the beneficiaries).

Ahhh I'm very aware of the costs - this is the fourth property I've had to deal with as part of an estate, and I've owned another five myself. I was thinking I could save some money and just follow the instructions - but it seems I can't.

 

When you think about how much the properties are worth, AND you dont have the expertise to do it... is trying to save a few hundred dollars a smart thing to do?

 

How did the property get to the executor?

 

You'll still be up for the disbursements eg registration, transfer fees etc) regardless of who does the work.

The costs don't come out of your pocket as executor but out of the estate.

Apologies for the entertainment

 

That thread about carbs and divorce today is genuine entertainment.

 

Thanks Terry - finally worked it out. Even filling out the form as the executor, I need form 03AD, which the one for "by devisee, beneficiary or next-of-kin". That form lets me specify the ownership type.

Thanks Scott - I was aware of the $50 in stamp duty but also now understand there is a $146.40 lodgment fee with LRS for the transfer.

With regards to the advice to just go with a lawyer - I will more than likely just do that. Having spent this amount of time on the forms and process so far I wanted to understand where I was going wrong. If you are considering administering a deceased estate yourself, LawAccess does contain most of the information you need - but the procedural side of filling out the forms is not always clear.

After someone dies (nsw.gov.au)

 

Legal practice is based on years of education, experience and qualifications. Its more than filling in forms.
You may get legal services worth what you pay when seeking cheap solutions.

Completing transfers that are wrong could trigger assessment of duty. You cant always undo what you think was a mistake. The Commissioner of State Reveue is imposed with powers to assess duty when a defined event occurs. They arent there to correct mistakes. I have seen people suffer double duty when they corrected a error the wrong way.

 

Yes, it's a good point, and well made.

 

StampDuty - I'm having the same issue as an executor transferring to 4 beneficiaries. Do I need 1x 03AE and an eNOS to transfer to myself first, and then 4x 03AD (one for each beneficiary) and a separate eNOS for each of those? Is it also $50 stamp duty and a$146.40 lodgement fee per 03AD form?

 

Hi Ali,

Sorry for the delayed reply. You can transfer the property directly to the beneficiaries using form 03AD without first transferring it to the executor. Only complete one eNOS with all beneficiaries listed. If they are tenants in common, identify their share next to their name.

I ended up contacting the LRS directly through their inquiry page. They were extremely helpful - they provided very detailed guidance on how to fill out the forms and very specific answers to my questions. They provided the guidance above when I asked the same question. They were by far the best resource in the whole process and I should have contacted them earlier.

 

Thanks for getting back to me! That's really helpful, I will contact LRS to make sure I get it right