When someone dies in Australia
There are around forty things to do after a death. This is the order they happen in.
Alan Estate is a free, step-by-step plan for the weeks and months after a death in Australia. It is personalised to your state, the will, superannuation and any self-managed super fund, and every step links to its official source.
No account. No payment. Nothing stored unless you ask us to email it to you.
How the plan is sequenced
- 1
Now
Register the death, find the will, get certified copies
- 2
First two weeks
Notify Centrelink, banks, super and the ATO
- 3
First month
Work out whether you need probate in your state
- 4
If there is an SMSF
ATO within 28 days, trustee structure within six months
- 5
Months two to six
Find every asset, settle debts, hold before distributing
Why this exists
A will says who inherits. It does not say where anything is, or who has to be told.
Around 187,000 people die in Australia each year, and roughly two thirds of them are over 75. That is the group most likely to leave superannuation, property and a self-managed fund behind. The Australian Taxation Office's own expectation is that finalising an estate takes six to twelve months. In practice, families routinely spend longer than that.
The reason is rarely the law. It is that the work arrives all at once, with no sequence and no single source of truth. Every institution asks for its own form and its own certified copies. Superannuation sits outside the will and follows different rules again. Deadlines exist but are not announced. And the person doing the work is usually doing it for the first time, while grieving.
Alan Estate was started by people who have administered an estate and found that nobody hands you the list. So we wrote it: the order of operations, what each step requires, who to contact, and where the costly mistakes are. The guide on this site is free and stays free.
The free guide
Everything a first-time executor needs to know, in the order it happens.
Build your plan
Answer six questions and get a sequenced checklist for your situation: state, will, super, property, SMSF. Tick things off, print it, or email it to yourself.
Read the guide
The first days
Who certifies the death, what the funeral director handles, where to look for the will, and what not to rush.
Read the guide
Certified copies
The most frustrating part of the whole process. Who can certify in your state, how many copies to get, and how to avoid doing it three times.
Read the guide
Who to notify
Government, banks, super, insurers, utilities and subscriptions, plus the free government service that tells many of them at once.
Read the guide
Finding the money
Lost super, share registries, unclaimed money, managed funds, and what to do when the records are out of date.
Read the guide
When there is an SMSF
The 28-day and six-month deadlines, what the surviving trustee must do, why the nomination matters, and how to wind the fund up.
Read the guide
What we're building
The guide is free today. The product comes next.
Two tools built on the same principle. An executor should never have to start from nothing.
For families
Your plan, your documents, one place
After a death: a personalised plan, drafted letters to every institution, and plain-English answers. Before: a simple record of where everything is, covering accounts, super, and the nomination and its renewal date, with a handover to the people you choose when the time comes.
See what's coming for familiesFor professionals
Send families somewhere good
Funeral directors, aged care providers, SMSF accountants and advisers see the same gap every week: a family leaves the room with a folder and no clear idea of what happens next. We are building the thing you can hand them, and for SMSF practices, the nomination tracking that catches the worst case early.
See the founding partner pilotGeneral information, sourced
Every step links to the official source: the court, the ATO, Services Australia, or your state registry. Where rules differ by state, we say so. Where we are not sure, we say that too.
Unhurried by design
Most of this can wait until after the funeral. The plan tells you what genuinely cannot, and leaves the rest until you are ready.
Nothing to sign up for
The guide runs in your browser. We do not store what you enter unless you ask us to email you a copy.