§1What usually happens in the first days
New South Wales · general information · checked 10 October 2026
In New South Wales, two official steps usually fall to the funeral director.
A funeral director normally registers the death within 7 days of the burial or cremation.
The funeral director normally orders the death certificate when they register the death.
That certificate matters for what comes next. A death certificate must have been issued before ADNS can be used. ADNS is the free national notifier, explained two cards down.
§2How a death is registered, by state
New South Wales · general information · checked 10 October 2026
The NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages holds the register. Its death certificates page: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages · Death certificates
A funeral director normally registers the death within 7 days of the burial or cremation.
If no funeral director is arranging the burial or cremation, the registry says the person arranging it can register the death. It asks them to contact it for a form.
A death certificate costs A$70, or A$105 for priority service. This is the registry's published fee, and it includes postage.
An online order takes up to 3 weeks, or up to 2 weeks with priority, plus delivery time.
§3Who to tell, and what the free notifier does
Australia · general information · checked 10 October 2026
The Australian Death Notification Service (ADNS) is a free, national service.
It is a NSW Government initiative. ADNS says it is supported by all states and territories.
It takes the details of the person who has died and sends them to the organisations you choose from its list.
Those organisations should make contact within 10 business days.
Organisations choose whether to join. ADNS says it cannot make them take part.
So some large bodies are not on its list. Two of them:
- Services Australia (Centrelink, Medicare) · not on the ADNS list
- Australian Taxation Office · not on the ADNS list
Who it reaches, and who it does not, organisation by organisation, with the date each was checked →
Services Australia (Centrelink, Medicare)
Australia · general information · checked 11 October 2026
Services Australia is the federal agency behind Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support. It is told once, and it publishes a time, three ways to do it, and one form.
Services Australia says it needs to be told of a death within 28 days, in one of three ways: by calling the Older Australians line, by sending the Advice of death form, or at a service centre.
The Older Australians line is 132 300, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Services Australia lists it for help following the death of a loved one.
Services Australia says it uses the Advice of death form to update records with Medicare, Centrelink and Child Support.
The form, the payments Services Australia describes, and child support →
Australia · general information · checked 10 October 2026
ADNS itself points families to Services Australia for a fuller checklist.
Australian Taxation Office
Australia · general information · checked 11 October 2026
The ATO says that if the supporting documents are not ready yet, its Individuals enquiries line can be told unofficially that the person has died, and it will pause the deceased's tax correspondence until you are ready.
One ATO form does both jobs: it officially tells the ATO of the death and of who will manage the estate. The ATO says only the executor or administrator can nominate to manage the estate with it.
The ATO says it takes up to 28 days to update the deceased person's records after it receives the notification. That is the ATO's own time to update its records, and a different 28 days from the one Services Australia asks to be told within.
Who the ATO says usually tells it, the two ways to send its form, the documents, and what it says about grants →
§4How banks and super funds handle a death
Australia · general information · checked 11 October 2026
Each bank and each super fund has its own process after a death.
Four big banks are on the free notifier's list:
- Commonwealth Bank · on the ADNS list
- Westpac · on the ADNS list
- ANZ · on the ADNS list
- NAB · on the ADNS list
Three big super funds are not:
- AustralianSuper · not on the ADNS list
- Aware Super · not on the ADNS list
- Hostplus · not on the ADNS list
The rest, organisation by organisation, with the date each was checked →
New South Wales · general information · checked 10 October 2026
The NSW Supreme Court's probate page says different asset holders have different criteria and requirements for releasing assets.
The court's probate page says a super or insurance trustee sometimes asks for a grant before it makes its decision about the super or insurance money. What a grant is: the next card.
Each bank's and each fund's own published route
Australia · general information · checked 11 October 2026
Each bank publishes its own rule for when it asks for a grant, and the figures differ. Two examples, each as that bank's own words about money held with that bank: Commonwealth Bank says a grant of probate or letters of administration is needed if the estate's balance in solely held accounts with it is more than A$100,000, or if the bank asks for one.
ING says it assesses each estate, may require a grant of probate or letters of administration in some cases, and says so in the first letter it sends after receiving the death certificate. Neither is a rule about the estate as a whole, and each bank can ask in other cases.
Six banks, one card each, with how to tell each and what each says about funeral costs →
Super is decided differently. The ATO says the super fund's trustee works out who will receive the benefits. Super paid after a death is called a super death benefit.
Four funds, one card each, with what a nomination is and what the ATO says tax depends on →
§5What a grant is, and where each court explains it
Everything the person owned and owed is called their estate. In Australia the usual phrase is the deceased estate.
A grant is a court document.