The Northern Territory charges the highest flat probate fee in Australia at around $1,585 — roughly four times what Western Australia charges, and payable whether the estate is worth $30,000 or $3 million. The Territory is also the only jurisdiction that does not name the surviving partner's entitlement in its Act at all, leaving it to a prescribed amount set by regulation.
Three things about witnessing a will are genuinely different in the Northern Territory from other parts of Australia, and they are the three that cost families money. This page covers those. For the parts that are the same everywhere — who is allowed to witness, and the mechanics of signing — see who can witness a will and how to sign a will correctly.
In the Northern Territory this mistake has real teeth. Under section 12 of the Wills Act 2000 (NT), if someone who inherits under the will also signs as a witness, their gift is void — not the whole will, just their share.
That is the cruellest possible outcome, because everything else works perfectly. The will stands. Probate is granted. Every other gift is paid in full. The one person you were trying to look after gets nothing, and their share falls back into the estate to be divided among everybody else — quite possibly the very people you were trying to provide for less generously.
The gift can be rescued, but only if at least two of the witnesses to the will are not beneficiaries, or everyone who would gain from the gift failing consents in writing. Every one of those routes means either a court application or the active goodwill of the people who stand to gain from the gift failing. Neither is something to plan around.
This is not the law everywhere in Australia. In Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT that identical signature would not cost the beneficiary a cent. Advice written for those states does not protect you in NT, and much of what you will read online does not say which state it is describing.
No. In the Northern Territory a will cannot be witnessed over Zoom, FaceTime or any other video link. You and both witnesses must be physically together, in the same room, when the will is signed. The requirement sits in section 8 of the Wills Act 2000 (NT).
The Northern Territory did not change its witnessing rules during the pandemic and has not introduced any permanent electronic or remote signing scheme since. The requirement is unbroken: you and both witnesses must be physically present together when the will is signed. A will witnessed over a video link is not validly executed in the Territory, and the family would need to apply to the Supreme Court under section 10 to have it treated as an informal will — on top of the highest flat probate fee in the country.
This matters more than it sounds, because New South Wales and Victoria do permit it — and a great deal of the advice you will find online was either written for those two states or written during the pandemic, when the rules were temporarily different in more places. An article that says "you can now witness a will by video call in Australia" is not describing the Northern Territory today.
If a will is signed by video link in NT, it is not validly executed. It is not automatically worthless — someone can ask the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory to admit it as an informal will under section 10 of the Wills Act 2000 (NT) — but that means a Supreme Court application, legal costs out of the estate, months of delay, and no guarantee. Get two people into the room.
This one surprises almost everybody, and it varies more between states than any other rule about wills.
In the Northern Territory, a family provision claim — an application by someone who says they were not adequately provided for — must be brought within 12 months of the grant of administration, under section 9 of the Family Provision Act 1970 (NT).
The Northern Territory allows a full 12 months, which together with New South Wales is the most generous in the country — four times the three months Tasmania allows. The difference is that the NT clock runs from the grant of administration rather than from the date of death.
Notice that there are two variables here, not one. The length of the window differs — Tasmania allows three months, New South Wales and the Northern Territory allow twelve. And the starting point differs: in New South Wales and Queensland the clock runs from the date of death, while in the other six jurisdictions it runs from the grant of probate or administration. Two estates with identical facts can have deadlines many months apart depending purely on where the person lived.
Every court can extend time at its discretion, and sometimes does. But an extension is a discretion, not an entitlement — the court will weigh how strong the claim is, whether beneficiaries would be prejudiced, how good the explanation for the delay is, and crucially whether the estate has already been distributed. Once the money is out the door, the practical answer is usually no.
Why does this belong on a page about witnessing? Because a badly witnessed will is the single easiest thing to attack, and it puts your estate into exactly this timeline. A properly executed will proves itself and is administered quietly. A defective one invites an application, and in NT your family will be working to a 12 months clock while they sort it out.
The formal requirements in the Northern Territory are:
The mechanics of doing that correctly — the order of signing, whether to initial every page, dating, and how to handle a change — are the same in every state and are set out in how to sign a will correctly. Who is eligible to act as a witness is likewise national: see who can witness a will.
The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory has a dispensing power under section 10 of the Wills Act 2000 (NT), letting it admit a document that fails the formal requirements if satisfied the deceased intended it to operate as their will.
If the court is not satisfied, the will is set aside entirely and section 66 and Schedule 6 of the Administration and Probate Act 1969 (NT) decides who inherits. In the Northern Territory that generally means a statutory split between your partner and children, regardless of what your will said. A ten-minute signing error can therefore redirect the entire estate — see who inherits if there is no valid will in NT.
There is a cost dimension too. The Northern Territory charges a flat fee of approximately $1,585 — made up of a filing fee of about $1,548 plus a search fee of about $37 — regardless of the size of the estate. That is the highest flat probate fee in Australia, roughly four times what Western Australia charges, and because it is flat it falls hardest on small estates.
No. Under section 12 of the Wills Act 2000 (NT), a gift to someone who witnessed the will is void to the extent it benefits them. The rest of the will stands, so the result is that one specific person — the one you were trying to look after — receives nothing. It can only be saved if at least two of the witnesses to the will are not beneficiaries, or everyone who would gain from the gift failing consents in writing.
No. the Northern Territory has no provision permitting a will to be witnessed by audio-visual link, so everyone must be physically present. Only New South Wales and Victoria allow it. Advice suggesting otherwise is either written for those states or describes pandemic-era rules that have since lapsed.
12 months from the grant of administration, under section 9 of the Family Provision Act 1970 (NT). The court can extend that period, but it is a discretion and not something to count on — particularly once the estate has been distributed.
The Northern Territory charges a flat fee of approximately $1,585 — made up of a filing fee of about $1,548 plus a search fee of about $37 — regardless of the size of the estate. That is the highest flat probate fee in Australia, roughly four times what Western Australia charges, and because it is flat it falls hardest on small estates. These are court fees only, and exclude any solicitor or trustee company charges. Figures are as at FY2026-27 and most jurisdictions re-index on 1 July, so check the current NT schedule before relying on a number.
The Northern Territory is the most expensive place in Australia to administer an estate. Its flat probate fee of about $1,585 is roughly four times Western Australia's $408, and because it does not scale with the estate it falls hardest on small ones. The Territory is also alone in not stating the partner's intestacy entitlement in the Act itself — Schedule 6 points to a prescribed amount fixed by regulation, so the figure must always be checked. On witnesses the NT is strict, like New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania: a gift to someone who witnessed your will is void. And it has never permitted remote witnessing, not even temporarily during the pandemic.
No — there is no register and no notary requirement anywhere in Australia, including the Northern Territory. A correctly signed and witnessed will is valid on its own, including one prepared online: see whether an online will is legally valid in Australia.