If someone dies without a valid will in Queensland, a fixed statutory formula decides who inherits.
Australia does not have one set of intestacy rules — it has eight, and they produce genuinely different outcomes for identical families. This page covers what Queensland does. For the parts that are the same everywhere — why stepchildren miss out, how de facto status is proven, what happens with no living relatives — see what happens if you die without a will in Australia.
Where a Queensland estate has to be divided between a surviving partner and children, the partner does not simply take half. They first receive a fixed sum — the spouse's entitlement — and only the balance is shared.
In Queensland that sum is $150,000, set by Schedule 2. It is a flat amount that is not indexed, so it has not moved with inflation.
In Queensland the spouse's entitlement applies whenever you leave a spouse and any children at all.
That condition matters more than the dollar amount, and it is where the states diverge most sharply. The trigger is not a variation on a theme — it is a different rule:
This is why "my spouse will get everything" is true in some states and false in others, for the same family. In Queensland, the partner does take everything where all the children are also theirs.
Because the legacy is a fixed sum rather than a percentage, its real effect depends entirely on the size of the estate relative to that figure. On a $150,000 threshold, an estate below it passes substantially or wholly to the partner. An estate well above it is meaningfully divided.
For most Australian families the largest asset is the home, and this is where it bites: if the children's statutory share cannot be paid out of cash, the house may have to be sold to fund it — sometimes the house the surviving partner is living in. A will avoids that entirely, because you decide.
Under Part 3 and Schedule 2 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld), the estate passes to the first category with a living member:
The exact fractions are technical and depend on the family's shape. The national intestacy guide explains the traps that catch every state — stepchildren, separated spouses, competing partners, proving a de facto relationship.
Queensland charges a single flat filing fee for a grant of probate regardless of whether the estate is worth $50,000 or $5 million. There is also a mandatory notice of intention to apply, published in the Queensland Law Reporter, which costs extra.
Queensland charges a flat filing fee, which cuts both ways. A large estate pays the same as a small one — good news for substantial estates, and notably better than the tiered states where the fee climbs with value. But a small QLD estate pays that same fee in full, with no nil threshold to fall under. In New South Wales an estate below $100,000 pays no filing fee at all; in Victoria the threshold is $250,000; in the ACT, $50,000. A modest QLD estate has no such relief.
Figures are as at FY2026-27, and most jurisdictions re-index on 1 July, so check the current QLD schedule before relying on one. These are court fees only — they exclude solicitor costs, and they exclude trustee company commissions, which are charged as a percentage of the estate and dwarf the filing fee on any substantial intestacy.
There is a second cost that never appears on a fee schedule: with no will there is no executor. A relative must apply to the Supreme Court of Queensland for letters of administration, which is slower than a grant of probate and usually needs the consent of others with an equal or better right to apply. Until that grant issues, banks and land registries will release nothing. The mortgage, meanwhile, keeps falling due.
Intestacy produces exactly the conditions that lead to a family provision claim: someone the statutory formula ignores entirely, such as a stepchild or a long-term partner whose relationship is disputed, and no document recording what the deceased actually wanted.
In Queensland, such a claim must be brought within 9 months of the date of death, under section 41 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld).
Queensland has a two stage clock, which is unusual. Written notice of an intention to claim must be given to the executor within 6 months of the death, and the actual court application must be filed within 9 months of the death. Miss the notice step and an executor may lawfully distribute the estate.
Note carefully when the clock starts, because it is not the same across Australia and it is the detail that catches administrators out. New South Wales and Queensland run the period from the date of death. The other six jurisdictions run it from the grant of probate or administration. That distinction is worth months: an intestate estate can take a long time to reach a grant, and in a grant-based jurisdiction none of that delay eats into the claim period. In a death-based jurisdiction, it all does.
For an administrator this is the single most dangerous date in the process. Distribute the estate before the window closes and you may be personally exposed if a claim succeeds afterwards.
Everything above is a default that applies because nobody left instructions. A valid will overrides the statutory formula, names an executor so no one has to apply for administration, and lets you provide for the people Part 3 and Schedule 2 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld) does not recognise.
Before you make one, check the witnessing requirements in QLD — because a will that fails on execution puts your family straight back into this page.
Often, yes — in Queensland a surviving partner generally takes the whole estate where all the children are also that partner's children. Children from an earlier relationship change the result, and that is when the spouse's entitlement comes into play.
The first $150,000 under Schedule 2, plus personal effects, before the balance is divided. That is a flat amount that is not indexed, so it has not moved with inflation. It only applies whenever you leave a spouse and any children at all.
9 months from the date of death, under section 41 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld). The court can extend that period at its discretion, but an extension is far harder to obtain once the estate has been distributed.
Queensland charges a flat filing fee regardless of the size of the estate, so a small estate gets no discount and a large one no penalty. Queensland charges a single flat filing fee for a grant of probate regardless of whether the estate is worth $50,000 or $5 million. There is also a mandatory notice of intention to apply, published in the Queensland Law Reporter, which costs extra.
Then the estate is generally dealt with as an intestacy, unless the Supreme Court of Queensland exercises its dispensing power under section 18 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld) to admit the document anyway. That is a court application with costs and delay, not a formality.
Queensland is the strictest jurisdiction in Australia on the spouse's share. Where a New South Wales spouse would receive $611,387.84 before the children take anything, a Queensland spouse receives $150,000 — and because that figure is not indexed, it buys less every year. Queensland also gives families the shortest death based deadline to contest at 9 months, with a separate 6 month notice requirement on top. And while its eastern neighbours New South Wales and Victoria both permit video witnessing, Queensland's pandemic era allowance expired in April 2022.
Not freely. The administrator is legally obliged to distribute according to Part 3 and Schedule 2 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld). Departing from it generally requires formal steps and can carry tax consequences. The general position across Australia is covered in the national guide.