Queensland has the lowest spouse's entitlement on intestacy in the country at just $150,000, and unlike most states it is a flat figure that has never been indexed for inflation. Queensland also briefly allowed wills to be witnessed over video during the pandemic — that ended on 29 April 2022, and a great deal of advice online has not caught up.
Three things about witnessing a will are genuinely different in Queensland 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 Queensland this mistake has real teeth. Under section 11 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld), 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 who signed are not beneficiaries, or everyone who would gain from the gift failing consents in writing, or the Court is satisfied the will-maker knew about and freely approved the gift. 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 QLD, and much of what you will read online does not say which state it is describing.
No. In Queensland 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 10 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld).
This one catches people out, because Queensland did allow it for a while. During the pandemic a temporary regulation modified the Succession Act 1981 so that wills could be witnessed over a video link, but that modification ended on 29 April 2022. The permanent reforms that followed, in Part 6A of the Oaths Act 1867, cover affidavits and statutory declarations — not wills. So the position today is that a Queensland will must be signed with both witnesses physically present in the same room. Advice written between 2020 and 2022 may tell you otherwise, and it is now out of date.
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 Queensland today.
If a will is signed by video link in QLD, it is not validly executed. It is not automatically worthless — someone can ask the Supreme Court of Queensland to admit it as an informal will under section 18 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld) — 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 Queensland, a family provision claim — an application by someone who says they were not adequately provided for — 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.
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 QLD your family will be working to a 9 months clock while they sort it out.
The formal requirements in Queensland 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 Queensland has a dispensing power under section 18 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld), 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 Part 3 and Schedule 2 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld) decides who inherits. In Queensland that means your surviving partner takes the first $150,000 (spouse's entitlement) and the balance is shared with your children — a figure that a flat amount that is not indexed, so it has not moved with inflation. A ten-minute signing error can therefore redirect the entire estate — see who inherits if there is no valid will in QLD.
There is a cost dimension too. 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.
No. Under section 11 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld), 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 who signed are not beneficiaries, or everyone who would gain from the gift failing consents in writing, or the Court is satisfied the will-maker knew about and freely approved the gift.
No. Queensland 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.
9 months from the date of death, under section 41 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld). The court can extend that period, but it is a discretion and not something to count on — particularly once the estate has been distributed.
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. 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 QLD schedule before relying on a number.
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.
No — there is no register and no notary requirement anywhere in Australia, including Queensland. 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.