Rule 93 Probate of Will Without Administration of Assets

If someone dies and there's a will, but there's nothing left to actually distribute (no property or money that needs to go through probate), you don't need a full estate process with an executor. Instead, an interested person, like a family member or someone named in the will, can still get the will officially recognized by the court. This is done either through a simple application with the court registrar or by filing a petition, depending on the situation.

The point of this process is to get the will on record and legally accepted, even though there's no property to hand out and no one needs to be appointed to manage an estate. This can matter for legal or personal reasons, like proving what the deceased person wanted, even if there's nothing left to administer.

The paperwork you file and the people you need to notify are basically the same as what's required for a regular will probate case. The only difference is you don't have to notify creditors, since there's no estate for them to make claims against.