Deceased Estate Clearance: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you're reading this, you're probably an executor, or a family member helping one, standing in a house full of a lifetime's belongings and wondering where to even begin.

It's a genuinely hard task, and it's made harder by the fact that most people only do it once or twice in their lives. There's no obvious order to it, and some steps have legal consequences if you get them wrong.

This is a plain guide to the process: what to do first, when you can actually start clearing, how to handle the things that matter, and what it costs when you get to the point of emptying the house.

A note before we start: this is general information, not legal advice. Executors have real legal duties in Victoria and can be personally liable for getting some things wrong. If there's any complexity - a contested will, unclear beneficiaries, significant assets - talk to the estate's solicitor before you clear anything.

Step 1 - Don't rush, and don't throw anything away yet

The instinct, especially if the property is being sold or the rent is still running, is to get in and clear it fast. Resist that for a moment.

Things that look like rubbish often aren't:

• Cash and jewellery hidden in drawers, tins, pockets, freezers and books - this is far more common than people expect, particularly with older generations
• Share certificates, bank passbooks, insurance policies, title documents
• Original wills, or a later will than the one you have
• Photographs and letters that no one can replace once they're gone

Practical approach: go through the house room by room before anything leaves, and check every drawer, pocket, container and book. If several family members are involved, do this together or at least keep everyone informed - clearing an estate is where family disputes tend to start.

Step 2 - Understand where probate sits

In Victoria, a Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration if there's no valid will) is the Supreme Court confirming the executor's authority to deal with the estate.

Timing matters, because it's slower than people expect:

• A notice of intended application must be published at least 14 days before applying
• Once lodged, a straightforward application typically takes 4–8 weeks to process
• Probate isn't always required - small estates and jointly-held assets often don't need it

What this means for clearing the house: you can usually sort, organise and remove genuine rubbish while probate is pending, but you should not be distributing or disposing of anything of value until the executor's authority is settled and the beneficiaries are clear. If the property is being sold, settlement generally can't happen until the grant is issued.

When in doubt, ask the estate's solicitor before anything of value leaves the house. It's a short phone call and it protects you.

Step 3 - Secure the property

Empty houses are vulnerable, and this is often overlooked in the first weeks.

• Change or secure the locks if keys are unaccounted for
• Check that home and contents insurance is still valid - many policies lapse or reduce cover once a property is unoccupied, so tell the insurer
• Redirect mail, and cancel deliveries and subscriptions
• Turn off or reduce utilities you don't need, keeping enough power for lights and security
• Clear perishables from the fridge and pantry early, this is the one thing genuinely worth doing straight away

Step 4 - Sort into four piles

When you're ready to work through the contents, the simplest method is four categories:

1. Keep / distribute. Anything named in the will, plus items of sentimental or financial value for beneficiaries. Keep a list of what went where - it prevents disagreements later.

2. Sell. Antiques, quality furniture, jewellery, collectables, tools, cars. If you're unsure whether something's valuable, get it valued before it goes. Auction houses and dealers will often assess an estate.

3. Donate. Usable clothing, homewares, books, working appliances. Charities are grateful for these, though most have limits - few take used mattresses, and many won't collect.

4. Dispose. Everything genuinely at end of life: worn furniture, broken appliances, expired food and cleaning products, decades of paperwork.

A practical tip: don't try to do all four in one pass. Walk through once identifying the "keep" items and anything possibly valuable, then deal with the rest.

Step 5 - Handle paperwork carefully

Older houses often hold decades of documents, and the important ones are mixed in with the rest.

Worth keeping or checking before disposal:

• Wills, deeds, titles, share certificates
• Bank and superannuation records
• Insurance policies, funeral bonds
• Tax records - the estate may still need to lodge a return
• Medical records, which can matter for family history or claims

Then dispose of the rest securely. Estate paperwork is full of identity-theft material - full names, dates of birth, account numbers, signatures. Shred or securely destroy anything with personal details rather than putting it in a bin on the kerb.

Step 6 - Clear the house

Once the sorting is done and anything of value has been dealt with, you're left with the physical job of emptying the property. This is usually where people call us, and there are a few ways to do it:

Do it yourself. Cheapest in money, expensive in everything else. A full house is many trailer loads, and it's heavy, emotionally draining work.

Council hard waste. Free within your allocation, but limited items, weeks of waiting, and councils won't take mattresses, fridges, e-waste or mixed loads. Rarely enough for a whole estate.

Skip bin. Reasonable if you're working through the house over weeks and have somewhere to put it. You still do all the loading. See Skip bin vs junk removal.

Estate clearance service. We come in and clear the property - one visit or several, depending on size - including the heavy furniture and the awkward items. You don't lift anything, and you don't need to be there for all of it.

Our deceased estate clearance service page has more on how we handle these jobs.

What estate clearance costs

Estate clearances are priced by volume, like any other job:

Most full-house estates run to more than one truck load. We'll give you a fixed quote after seeing the property or photos, and it doesn't change afterwards.

Full pricing: How much does junk removal cost in Melbourne?

On timing: we can work around a settlement date, an auction, or an agent's timeline. Tell us the deadline when you call.

A few things people wish they'd known

It takes longer than you think. Even a modest house is a full weekend to sort properly, and most families need several sessions. Build in more time than feels necessary.

It's emotionally heavier than expected. Sorting a parent's belongings is not like a normal clean-out. Take breaks. Don't do the hardest rooms first, or last thing at night.

Get help with the decisions, not just the lifting. The lifting is the easy part to outsource. The hard part is deciding what matters, and that's worth doing with family present.

Photograph things before they go. Especially furniture and rooms. People often regret not having a record of the house as it was.

Don't feel obliged to keep everything. Keeping a few meaningful things honours someone better than storing twenty boxes you'll never open.

Frequently asked questions

When you're ready to clear the property, call 0435 377 111 or send photos for a free, fixed quote. No pressure and no rush - we'll work to your timeline.

Family-run and based in Oakleigh, servicing all Melbourne suburbs. Rated 5.0 from 105 Google reviews, fully insured, and around 80% of what we collect is kept out of landfill.