Institution Notifications

Estate administration involves notifying institutions — banks, super funds, aged care providers, insurers — of a death, sending certified grant copies, and collecting assets. Certum Draft streamlines this with a built-in institution catalog and lifecycle tracking.

The Institution Catalog

Certum Draft ships with a catalog of around 1,600 Australian institutions, each with:

• Estates department contact details (email, phone)
• Postal addresses for deceased estate correspondence
• Required documents lists
• Processing time estimates
• Institution logos

Adding Institutions to a Matter

1. Open an estate matter and click Institutions in the sidebar
2. Click the + button to open the institution picker
3. Search by name, ABN, or address
4. Filter by type using the chips at the top
5. Click an institution to add it to the matter
6. Enter the account/member/policy number

Tip

You can add custom institutions for providers not in the catalog — click “Add Custom Institution” at the bottom of the picker.

Values at Death

Each institution can carry what the holding was worth at the date of death — the running start of your inventory of property:

• Select an institution and enter its Value at death in the detail inspector
• Tick “Owed BY the estate (liability)” for debts rather than assets — an overdrawn account, a credit card balance, a loan
• The list footer keeps running Assets / Liabilities / Net totals as you record values

These figures feed the Estate section’s distribution working (net estate, residue and per-beneficiary entitlements), so recording values here means the distribution letters compute themselves.

The Lifecycle

Each institution moves through six phases:

1. To Notify

The starting phase. The institution has been added to the matter but no notice has been sent yet.

Action: Click “Generate Notice of Death” to create a letter from the appropriate template. The letter is saved to the matter’s Working Documents folder.

2. Awaiting Response

The Notice of Death has been sent. You are waiting for the institution to acknowledge and respond with their requirements.

Action: Click “Record Response” when the institution replies.

3. Awaiting Grant

The institution has responded and requires a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration before releasing assets. The grant has not yet been issued.

Action: No action available until the grant is recorded on the matter (see “Recording the Grant” below).

4. Ready for Grant

The Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration has been issued and recorded on the matter. A grant letter can now be generated.

Action: Click “Generate Grant Letter” to create a letter enclosing a certified copy of the grant.

5. Awaiting Funds

The grant letter has been sent. You are waiting for the institution to process and release assets.

Action: Click “Record Complete” when assets have been received.

6. Complete

Assets have been received from this institution. No further action required.

Recording the Grant

Before the grant is recorded, the Institutions section shows a Record Grant Issued banner at the top. Click it to enter the date issued — the sheet pre-fills from a date already typed on the Details tab if there is one. The grant date is a single fact: recording it here also sets the matter’s probate date, so the calendar, the grant letters and this lifecycle can never disagree (clearing one clears the other).

Saving the date releases every institution sitting in “Awaiting Grant” into “Ready for Grant” at once, and a follow-up banner offers to generate all the grant letters in one click.

Batch Operations

When a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration is recorded on the matter:

• A banner appears showing how many institutions are ready for grant letters
• Click “Generate All Grant Letters” to batch-render letters for all ready institutions (with a confirmation first, so a stray click doesn’t produce a dozen files)
• Each letter is named with the institution (e.g., “Grant Letter - AustralianSuper.docx”)

The letters name the representative correctly. On a probate estate they say “executor” (or “executors” for two); on a Letters-of-Administration or intestate estate they switch to “proposed administrator(s)”. Names render in proper title case — O’Neill, McDonald and Smith-Jones keep their capitals.

Recording a Response

Click “Record Response” to capture details from the institution’s reply:

1. Enter the response date
2. Select whether Grant of Probate is required (Yes / No / Unsure)
3. Add any requirements notes (what the institution needs to release assets)
4. Click Save

If the institution does not require a grant, it moves directly to “Awaiting Funds” (or “Complete” if no further action is needed).

Dashboard

The dashboard shows an Institution Notifications card when any estate matter has institutions in progress. It shows:

• One row per matter — client, institution count, and the age of the oldest outstanding notice (orange past a fortnight)
• A “N need chasing” count in the header
• Expandable rows listing each institution’s current phase with colour coding

The matter number in each row is a link — click it to open that matter directly on its Institutions pane.

Note

The dashboard card only appears when there are active (non-complete) institutions across your matters.

Read-Only Matters

Institution tracking joins the matter’s read-only regime: while another Mac is editing the matter, adding or removing institutions, recording responses, ticking phases and editing values are all disabled — hovering explains “Another Mac is editing this matter”. You can still read everything; nothing you type can be silently lost.