After a death, the family is usually told by a bank, a registry or a company that some document from the court is required before the deceased’s assets can be dealt with. Three different documents get named, often interchangeably, and they are not the same thing.
Probate is the court’s certification of a will, granted to the executor named in it. It establishes both that the will is genuine and that the person acting under it is authorised to do so. Probate presupposes a will and an executor.
Letters of administration are granted where that presupposition fails — there is no will, or there is a will but no executor able or willing to act. The grant authorises the administrator to collect the estate, pay what it owes and distribute what remains. It is the general authority to administer.
A succession certificate is narrower and is concerned with debts and securities: money owed to the deceased, bank deposits, shares and similar assets. It authorises the holder to receive those debts and to deal with those securities. It is not a decision about who owns immovable property, and it does not certify a will.
Which document an estate needs therefore depends on three things: whether there is a will; what the estate consists of, since immovable property and debts are not dealt with in the same way; and where the deceased lived and the property lies, which decides the court. In some places, and for some communities, probate of a will is compulsory before the will can be relied upon at all — another reason the question is answered by reference to the specific facts rather than by a general rule.
A grant can be opposed. Anyone with an interest may enter a caveat, after which the application ceases to be a formality and becomes a contested proceeding in which the will must be proved — that the testator made it, understood it, and was not acting under someone else’s pressure. Where the estate is jointly inherited and the heirs cannot divide it by agreement, a separate suit for partition may be needed as well.
This note sets out the general distinction only. Which document is required in a particular estate, and before which court, depends on the facts of that estate, and nothing here is legal advice.