The Hidden Cost of “Free” Wills
The Public Trustee of Queensland has been the subject of significant negative press recently as a result of an ABC investigation issues surrounding public trust wills and the management of estates
The Public Trustee has an important role to play but clearly needs a thorough review of how its purposes are achieved.
One of the issues, in our view, is that the Public Trustee is, and is expected to be, self-funded. The Public Trustee provides “free” Wills which means:–
1. the wages and other costs of doing so must be funded, at first instance from fees charged by the Public Trustee for other services; and
2. the Public Trustee’s charges for administering the estate of willmakers who have made a “free” Will is usually higher than the cost of engaging Bradley and Bray (or another law firm) to help the executors administer the estate, in our experience.
We should also remember that the fees charged by the Public Trustee are set by Regulation so there is a government minister and department approving those fees.
We also have concerns about the way the Public Trustee officers take instructions for Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney (including not dealing with binding nominations on superannuation, based on what clients have told us) and draw those documents.
For that reason, we think the provision of “free” Wills by the Public Trustee should be limited to those in our community who simply can’t afford to have their Wills drawn by a lawyer.
In recent years we have also been finding considerable delays in the Public Trustee carrying out administration of estates.
We have had a number of clients with concerns about Public Trustee management of their funds or the funds of a loved one and we have had success in helping clients move their funds away from the Public Trustee, which has been a great relief for the clients.
We don’t recommend naming the Public Trustee as executor of your estate, especially when it comes to public trust wills. Trustee of any trust created by your Will or as your Enduring Power of Attorney unless you have no-one else you trust to fill the role. We can always recommend other professional trustees if there are no family members or other loved ones you trust to carry out these roles.
Having said that, we have had situations where a client can’t carry on as trustee of a trust created by a Will and we have helped them negotiate for the Public Trustee to take over the trusteeship and this is one of the important functions of the Public Trustee – trustee of last resort.
Let us know if you would like Bradley and Bray to help you with any matter involving the Public Trustee Sunshine Coast. You can contact us on (07) 5441-1400 or use our contact form here.
This article is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. If you require legal advice in relation to your personal circumstances, you must formally engage our firm, or another firm to provide legal advice in relation to your matter. Bradley & Bray lawyers takes no responsibility for any use of the information provided in this article.
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