Public Trustees: Appointments, Fees and Review

What a Public Trustee Does

A public trustee’s estate, trust and financial-management functions have different purposes. An executor administers a deceased person’s estate under a will and any grant of probate. A trustee holds and administers property under a trust. A financial manager or administrator makes the financial decisions covered by a protective appointment for a living person.

These roles can overlap within one matter. A body might finish administering an estate but continue holding a beneficiary’s inheritance under a testamentary trust. The continuing trust requires a different analysis from the completed executorship. Routine administration is covered in our guide to executor duties.

Start with the relevant jurisdiction’s body. NSW Trustee and Guardian, State Trustees in Victoria and the Public Trustee of Queensland have separate appointment and charging arrangements. They are not branches of one national office. The other jurisdictions have their own bodies, as the official service pages show.

A financial appointment also differs from guardianship over personal matters. For example, NSW’s guardianship guidance distinguishes lifestyle and healthcare decisions from financial management. Read the actual functions conferred before assuming the office can make a particular decision.

Will preparation and storage are separate from executor appointment. A will bank holds the document. The executor clause identifies the nominated executor and any substitute, subject to the appointment taking effect.

Obtain the signed will and codicils, storage reference and evidence of any later will or revocation. After death, obtain the grant or statutory administration record. Confirm whether a substitute appointment has been triggered. A receipt for will preparation proves neither the latest testamentary instructions nor the current right to administer.

Check the Appointment Before Challenging a Decision

Obtain the appointment documents before deciding whether to seek an explanation, a replacement or review of a particular decision. Use this sequence to establish the position.

1. Identify the person, estate or trust, including the file reference and the body’s exact legal name.
2. Obtain the will and any codicils, grant of representation, trust deed, power of attorney or court or tribunal order.
3. Identify the function conferred, its limits and any later variation. Separate estate administration from a continuing trust or protective financial appointment.
4. Identify the disputed act. Record who made the decision, when notice arrived and what your client wants changed.
5. Confirm your client’s interest and authority to instruct. Keep their written authority with the request for records or review.

A will-maker’s choice of executor differs from an order appointing a financial administrator. In NSW, an executor can renounce before a grant if they have not dealt with estate property. After a grant, the Supreme Court’s probate guidance explains the removal process and limited statutory substitution arrangements. A beneficiary’s request alone does not remove the executor.

If the office already holds a grant, distinguish asking it to cooperate with a lawful change from obtaining the court order needed for contested removal. If it continues solely as trustee, examine retirement and replacement under the trust instrument and applicable trustee law separately.

For a Queensland protective appointment, QCAT’s administrator guidance provides for review when relevant circumstances change or new information emerges. QCAT is the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. An adult or someone with a sufficient and genuine concern for their interests can apply. Family agreement does not itself cancel the order.

For ongoing plans and accounts after appointment, see our guide to the financial administrator’s role.

Understand Charges and the Estate Account

Test each charge against the fee authority for that role and the records used to calculate it. Obtain the applicable official schedule and the appointment terms, including any agreed fee disclosure. Preserve the version covering the charged period.

Check whether the charge uses gross capital, income received, an asset balance or a service level. Then check exclusions, minimum fees, transaction charges, professional work, outlays and GST treatment. A capital commission can be correct even when it exceeds the cash left after debts, if the authorised basis is gross assets.

The schedules differ. NSW’s fee page separates deceased-estate fees from financial-management charges. State Trustees’ estate schedule calculates capital commission on gross estate value. Its VCAT appointment schedule belongs to a separate service.

Queensland’s financial-administration fee explanation distinguishes appointment categories and GST treatment. Its fee and rebate guidance explains financial-hardship assistance. Check the relevant concession criteria and ask for the decision on any requested rebate.

There is no single percentage that the public trustee takes from a will or estate. Will-making and storage charges arise separately from later executor administration. Calculate the estate charges from the appointment, governing fee schedule and actual account entries.

For a WA estate, retain the Public Trustee’s published fee documents beside the estate ledger. Select the scale covering the charge and the deceased-estate category. Reconcile capital charges, income charges and individual services separately, including applicable relief. A financial-management scale cannot substitute for the estate scale.

A Fictional Fee Reconciliation

The following fictional figures show the checking method using invented rates. Assume a fictional appointment authorises the stated charges, with GST already included where applicable.

The first two calculations agree with the assumed authority. A client can still dispute whether that rate or capital base was authorised. The transfer charge raises a different issue: the supplied records support only $25. Ask for the missing record or correction before alleging an unauthorised fee.

Request Records and Test the Explanation

A records request must identify the requester’s capacity and the legal basis for access. A beneficiary seeking estate accounts has a different position from a relative asking for a living person’s financial records. Being a family member does not establish unrestricted access.

For NSW estate and trust information, NSW Trustee and Guardian’s access policy applies trustee disclosure principles and law. Information held in its executor, administrator or trustee capacity has special exclusions under government information-access legislation. A general information request therefore does not bypass those rules.

In a NSW deceased estate, the Supreme Court’s accounts guidance explains applications by beneficiaries for orders requiring verified accounts. It also identifies objections to accounts and limits on what passing accounts can determine. A dispute over asset ownership or valuation can require separate proceedings.

Ask for a defined period and explain how each requested record bears on the disputed decision. The working bundle needs the following documents.

• The appointment and every variation, together with the will or trust instrument where relevant.
• The opening asset inventory, liability schedule and valuations supporting any fee base.
• Bank and investment statements, the transaction ledger and a closing balance reconciliation.
• Fee calculations, invoices, outlay receipts and any rebate decision.
• The disputed decision, reasons, correspondence and evidence considered by the decision-maker.

Compare the explanation with those records. A missing debit could be a recording error or an omitted statement. A documented sale at a price your client dislikes is a different question from proceeds missing from the account. Preserve that distinction in the request and any later application.

For substantial statement bundles, FinTrace saves legal teams and forensic accountants hours of manual review. The service produces a searchable Excel ledger and findings report, with source PDF filenames and pages beside the findings. That gives the professional direct access to the statement evidence when testing an account discrepancy.

Choose the Complaint or Review Route

Choose the route by the decision and remedy sought. An internal service complaint, an external oversight complaint and an application to change an appointment perform different jobs.

NCAT is the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. NSW’s financial-management handbook describes separate 28-day periods for requesting internal review and then external review after receiving the internal outcome. It excludes NCAT administrative review where the decision follows a Supreme Court direction. These are role-specific rules, not a national complaint deadline.

Victoria has different triggers. Victoria Legal Aid explains a four-week rehearing period and a separate two-week period to request written reasons. The timing can change when reasons are requested. Read the relevant procedure against the hearing and receipt records before calculating the last day.

Before escalating, preserve the original decision, notice and proof of receipt. Keep the reasons, appointment authority and source records with a chronology of what happened. Record the applicable time limit and the remedy each forum can grant. Where a transaction is imminent, assess whether urgent relief is needed before waiting for a complaint response.

A request to correct an unsupported fee needs the calculation and ledger evidence. A request to replace an appointee needs evidence addressing that appointment’s legal test. Frame the application around the outcome your client needs and attach the records that establish it.

Removing State Trustees in Victoria

A Melbourne enquiry about removing State Trustees starts with its capacity. A living client changing a will’s executor clause needs valid replacement testamentary instructions. Changing a will does not discharge an administrator appointed over that client’s current finances.

After a Victorian estate grant, section 34 of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 provides for court discharge or removal on its specified grounds. These include refusal, unfitness or incapacity to act. Obtain the grant and evidence addressing the relevant ground before selecting that route.

Where State Trustees acts under an administration order, VCAT reassessment addresses the continuing appointment under the Guardianship and Administration Act 2019. A continuing private trust requires a separate reading of its instrument and trustee replacement powers. A service complaint alone changes none of those appointments.

The NSW comparison follows the same document-first enquiry, with a different local procedure. Its Supreme Court probate route concerns executor removal, while NCAT financial-management review concerns eligible protective decisions. An accounts application tests the administration account. Preserve the appointment and evidence supporting the particular remedy rather than treating every complaint as a removal case.

Consumer-review scores and office locations do not establish statutory review rights. Use the decision notice, reasons and governing authority to select the forum and calculate the deadline.

Appointments and Accountability by Jurisdiction

Each state or territory has its own public trustee arrangements. Use the appointment source to separate deceased-estate administration from protective management for a living person. The following table identifies the records and official starting points for that enquiry.

In an enquiry about a “public trustee act”, ACT can mean the Australian Capital Territory or an Act of Parliament. Canberra matters start with the ACT office and the instrument conferring its functions. The Public Trustee Act 1978 is Queensland legislation, not a national code.

Queensland Appointment Check

For a living Queensland will-maker who wants another executor, establish capacity and prepare valid replacement testamentary instructions. Locate the original will and update its storage arrangements. Withdrawing a stored will alone does not revoke it or replace its executor clause.

After death, establish whether Queensland Public Trustee acts under a grant, election or order to administer. Part 4 of the Public Trustee Act 1978 contains distinct administration mechanisms. Section 31 also permits another executor to appoint the public trustee subject to its conditions. Obtain the actual filed instrument before pursuing a change.

For a QCAT administrator, use the order-review process described above. A protection order made by a court under the Public Trustee Act has a different source. Section 69 addresses variation or rescission of that protection order. Preserve the order, notice and reasons so the application reaches the decision-maker with power over it.

WA Appointment Check

For a living WA client, read the executor clause before changing instructions. The Public Trustee’s will service ordinarily nominates it as sole executor or as substitute for a spouse. A valid new will can address that nomination. A will-bank withdrawal is a custody step.

After death, obtain the grant and establish the estate-administration stage before proposing renunciation, an agreed change or contested court relief. The WA estate guidance distinguishes probate from letters of administration. A beneficiary cannot terminate that authority by changing bank instructions.

For a protective administration order, apply the State Administrative Tribunal’s review procedure. SAT examines whether administration remains necessary and whether the order needs amendment. Its guidance identifies applicants entitled to apply directly and interested parties who first need leave. Keep the order and evidence of changed needs with the review request.

Select the remedy only after the file identifies the role, the disputed decision and the financial evidence supporting the requested change.