The public trustee is an office established pursuant to national (and, if applicable, state or territory) statute, to act as a trustee, usually when a sum is required to be deposited as security by legislation, if courts remove another trustee, or for estates if either no executor is named by will or the testator elects to name the public trustee.
The first public trustee is that of New Zealand; it was proposed by Edward Cephas John Stevens in 1870 due to the difficulty of finding reliable private trustees in the colony and adopted by Prime Minister Julius Vogel who established the Public Trust and installed Jonas Woodward as the world's first public trustee on January 1, 1873. Initially it was a part-time for position for one man, the government had not anticipated that much of the public would prefer to trust a bureaucrat with their estate – by the mid 20th century the New Zealand Public Trustee gained nearly one-third of the estate market in the country, was undertaking many statutory duties beyond this and employed a staff of a thousand. Meanwhile the idea was spreading, initially across the Tasman, where South Australia established a public trustee on the same model on 1 January 1881, making it the first public trustee established in Australia.
The office of the UK Public Trustee was in Sardinia Street from 1916 to 2005.
There is a public trustee in each state and territory of Australia and a similar national position exists under English law. The public trustee primarily performs the role of trustee of deceased's estates where no executor is appointed, or the executor declines to act (and no other person is appropriate). Some public trustees also provide a free or inexpensive service for drawing wills (receiving remuneration upon administering the estate). The public trustees also manage the estates of infants (such as in cases where they receive a damages settlement), prisoners, and others under a disability (legal or otherwise), when required. In England and Wales since 1994 the property of someone dying intestate vests in the public trustee until a grant of letters of administration is made to an administrator or administrators (prior to 1994 it vested in the President of the Family Division).[1] The public trustee may also act as trustee of unclaimed property in some states (Australia).
Although much reduced in size after a series of restructurings in the 1990s, and unsuccessful moves into conveyancing, unit trust-like investments and other non-core business, which led to large losses at the end of the decade, the office has now returned to profit. As at 2005 it held over 330,000 wills and drafted over 21,000 wills per year, managed 3,500 residential properties, 400 charitable trusts and 30 farms, employing 450 people at 35 offices. Public Trust was a corporation sole until 2001, when it was moved to a company-like structure called a 'Crown entity'.
public, trustee, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, examples, perspective, this, article, represent, worldwide, view, subject, improve, this, article, disc. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject You may improve this article discuss the issue on the talk page or create a new article as appropriate December 2010 Learn how and when to remove this message This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Public trustee news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2008 Learn how and when to remove this message Learn how and when to remove this message The public trustee is an office established pursuant to national and if applicable state or territory statute to act as a trustee usually when a sum is required to be deposited as security by legislation if courts remove another trustee or for estates if either no executor is named by will or the testator elects to name the public trustee Contents 1 Origins 2 Other nations 3 United Kingdom and Australia 4 New Zealand 5 References 6 External linksOrigins editThe first public trustee is that of New Zealand it was proposed by Edward Cephas John Stevens in 1870 due to the difficulty of finding reliable private trustees in the colony and adopted by Prime Minister Julius Vogel who established the Public Trust and installed Jonas Woodward as the world s first public trustee on January 1 1873 Initially it was a part time for position for one man the government had not anticipated that much of the public would prefer to trust a bureaucrat with their estate by the mid 20th century the New Zealand Public Trustee gained nearly one third of the estate market in the country was undertaking many statutory duties beyond this and employed a staff of a thousand Meanwhile the idea was spreading initially across the Tasman where South Australia established a public trustee on the same model on 1 January 1881 making it the first public trustee established in Australia Other nations editThe office of public trustee was adopted by several other countries of the Commonwealth including the United Kingdom founded 1906 where it plays a far more limited role Sri Lanka Hong Kong Singapore most Canadian provinces and all Australian states and territories United Kingdom and Australia edit nbsp The office of the UK Public Trustee was in Sardinia Street from 1916 to 2005 There is a public trustee in each state and territory of Australia and a similar national position exists under English law The public trustee primarily performs the role of trustee of deceased s estates where no executor is appointed or the executor declines to act and no other person is appropriate Some public trustees also provide a free or inexpensive service for drawing wills receiving remuneration upon administering the estate The public trustees also manage the estates of infants such as in cases where they receive a damages settlement prisoners and others under a disability legal or otherwise when required In England and Wales since 1994 the property of someone dying intestate vests in the public trustee until a grant of letters of administration is made to an administrator or administrators prior to 1994 it vested in the President of the Family Division 1 The public trustee may also act as trustee of unclaimed property in some states Australia New Zealand editMain article Public Trust Although much reduced in size after a series of restructurings in the 1990s and unsuccessful moves into conveyancing unit trust like investments and other non core business which led to large losses at the end of the decade the office has now returned to profit As at 2005 it held over 330 000 wills and drafted over 21 000 wills per year managed 3 500 residential properties 400 charitable trusts and 30 farms employing 450 people at 35 offices Public Trust was a corporation sole until 2001 when it was moved to a company like structure called a Crown entity References edit Law Reform Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1994 section 14 External links editUK Justice Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Public trustee amp oldid 1219894363, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
