Public Trustee Offers Free Wills
Sun Herald
Sunday May 28, 2000
THE Public Trustee of NSW is offering free wills, including on-line processing.
This is not an initiative from last week's State Budget.
On the contrary, Public Trustee Bill Darwen gets nothing at all from the Budget.
Although a government-owned institution, the Public Trustee is self-sufficient.
``I can only be removed if I go mad, bad or broke," he said.
The free will-making service has one condition, but Mr Darwen admits it is not enforceable.
In return for a free will, you have to nominate the Public Trustee as the executor of your estate.
That means it gets commission at the rate of 4 per cent of the value of the estate on the first $100,000, reducing by 1pc for each successive $100,000.
This is not necessarily onerous as the family home is often in joint names and so technically not a part of the estate.
The commission includes services such as winding up bank accounts, arranging probate and the like.
Even then there is still a way around it. Mr Darwen admits that there is nothing stopping you from changing the executor after the will has been drawn up.
``That costs us a lot, but we still prefer people to die with wills than intestate."
To take advantage of this free service, visit www.pt.nsw.gov.au
© 2000 Sun Herald
Share This