Public Trustee and Guardian Act 1985

Where the public trustee and guardian is acting in a trust or protective capacity as an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian or manager or is otherwise acting in connection with the administration of an estate, without limiting the generality of any other power conferred on the public trustee and guardian under this Act, the public trustee and guardian may, unless expressly prohibited by the terms of any instrument affecting the authority of the public trustee and guardian to act in that capacity—

buy, sell, realise and mortgage (with or without a power of sale) real and personal property, altogether or in parts, and subject to any condition the public trustee and guardian thinks fit; and

exchange property or join in a partition of property; and

grant a lease of property for such period as the public trustee and guardian thinks fit—

being a period not exceeding 10 years; or

if the lease is granted with an option for renewal—being a period that, together with the term of the option, does not exceed 10 years; and

enter into a sharefarming agreement for a period not exceeding 3 years; and

insure property, real or personal, against any contingency; and

expend money for the repair, maintenance or renovation of property; and

pay rates, taxes, insurance premiums and any other outgoings, charges and expenses in respect of property; and

pay or discharge all debts, liabilities, costs, expenses and other obligations; and

borrow money, with or without giving security; and

set off against the claim of a person in respect of an estate any amount owed by the person to that estate or another estate being administered by the public trustee and guardian; and

bring or defend any proceedings; and

take proceedings to cause a person to become a bankrupt or a company to be wound up; and

vote or otherwise act either in person or by proxy at or in connection with a meeting of creditors or shareholders; and

carry out contracts entered into before the commencement of this Act in the same manner as if the contracts had been entered into after the commencement of this Act; and

at the expense of an estate being administered by the public trustee and guardian, engage such persons as the public trustee and guardian thinks fit for the purpose of assisting or advising the public trustee and guardian in the administration or management of the estate; and

do all such acts, matters and things (including execute all documents) as are necessary or convenient for carrying out any of the powers conferred under this section.

In exercising the power referred to in subsection (1) (f), the public trustee and guardian may charge the costs of repair, maintenance or renovation, as the case may be, either to capital or to income or apportion the costs between capital and income on such a basis as the public trustee and guardian thinks fit.

Where the public trustee and guardian has been appointed to act as trustee, executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased person, whether alone or jointly with another person, the public trustee and guardian may exercise the power referred to in subsection (1) (h) for the purpose of paying the reasonable costs of—

the erection of a memorial or tombstone over the grave of the deceased person; or

where the deceased person has been cremated—a memorial or otherwise suitably preserving the ashes of the deceased person.

Without limiting the generality of the power referred to in subsection (1) (i), the public trustee and guardian may exercise that power for the purpose of repaying a debt or other liability that was incurred before the commencement of this Act.

In exercising the power referred to in subsection (1) (i), the public trustee and guardian may pay any interest payable in respect of money borrowed by the public trustee and guardian out of income or, if the income is insufficient, out of capital.

Where, in the exercise of the power referred to in subsection (1) (j), the public trustee and guardian sets off against the claim of a person in respect of an estate an amount owed by the person to another estate being administered by the public trustee and guardian, the public trustee and guardian shall transfer from the estate to which the claim related to the estate to which the amount was owed an amount equal to the amount that was owed by the person to that lastmentioned estate.