Public Trustee Act 1978

Subject to this Act—

all moneys vested in or coming into the hands of the public trustee, howsoever arising, and whether directed to be invested or not, shall be held in 1 or more common funds (the common fund) and shall be invested by the public trustee; and

income earned by such investments shall be paid into the common fund; and

interest, at a rate to be from time to time prescribed, shall be credited at least annually, on a date to be from time to time fixed by the public trustee, to the respective estates having moneys in the common fund; and

investments may be made from the common fund in any of the investments in which under the Trusts Act 2025 trustees are authorised to invest trust funds and also in any class of investments from time to time approved for the purposes of this Act by regulation; and

investments made from the common fund by virtue of this subsection shall not be made on account of or belong to any particular estate under administration.

The public trustee may—

invest moneys belonging to an estate under administration in any investment which is authorised by the provisions of a governing trust instrument and, subject to the provisions of any such trust instrument, retain in the form in which it then is any investment existing when the trust becomes vested in the public trustee; and

invest moneys held by the public trustee on trust for any person under a legal disability or, when for special reason the public trustee considers it desirable that moneys should be separately invested, moneys belonging to any other estate under administration, in any investment in which trustees are authorised by law to invest trust funds; and

when the public trustee is the committee or manager of an estate under management or the manager of the estate of a prisoner under part 7 continue investments in the form in which they are when the public trustee becomes authorised to manage that estate, reinvest from time to time in similar investments and exercise, as fully and effectually as that person could do if the person were not under a legal disability or a prisoner to whom part 7 applies and if the person’s estate was not being managed by the public trustee, all rights of that person as the holder of any stock or other investment, including the exercise, in whole or in part, of any rights arising thereout to acquire in the name of that person any stock, and for such purpose apply moneys belonging to that person, or sell or dispose of any of such last mentioned rights.

When an investment is made or retained in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2)—

it shall not form part of the common fund but shall belong to the particular estate under administration to which the moneys invested or the investments retained belong; and

income earned by it shall be credited to the particular estate under administration; and

any loss or deficiency in respect of it or of the moneys received therefrom or realised thereby shall be borne by the estate under administration.