Public Trustee Act 1978

When the public trustee becomes manager of the estate or part of the estate of an incapacitated person—

the estate under management shall not thereby become vested in the public trustee; and

the public trustee shall be entitled to the possession and management of the same in accordance with the provisions of this division; and

the public trustee shall be deemed to be a trustee; and

the public trustee shall have in respect of matters of a property, monetary, business or like nature or any rights of a property nature (including proceedings or other action to protect property or enforce rights of a property nature, or rights in aid thereof or ancillary thereto) full power and authority, subject to any order of the court to the contrary, to do, in the public trustee’s corporate name or in the name of the incapacitated person, anything which the incapacitated person could do if the incapacitated person were not under a legal disability; and

without limiting the generality of the foregoing, but subject to the other provisions of this part, the public trustee may apply any property of the incapacitated person or otherwise exercise any of the public trustee’s powers under this division for any of the following purposes—

the maintenance or benefit of the incapacitated person;

the maintenance or benefit of other persons (whether relatives of the incapacitated person or not) for whom a reasonable person, not under a legal disability but otherwise in the position of the incapacitated person, might be expected to provide;

any purpose which a reasonable person, not under a legal disability but otherwise in the position of the incapacitated person, might be expected to seek to achieve;

Without limiting the generality of subsection (1) the powers of the public trustee shall extend to the following—

taking proceedings to recover any legacy or distributive balance in the estate of a deceased person to which the incapacitated person is entitled;

requiring any person holding or controlling property in respect of which the incapacitated person is beneficially interested as cestui que trust, beneficiary or next of kin to render to the public trustee all such information as the incapacitated person could have required if the incapacitated person were not under a legal disability, and taking all such proceedings to enforce such rights as the incapacitated person could have taken;

demanding, receiving and recovering property held on trust for the incapacitated person and requiring any person holding or entitled to deal with property, in respect of which the incapacitated person is beneficially interested, to deal with such property, to the same extent as the incapacitated person could have required if the incapacitated person were not under a legal disability;

demanding, receiving and recovering all documents, including wills and other testamentary instruments, belonging to the incapacitated person or of which the incapacitated person is, or if not under a disability would be, entitled to possession or custody;

exercising any options or other powers or rights of the incapacitated person arising under any policy of insurance, scheme of superannuation or other arrangement or in respect of any benefit;

making any application under the Succession Act 1981, part 4 or any other Act, which the incapacitated person would be entitled to make if the incapacitated person were not under a legal disability, or instituting any proceedings under the Maintenance Act 1965 or any other Act or law;

borrowing a sum of money or increasing the amount of any overdraft, loan or advance or securing the payment of an amount by mortgage or charge and entering into such covenants, provisions and agreements relating thereto as the public trustee considers reasonable.

The court may authorise or require the public trustee to perform, carry out or do any duty, act or thing which the court considers desirable in relation to the estate, rights or powers of the incapacitated person.