By ELLEN READ
The Public Trust is hoping to increase its market share for estates and wills because of widespread changes to its fees and services announced yesterday.
Enabled by the new Public Trust Act, the Trust has reduced its fees by more than half for many customers and chief executive
Tim Sole said this would give it an even bigger competitive advantage.
For example, where previously the law required the Trust to charge $4700 plus GST to administer an estate including a house worth $150,000, a car worth $15,000 and $20,000 in the bank, the new charge would be $2025 plus GST or $1400 plus GST under a pre-paid service.
Mr Sole said the Trust had targets in mind for an increased market share but did not intend publicising them.
Public Trust administers and manages more than 6000 estates each year, equivalent to a 15 to 20 per cent market share - more than any other organisation in the country.
It has a similar share of the will market.
Mr Sole said the remainder of the market was divided between three trust companies, which had a collective five per cent market share, and the country's 8000 lawyers who shared the rest.
The new Public Trust Act came into effect yesterday.
Under it, the Public Trust becomes a crown-owned entity managed by a chief executive responsible to a board of directors who in turn report to the Government.
As well as enabling the trust to set its own estate administration fees and introduce new services, the law change means reserves which have built up over the Trust's 128 years in business can now be used.
"We don't need all these reserves to run our business but until now we couldn't do anything else with them," Mr Sole said.
"The old act didn't include a provision for dividends to be paid. The new law will allow us to make a one-off payment of surplus reserves to our owner [the Government] and we may make other payments in the future if the business warrants it."
As well as lowering its fees for most estates, the Public Trust has introduced an online will service and what it says is the world's first pre-paid estate administration service.
