The Public Trustee assists in the personal financial administration of many people who cannot manage the task for themselves. While providing assistance, we recognise that different cultural and lifestyle values create different priorities for people.

With our Disability Service Standards, we have made a commitment to you, our client, to involve yourselves, your carers, family members and other key people, in the decision-making processes, to ensure that the best results are achieved regarding your financial and lifestyle planning issues.

Bringing service providers together provides a balance between the services the client requires of The Public Trustee and those provided by their own personal support network.

Your Client Service Plan will then be prepared to meet your personal needs and the fees that The Public Trustee will charge, will reflect the level of support and services provided to you.

As part of our commitment to promoting independence and quality of life, one of our tasks is to determine the level of personal financial management service that you will require. It may take a few months to access and identify your ongoing needs. The level of financial management support that best suits your needs will then be determined and an appropriate fee will be set.

If your circumstances alter during the year, and you require either more or less support from us, then our fee will be reviewed and adjusted, so that it fairly reflects the level of support and services you are receiving from us.

Your financial administration needs are carefully accessed. The fee has two components:

1. Personal Financial Administration
Reflects the level of support and personal contact you require. Support activities may include the receipt of income, payment of bills, maintenance of financial records, negotiating with agencies such as Centrelink regarding benefits and day to day administration of your affairs.

Broadly speaking, the fee that The Public Trustee charges is determined by where you live and how your income is paid. For example, if you live in a government funded care facility or hospital and your income is paid directly to that organisation, the amount of contact with us may be quite small and so our fee for services will be minimal.

On the other hand, if you live in the community and you require a higher level of financial administration assistance you may need to contact us on a more regular basis.

In an instance such as this, when the level of assistance provided by us is much higher, this in turn will be reflected in the administration fee you will be charged.

2. Asset Management Fee
Applies when we are responsible for the administration of your assets. This may involve the management of cash, investments, a business or rental properties. Our fee is based on the value of your assets however real estate, personal and household items and motor vehicles are excluded from this.

Realty fee
If you have real estate, mobile homes or retirement units, which are not your principal residence, an annual realty fee will be charged for each property. This fee will apply irrespective of the value of each item. A principal residence is where you, your spouse/defacto, or child under eighteen years of age lives.

Additional services
There may be situations where you may require our assistance to attend to complex liability, debt situations or businesses. For this additional work, our normal hourly charge will apply at the prevailing rate.

Outlays
These changes relate to specialised work carried out on your behalf. Examples include professional fees charged by tax agents or financial planners, or the cost of legal actions or any activities necessary in the sale of real estate or other personal possessions.

The costs of postage, telephone, photocopying and other associated out of pocket expenses are also payable.

Our Commitment
The Public Trustee remains committed to a long held philosophy of providing services to clients even if they are not able to meet the full cost of that support. In those circumstances, The Public Trustee will continue to provide assistance.

Estimate of Cost
Each situation is individual and personal. However if you are able to provide us with clear guidelines as to potential planned living arrangements and anticipated needs, we will be happy to provide you with an estimate of fees.

For further information please email clientenq@pt.qld.gov.au.