Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

TRUSTEE ACT 1925 - SECT 47

    (1)     If an amount is held in trust for a child, someone with a legal disability or someone who cannot be found, the trustee may pay the amount to the public trustee and guardian and, if the amount is paid to the public trustee and guardian, must give the public trustee and guardian—

        (a)     a copy of the trust instrument, or, if there is no trust instrument, a statement setting out the trusts on which the amount is held; and

        (b)     any information about the disability or identity of the person for whom the amount is held in trust that the public trustee and guardian requires.

Note     It is an offence to make a false or misleading statement, give false or misleading information or produce a false or misleading document (see Criminal Code

, pt 3.4).

    (2)     The public trustee and guardian shall hold the amount in trust for the child or for such other person in accordance with the trusts affecting the amount, and may exercise, in addition to the powers conferred on him or her by this section, such other powers as would be conferred on him or her by this Act if he or she had duly appointed the sole trustee of the amount by a person having the power so to appoint him or her.

    (3)     If the amount is held in trust for a person with a legal disability, the public trustee and guardian may—

        (a)     for an amount of not more than $6 000—at the public trustee and guardian's discretion; or

        (b)     for an amount of money more than $6 000 but not more than
$25 000—with the Supreme Court's consent;

apply all or part of the amount for the maintenance, education or benefit of the person or pay it to someone else to be so applied by that person.

    (4)     Where an amount has been paid to the public trustee and guardian under subsection (1) and the public trustee and guardian has, during a period of 6 years after the amount was paid to him or her, had no knowledge of the existence or address of a person who is, or claims to be, entitled to the amount or a share in the distribution of the amount, the public trustee and guardian shall pay an amount equal to that amount or that share, as the case may be, to the Minister, and furnish the Minister with particulars of the amount.

    (5)     A receipt given by the director-general for amounts paid to the Minister under subsection (4) is an effective discharge to the public trustee and guardian for the amounts.

    (6)     A person claiming to be entitled to an amount, or a share in the distribution of an amount, paid to the Minister under subsection (4) may apply to the Supreme Court for an order for payment to him or her of the amount due to him or her, and the court, if satisfied that the person is entitled to the amount or to a share in the distribution of the amount, shall make an order for payment accordingly.

    (7)     Upon the making of an order under subsection (6) for payment of an amount to a person, or where the Minister is otherwise satisfied that a person is entitled to the amount, or a share in the distribution of the amount, paid to the Minister under this section, the Minister shall pay an amount equal to that amount or to that share, to that person.

    (8)     This section does not—

        (a)     deprive a person of any right or remedy to which the person is entitled against a trustee or anyone else; or

        (b)     require the public trustee and guardian to make or continue to make any inquiry or investigation to find out who might be entitled to amounts paid to the trustee under subsection (1) after those amounts have been paid to the Minister under subsection (4).