5 days ago
Millions in unclaimed deceased estates transferred to Queensland government as beneficiaries unable to be found
Millions of dollars in deceased estates have gone to the Queensland government in recent years after authorities were unable to find a beneficiary to inherit the money.
Between 2020 and 2024, the Public Trustee transferred $2.95 million from ten estates to Queensland Treasury, with the funds put into consolidated revenue.
Most of the funds came from a single estate worth $2 million that was given to the state government in 2021.
The Queensland Public Trustee's office said funds could be transferred to the state when potential beneficiaries had died before the owner of the deceased estate.
It can also happen when a beneficiary is identifiable but cannot be tracked down.
When this occurs, the Public Trustee holds onto the funds for six years to allow potential claimants to come forward or be located.
Public Trustee Samay Zhouand said his organisation did the "utmost within its powers" to find beneficiaries of deceased estates before transferring them to treasury.
"Should a beneficiary emerge in the future, those funds remain available without time limit to those beneficiaries to claim," he said.
The Succession Act in Queensland dictates who inherits what, including in circumstances when a person has not left a will.
This is known as dying in intestate, with the deceased's estate distributed to next of kin in line with the Act. But it cannot go to relatives who are more remote than first cousins.
The former Labor government began a review of the Succession Act in 2023, but did not finish it before leaving office.
A spokesperson for the new Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said she had requested a comprehensive briefing of the review.
The former government outlined a range of possible changes in a discussion paper.
This included essentially banning adult children from contesting their parents' will if the estate is worth less than $250,000, as well as changing the definition of a spouse.
Angela Cornford-Scott, who is chair of the Queensland Law Society's succession law committee, said the process of creating a straightforward will was not difficult or overly expensive.
"If the people make a will and they don't have family members, they can at least direct their entitlements to friends or to charities where that money could actually do some good," she said.
Ms Cornford-Scott pointed out if someone died without a will and did not have a spouse or children their estate could go to their parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, or cousins.
She said in her career she had dealt with four or five cases where genealogists had to be engaged to identify the family tree.
"Although four or five might not sound like a lot over a 25 year career, you remember them because they are so difficult and so unnecessarily complex and expensive," she said.
Ms Cornford-Scott also said the Succession Act should be modernised, noting "things have changed dramatically" since it was created in 1981.
