PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4184, 11 September 1939, Page 4

PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE

INCREASED BUSINESS FOR YEAR. SOME REMARKABLE FIGURES. The report on the working of the Public Trust Office for the year end ed March 31st, 1939, was recently laid before Parliament. A pleasing feature of the year’s operations has been the increase recorded in the new business reported to the Public Trustee for administration. In both the number of estates, 3089, and the value of the business, £6,314,532, there was a marked advance over the figures for the preceding year, when 2934 estates and funds of a total value of £5,966,359 were accepted for ad ministation. The aggregate value of the estates and funds under administration on March 31st, 1939, was £61,715,713, :«s compared with £60,815,306 at the close of the previous year, an increase of £900,407. The expansion of the Public Trust Office over the past 20 years is shown by the following table, giving the value of the business under administration and the number of wills on deposit at 10-yearly intervals:— The first column represents the value of Estates and Funds under Administration, while the second, represents the number of Wills of living persons held on deposit.

The total number of estates and funds under administration at the close of the year was 19,224, of an aggregate value of £61,715,713. Although, therefore, the administration of many estates was completed during the year, there was an increase in both the number and value of estates remaining under administration at the end of the year. There are many cases where the Public Trustee is required to supervise the administration by private persons of the estates of mental patients and aged and infirm persons. In other cases the duties are not of an active character—e.g., trusteeships for delbenture-holders. By including these figures the value of the estates ,and funds under administration at the close of the year would be increased by £1,830,802. The fact that the Public Trustee specialises in the making of wills and offers this service free of charge to to persons desiring new wills prepared or old wills revised where the Public Trustee is appointed executor is reflected in the continued increase in the number of wills received.

In the past year 4919 wills appointing the Public Trustee executor or trustee were deposited by testators, representing a substantial increase over the corresponding figure of 4502 for the previous year. The majority of the Wills were prepared by the office. The number of wills withdrawn during the year through the death of testators or otherwise was 2241. At the close of the year there were 93,152 wills on deposit, showing a substantial increase of 2678 over the number at the 'beginning of the year, which itself constituted a record in the history of the office.

1919 19,242,347 24,237 1929 48,334,790 62,841 1939 61,715,713 93,152