State Ombudsman finds Public Trustee officer guilty after elderly patient lost 
tens of thousands of dollars over seven years

Mitch Mott, The Advertiser
February 10, 2019 5:45pm

Complaints about Public Trustee rose over past five years
The bank account of an elderly, vulnerable woman was allowed to be drain
ed of thousands of dollars because of the negligent inaction of her Public Trustee estate 
officer.

The Public Trustee has been raked over the coals by the State Ombudsman after it 
was discovered when the woman died that she had been eligible for a pension 
and other financial aid for years, but had unwittingly gone without help.

Ombudsman Wayne Lines found the estate officer had committed maladministration 
and misconduct over the prolonged inaction which lasted for seven years.

The Public Trustee agency was also found to have dragged its feet while investigating 
the discrepancy, which has already cost taxpayers almost $80,000 and is expected to 
result in more payments to the patient’s family.

The estate officer claimed he had been overwhelmed by managing 130 
case files and criticised Public Trustee management for not picking up his mistakes during 
sporadic annual reviews.

The Public Trustee became the woman’s full administrator on July 22, 1988, when 
she was 51. They remained her administrator until her death in a nursing home in 
January 2014.

After the woman died the Public Trustee began signing off on her accounts when they 
discovered that her accounts contained far less than they should.

When the woman entered a nursing home in 2008 she was required to pay an 
income-means-tested fee.

During her years in the facility she continued paying the same amount despite her 
accounts decreasing.

The estate officer was responsible for ensuring she paid the correct amount as well as 
investigating whether she should have been receiving a part pension.

At the insistence of the woman’s son the Public Trustee examined her finances and 
discovered she should have been paid $66,479.65 in a part pension.

The Public Trustee has since repaid that to the woman’s family as well as $11,872.82 
in interest. They are still investigating the amount the woman overpaid while in a nursing home.

Mr Lines criticised the extensive delays in investigating the incident.
“The delays when combined, were extensive and occurred on multiple levels of the 
agency,” Mr Lines said.

“Of greatest concern to me, is that the failures of both the estate officer and the 
agency occurred in relation to the estate of a vulnerable person, 
whose affairs were being managed by the agency because that person was 
not deemed able to so on their own,” Mr Lines said.

“The management of the affairs of vulnerable people is at the core of the agency’s 
business. “Such failures simply should not have occ urred.”

In January 2018, The Advertiser reported that the number of complaints about the 
Public Trustee had soared over the past five years.