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Public Trustee steps in after $10K moved from elderly woman’s bank

An interstate woman will no longer have control over the bank account of an elderly Tasmanian, after $10,000 was moved out of her account. What a tribunal decided>>

The Public Trustee will take over the estate of a 95-year-old Tasmanian woman.
The Public Trustee will take over the estate of a 95-year-old Tasmanian woman.

A tribunal has stepped in after $10,000 was moved out of the bank account of a 95-year-old woman by a well-meaning but inexperienced and conflicted family member.

The elderly woman, who lives in a nursing home, previously had an interstate family member acting as her administrator and guardian – with control of her finances, her medical decisions and her living arrangements.

But in a newly-published decision, the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal said there was no longer a need for a guardianship order, given the woman could instead give consent for medical decisions, and appointed the Public Trustee in her place as administrator.

A doctor told the tribunal the woman was a person with a disability, given she suffered from mixed vascular and Alzheimer’s dementia, and had limited ability to make financial and legal decisions.

The tribunal heard the woman had been transferring lump sums to the nursing home in advance, to enable them to “draw down” their monthly fees and other costs – including a $20,000 amount paid last November.

The woman said she could not access telephone or internet banking for the elderly woman’s account, so it was “easier” to pay a lump sum in advance.

The woman claimed she kept a spreadsheet of her expenditure for her elderly relative, and that when that amount reached $2000, she would transfer $5000 to herself – preferring reimbursement in that manner to save her repeated trips to the bank – a half-hour drive away.

The tribunal said it wasn’t provided with that spreadsheet, but had bank statements showing the woman transferred $5000 to herself on two occasions this year.

When it asked the woman what the money was for, she said “little bits and pieces”, Tattslotto tickets, gardening books, sandals, Christmas presents, bills, an interstate trip to visit her relative, and a “special book” she had made up for her.

The tribunal calculated the figures added up to just under $5000, not $10,000, but the woman said she still had $3000 left over that she planned to “book things up against”.

The woman denied she had a conflict of interest, given the sum of $3000 and money she’d used from her elderly relative’s account to pay for her and her husband to visit.

The woman also said she didn’t think it would be in her relative’s best interests for the Public Trustee to be appointed, given the fees involved and the fact they wouldn’t visit her or buy her Tattslotto tickets.

Noting the elderly woman had substantial cash funds of $259,000, the tribunal said she was in need of an administrator.

While it accepted the woman “came from a place of care and concern” for her elderly relative, she lacked understanding of her role, had deficient reporting habits, and also had a conflict of interest.

An investigation will be undertaken by the Public Trustee into exactly where the $10,000 was spent.

Original URL: https://www.themercury.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-tasmania/public-trustee-steps-in-after-10k-moved-from-elderly-womans-bank/news-story/185b62df046f541130b6c8ef9acb8961