Newsletter
July 2014 Newsletter
Administrator of deceased estate breached duty
The Supreme Court of Queensland has ruled that an administrator of a deceased estate breached her fiduciary duty by applying for her deceased son's superannuation benefits to be paid to her personally, rather than on behalf of his estate.
The Court had granted the woman Letters of Administration over her son's estate after he died, aged 40, intestate and without a spouse or children. However, she applied to her deceased son's superannuation funds for any death benefits to be paid to her personally.
The deceased's father (the woman’s ex-husband) submitted that she had allowed a conflict of interest to occur by seeking the superannuation death benefits for herself personally. In finding against the woman, the Court ordered that she transfer all of the superannuation death benefits in dispute (approximately $450,000) to the son's estate, where it would be shared equally with her former spouse under the rules of intestacy.