Australian Executor Trustees

Absolutely appalling company, completely dismissive unprofessional staff who give one sentence email responses. Has taken 2.5 years to settle a very simple estate, still not finalised. They are not honouring the fees agreed to in the will despite the initial contact person stating they they would, they are charging double. Unbelievable. Do not do… Read more

business with this company by any means!! Even with complaint lodged against them they move at a snails pace, making money off all the interest from the assetts they deliberately hold onto. There's always someone else to blame for delays..

My parents wills were written by AET. No problems. The probem we found was the costs and their complete lack of professionalism. Mum and I were vulnerable, after having family problems and ongoing cancer treatment for herself. When mentioning this, the lawyer said that they could execute the will. After all, that's what they got paid for. Not… Read more

doing the calculations, I discovered the fees are tens of thousands of dollars for what I later discovered a typical lawyer could do for under $10k. I find this a bit of a conflict of interest.

The execution of the estate was very long. It took about 6 months just for probate to be granted. The representative was very dismissive, elusive in her responses. Oh it was the courts fault because they go on holidays over Christmas. Every time line is about double the standard. My financial adviser suggested 2-3 weeks for probate to be processed. Their timeline was about 4-6 weeks, but in actual fact took months. Here I am in May, over 6 months after mum's passing in Oct 2024, and I just have an update that it will take until October to set up trust funds.

I had a tax bill shortly after mum's passing. Roughly $8k. I asked about paying it. They said the accountant can wait until the estate is finalised. The due date of the bill was one week later, and if I paid in instalments, it would incur extra costs, so I paid upfront. It looks like it will be 1 year (October 2025) until I get reimbursed. The arrogance of expecting other people to wait for their dues was unbelievable.

The long time line has meant lost revenue due to investments. We had about $1m in money. Another 6 months with lost capital gains/dividends/interest. I doubt they will be compensating me for that.

They are inconsistent in their answers. Some reimbursements occurred for expenses I incurred after mum's death, but not others. Some were listed, some weren't. Just another question in the too hard basket for them. They have selected insurance for me as a temporary measure with absolutely no consultation as to who and how much. I've specifically asked for the cost of the insurance. They refuse to tell me. It's disgraceful. In short they are the most incompetent professionals I have ever dealt with.

An update after 16 months. Recently I waited about 6 weeks for them to decide where to take money from to reimburse an amount over $20k. I sent a complaint to AFCA, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Firstly, I was sarcastically "thanked"by the estate manager, because now she has to face the professional standards board. Shortly thereafter, they finally made a decision as to the source of the reimbursement (dad's or mum's side of the estate). I then got a report from one of their staff and every single claim I made about the delays, the apparent "stalling", was rejected in a very comprehensive reply. It was worded in such a way as to protect their reputation, rather than addressing any of my concerns. As a background, I live on a Disability Pension, so have been relying on this money to live. Despite sharing these concerns, no urgency was ever attached to my situation, although they strenuously disagree. They've put the estate into a Hub24 account, which has fees of up to 1.75%p.a.. That is, for every $100k, $1,750 in fees are taken out annually. As the estate will be many times $100k, these fees could add up to thousands of dollars. One banking account was left in a low interest account 2% for a year. It would have taken several mouse clicks to shift it into a higher interest account 4%, making almost $1800. These are just a short list of the incredibly poor financial decisions they make. When you ask them about doing things differently, they resort to the company line of "It's company policy." and so they refuse to listen to anything you ask, suggest or advise.

The phone call I received to discuss why I couldn't receive a partial inheritance, in the time it's taken to "wind up"dad's SMSF was effectively a list of excuses, legal jargon and a bit of a sales pitch. Amongst all this, I've contacted Legal Aid and have been told that only a lawyer should be handling the estate, not a para legal. Mum's estate is being handled by a para legal. The sales pitch from this para legal on multiple occasions, despite my objections, tried to persuade me to use their lawyers to manage my trust fund. Each occasion I said no. Several times she pointed to the reason of the delays, and that was mum's choice to hang onto dad's SMSF, rather than using a retail super fund. Apparently, handling an SMSF is much longer and complex, which I appreciate. She then bragged about her own role as an ex financial planner and began to undermine our own, someone with over 30 years experience, essentially undermining mum's decisions. After the phone call, I was left so confused, realising that there was no information I could act upon. They are beyond incompetent. The complaint I made that they were dismissive of basic questions, was "dismissed", therefore the circular arguments they use to blame the client, and reinforce their own incompetence. Shares are being sold with no strategy as to either maximising gains or consideration of brokerage fees.

AET are great with words, but hopeless with numbers. They cannot be removed as executor unless they perform some level of misconduct. Being incompetent apparently doesn't fall into that category. Avoid them at all cost, literally.

AET Perth - offer nothing – AET Perth are the worst to deal with. They supposedly manage my Sons Trust he has an Acquired Brain Injury. This team are evasive, avoidant of clients, could not care less, the less they deal with you the better. Requests are not done in a decent timeframe, no communication. Very unprofessional. The State Manager is rude and pompous, lodged a formal complaint in May 2024 still waiting a response.

Don't care about their Clients – I’m an 81 year old Age Pensioner, in 2007 I used my superannuation money to purchase a Term Allocated Pension for a term of 20 years from “Australian Executor Trustees”. The monthly “Management fee” on this product was based on the remaining balance in the account, for example, the fee for April 2023 was $42.64 on a balance of about $46K. … Read more

However after a fee restructure by the Trustee, taking effect in May 2023, the ‘Management fee” was increased to a flat rate of $5250 per year, regardless of the account balance, with $437.50 per month being deducted from my account, more than 10 times what it was previously. On checking my most recent statement, in November 2023 this fee has now increased a further $31.55 to flat rate of $469.05 per month. In July 2023, I submitted a “Request for closure” form to the Trustee to close this account, they advised this a “non-commutable income stream” product and therefore cannot be paid out as a lump sum. I have suggested to “Australian Executor Trustees” that they revert to the old fee structure until the account is exhausted. They have made it quite clear that they will not consider any adjustment to their fee. At this rate, the remainder of my retirement nest egg will be exhausted by April 2026, by which time more than a third of the remaining account balance will have gone to “Management fees”. I would urge anyone considering doing business with this Company, to look elsewhere.

Why are all Executors / Guardians / Trustess so rude? – Incredbily rude staff in my few interactions with AET. Avoid this place if you can.

Management for the benefit of AET and not the Beneficiary – My father's and mother's Wills became Testamentary Trusts which ensured my brother who suffered congenital brain damage, had lifetime accommodation of his choice. I was co-Trustee to ensure the Trust was managed in accordance with my parents' wishes. For many years, the management of the Trusts by National Australia Trustees (NAT) was text book… Read more

perfect. In 2017, NAT was sold to IOOF. At the time of the Financial Royal Commission (2018) I was told I was not a co-Trustee. No copies of documentation I allegedly signed have been provided despite numerous requests. We watched with dismay the disrespect shown by the CEO and Board not just to the Royal Commission, but to their clients. The Trusts are used as investment opportunities to benefit AET/IOOF. The management of our Trusts has lead to a review by Services Australia (current 2022) the outcome of which is unknown; but will certainly result in my brother being worse off. There is nothing we can do. If legal action is taken, AET/IOOF will use the Trust to pay for legal advice until there is nothing left. Self-representation at the Supreme Court was discouraged for good reason. How does a loving family look after a family member and protect that person from avaricious relatives and the greed of "Trust" corporations? The only answer I can think of is a weekly publication in a newspaper column raising awareness of the unethical behaviors towards 100s of victims whose Trusts are a "captive" source of income. These people require justice; but their voice is small. The Victorian era of "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens is alive and well. And this is Australia's "fair go".

An absolute disaster but then again owned and managed by IOOF – I have been a co-executor of my mother's estate for over 50 years now and have several organisations manage the life interest that she left to take care of my sister. So because the management has changed due to takeovers, I feel very well qualified to be able to compare and bring down a judgement about the current management by AET. One would… Read more

think that since my mother went to such trouble to make sure that my sister had been properly protected and taken care of that AET would also take care of my sister and the other members of the family who love her and want to see her happy and protected. This has not happened. My sister, despite requesting by phone and in writing that her personal property was not disposed, was completely ignored and all of her personal possessions have gone. She has often cried herself to sleep because of this flagrant abuse of my sister. Being a pensioner she had saved some money in her savings account but this also has been taken from her as was her personal access card and AET refuse to give it back to her. AET allowed another member of the family to become her guardian, organise a will that favoured her family despite the fact that my sister does not want anything to go to that family. Investment expertise has seen the relative value of the estate decrease over the years. It would have been even more so had the recommendations to sell shares such as CBA been taken at the time recommended. The estate would be even lower in value had suggestions by the two co-executors to take up investments in the retirement homes industry been rejected. I strongly recommend against setting up life interests or managed estates with AET. They do not take any notice of the deceased person's wishes and certainly do not properly manage the estate.