Probate fees
Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (14:22): My question is to the Premier. The Allan Labor government claims that people who cannot afford its increased up-front probate fees can rely on ‘legal fee loans, family law loans, credit cards and payments of superannuation’. Why is the Premier encouraging grieving Victorians to raid their super, take out a loan or max out their credit cards to pay her government’s new taxes?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:23): In answering the member for Malvern’s question, of course the member for Malvern neglected to refer to the fact that we have abolished probate fees for small estates. We are keeping medium-sized estate fees cheaper than New South Wales and South Australia, and for the small number of larger estates that are more complex, they are set at that higher rate. I am sure the member for Malvern will share that information with those who are raising these matters with him.
Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (14:23): As part of the government’s probate fee increase consultation, it was proposed that the family home ‘should be excluded from the value of the estate to avoid high fees’. The government considered this issue but decided not to act. Why did the Allan Labor government decide to not exclude the family home from its new probate fee system?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:24): I have answered this question on previous occasions. We went through a policy process, and we have come up as a result with a system where the probate fees have been abolished for many small estates and are set at a lower rate for medium-sized estates compared to New South Wales and South Australia, and for those larger estates the most an estate will pay in probate fees is 0.24 per cent of an estate’s value, making sure that it is set at a rate that is fair to work through the court system, given the complexity of those larger estates.