State Trustee Victoria

The Problem#

• State Trustee Victoria administers approximately 3,500 intestate estates per year — cases where the deceased left no will, no executor, or no family member willing to act
• The agency builds estate records from scratch: searching bank records, contacting financial institutions, requesting superannuation fund details, and conducting genealogical research to identify next of kin
• Superannuation death benefits with trustee discretion may not pass according to intestacy rules — lapsed binding death benefit nominations (BDBNs) are a recurring problem
• The progressive estate-building process currently relies on spreadsheets and manual correspondence, with no structured format for the evolving picture
• Approximately 8% of cases are affected by lapsed BDBNs causing unexpected trustee discretion distributions

How They’d Use INHERIT#

• Build INHERIT documents progressively: estate.json starts with status: "pre_probate" and a known testatorPersonId, expanding as information is gathered
• Add asset.json entries as assets are discovered, each with common/provenance.json recording when and how the asset was identified (bank search, Land Registry search, superannuation fund response)
• Track investigation completeness via common/completeness.json on each entity
• Use the australia-nz extension’s SuperannuationNomination[] with nominationType distinguishing "bdbn_lapsing", "bdbn_non_lapsing", and "non_binding" — the binding boolean and expiryDate fields flag lapsed nominations
• Record potential claims under family provision legislation via FamilyProvisionClaim[] with claimantPersonId, relationship, and limitationPeriod
• For estates involving Aboriginal land, use AboriginalLandDetails with landType (e.g. "native_title", "aboriginal_freehold"), landCouncil, and successionRestrictions
• Capture genealogical research in kinship.json with common/provenance.json on each entry recording the evidence source

The Integration#

• Export-focused: the agency generates INHERIT documents at key milestones — Letters of Administration application, asset distribution, and estate closure
• Documents are shared with beneficiaries, government agencies (Australian Taxation Office, state revenue offices), and courts
• The structured format provides an auditable record of the entire estate investigation

The Business Case#

• Administrative overhead reduced by 20% across 3,500 cases per year — replacing the spreadsheet-and-email approach with progressive structured documents
• Structured superannuation data catches lapsed BDBNs affecting approximately 8% of cases — preventing unexpected trustee discretion distributions
• Annual savings estimated at A$4.2 million (approximately £2.2 million) in reduced investigation time and faster distributions

Before / After#

Without INHERIT:

1. State Trustee is appointed to an intestate estate with no known family, no will, and no asset list
2. Staff begin searching bank records, contacting superannuation funds, and querying Land Registry — results arrive over weeks in unstructured emails and letters
3. A superannuation fund reveals a BDBN that lapsed two years ago — the death benefit now falls to trustee discretion rather than the named beneficiary
4. Genealogical research identifies three potential next of kin; evidence is tracked in a spreadsheet
5. Months later, a family provision claim arrives — staff must reconstruct the investigation timeline from scattered correspondence
6. Distribution proceeds after protracted manual compilation

With INHERIT:

1. State Trustee creates an INHERIT document with estate.json at status: "pre_probate" and the known deceased
2. As assets are discovered, asset.json entries are added with provenance metadata recording the source and date
3. Superannuation nominations are captured with binding and expiryDate — the lapsed BDBN is flagged immediately
4. Genealogical research builds kinship.json progressively, each relationship evidenced with provenance
5. The INHERIT document at any point provides a complete, auditable snapshot of the investigation