National Panel of Registered Trustees

Official Trustee (OT)

The regulatory role of the Official Trustee (OT) within AFSA helps ensure there is appropriate oversight for insolvency administrations where a Registered Trustee (RT) has not been appointed. AFSA’s main priority as the Official Trustee (OT) is to focus on matters that are in the public interest and build confidence in the personal insolvency system – even if the administration may not result in a financial return to creditors or cover our administration costs. Other estates will be offered to RTs to administer.

Primarily the Official Receiver will seek a consent to act from an RT before accepting the bankruptcy application, but on occasion, the OT may transfer a bankrupt estate using section 181A of the Bankruptcy Act 1966.

Criteria for offering estates to registered trustees

An estate may be offered to an RT where information provided on the Bankruptcy Form meets the pre-determined criteria.

When an estate is selected for offer of appointment to a RT:

• The next RT on the National Panel of Registered Trustees rotation is emailed a notification requesting that they login to their Online Services account to view the publicly available version of the Bankruptcy Form and provide their consent to act
• The RT, or multiple RTs in the event of joint appointment, have one business day to confirm their capacity to administer the estate and that there is no conflict of interest
• Where a registered trustee has consented to act as a joint trustee, the joint trustee must also consent to act as trustee by the expiry date for the appointment to take effect.
• When the appointment has taken effect, the RT will be notified by email and the documents relating to the estate will be available in the Online Services portal.

Conditions

The following conditions are effective from 29 July 2021

1. Submit a form to join the AFSA panel for Official Trustee transfers
   • To join please submit the application to join national panel of registered trustees by email to RTnationaltransfers@afsa.gov.au.

2. Decline under limited circumstances
   An RT should only decline the offer/proposal if:

   • there is a perceived or actual conflict of interest
   • there are temporary resource issues that would hinder due administration of the estate
   • they are unable to handle the estate due to its anticipated involvement (e.g. size, complexity or public interest issues in estate beyond their capacity

   
   If an estate transfer is declined

   • If a transfer is declined due to a conflict issue, the RT will remain eligible for the next estate for transfer. 
   • If the refusal is due to resourcing constraints, the RT may request a period to remain inactive on the panel.
   • If the RT is unable to accept an estate for any other reason, they will not be selected until the next round of offers is made.

3. Remuneration should not exceed median industry rates

   Remuneration charged to an estate offered to a registered trustee by AFSA should not exceed median industry hourly rates. An assessment of median rates is conducted against all staffing levels annually and communicated by email to panel members thereafter. 

   The *2022/23 median industry rates have been calculated as:

   Role	Range ($/hr)
   Appointee/Trustee	$560–$640
   Manager/Supervisor	$480–$550
   Analyst/Senior	$380–$440
   Accountant/Intermediate	$280–$360
   Graduate/Secretary	$210–$250
   Junior/Admin support	$120–$180

   *These rates are exclusive of GST and effective from 30 July 2023. The 2022/23 rates will remain in effect until we publish further guidance.

Contact details

For more information please contact: RTnationaltransfers@afsa.gov.au.

References

• Sections 156A, 157(1), and 181A of the Bankruptcy Act 1966.

Members of the Registered Trustee National Panel