- Guide1 of 5
- The lawCorporations Act 2001, Part 5D.3
- Checked10 October 2026
What a trustee company may charge an estate
A licensed trustee company may charge fees for its traditional trustee company services, within the limits of Part 5D.3 of the Corporations Act: for most estate work it must not charge more than the fee schedule it published before it started the work. Fees a will directs, and fees agreed under the Act, sit outside those limits, and a court may reduce fees it finds excessive, though not those two kinds, or a new client charitable trust’s fees charged as Subdivision A of Division 4 permits.
General information only. Dotto is not a financial adviser or a trustee company, and this guide is not financial or legal advice. The official text is Part 5D.3 of the Act on the Federal Register of Legislation, linked at the foot of this page, as compiled on 19 September 2026 and in force on 10 October 2026.
The published schedule
Section 601TAA says:
“A licensed trustee company must ensure that an up‑to‑date schedule of the fees that it generally charges for the provision of traditional trustee company services:
(a) is made available to the public at all times on a website maintained by or on behalf of the trustee company; and
(b) is made available to the public free of charge at offices of the trustee company during the usual opening hours of those offices.”
Corporations Act 2001, s 601TAA
The Act’s notes add two points. The schedule covers fees “generally charged”, so it leaves out fees agreed under s 601TBB; and failing to comply with the section is an offence under s 1311(1).
When the fees change
If a company changes the fees for a service it is still providing, s 601TAB(1) gives it 21 days from the change taking effect to do one of two things for each client:
- if the client has asked to be sent copies of changed fees, send a copy, electronic if that is what the client asked for and a hard copy otherwise;
- in any other case, “directly notify the client, in writing, that the changed fees are available on the internet on a specified website”.
Failing to comply with s 601TAB(1) is also an offence under s 1311(1).
The limit for most estate work
Section 601TBA(1) lets a licensed trustee company charge fees for traditional trustee company services, “subject to this Part”. Where a provision of the Part limits the fee for a service, s 601TBA(2) says the company “must not charge fees for that service in excess of that limit”. Breach is an offence, and the Act’s note says excess fees may also be recovered under s 601XAA.
For work other than running a charitable trust, the limit is in s 601TCA(2):
“The trustee company must not charge fees that are in excess of its schedule of fees that was most recently published as required by section 601TAA before the trustee company started to provide the service.”
Corporations Act 2001, s 601TCA(2)
The section does not apply where the service is being trustee or manager of a charitable trust (Division 4 deals with that), or where the service started before s 601TCA commenced. So the schedule that counts is the one most recently published before the company began the work, not one published later.
What the Part does not stop
| Section | What it allows |
|---|---|
| 601TBB(1)(a) | “any fees that a testator, in his or her will, has directed to be paid” |
| 601TBB(1)(b) and (2) | Fees agreed with a person who has authority to deal with the company about the service, or with the person the regulations prescribe |
| 601TBD | Reimbursement of “all disbursements properly made by the trustee company” in providing the service |
| 601TCB | “a reasonable fee for work involved in the preparation and lodging of returns” for duties or taxes related to the estate, other than probate, death, succession or estate duties |
Where the money comes from
For an estate management function, s 601TBE(2) says fees charged in accordance with the Part “are payable to the trustee company out of the capital or income of the relevant estate”. Two fees are held to income unless ASIC approves otherwise: the management fee under s 601TDD comes only out of the estate’s income, and a common fund administration fee under s 601TDE or s 601TDI comes only out of the income the common fund earns on the charitable trust’s assets in it.
When a court finds fees excessive
Section 601TEA(1): “If the Court is of the opinion that fees charged by a licensed trustee company in respect of any estate are excessive, the Court may review the fees and may, on the review, reduce the fees.”
That power has an exception in s 601TEA(2). It does not apply to fees “charged as permitted by section 601TBB” (will-directed and agreed fees), or to fees for a charitable trust charged as permitted by Subdivision A of Division 4.
Section 601TEA(3) lists what the court may weigh, any or all of them, in judging whether fees are excessive:
- how far the work done was reasonably necessary;
- how far the work likely to be done is likely to be reasonably necessary;
- the period over which the work was, or is likely to be, done;
- the quality of the work;
- its complexity, or lack of it;
- how far the company had to deal with extraordinary issues;
- how far it had to accept a higher level of risk or responsibility than usual;
- the value and nature of the property dealt with;
- for fees worked out on time, the time properly taken;
- any other relevant matters.
The court may act of its own motion, or when a person with a proper interest in the estate, or someone on their behalf, applies. “If the fees are reduced by more than 10%, the trustee company must, unless the Court in special circumstances otherwise orders, pay the costs of the review.” Otherwise, costs are in the court’s discretion.
Two state laws that point back here
In Victoria, where the Supreme Court allows commission to an executor, administrator or trustee, the Administration and Probate Act 1958 caps what it allows a licensed trustee company at what that company may charge under Chapter 5D of the Corporations Act (s 65(2), version 130).
In Queensland, the court’s power in the Trusts Act 2025 to reduce excessive commission or professional charges does not apply to a trustee that is “(a) a licensed trustee company”, or to the public trustee for amounts charged as fees and charges under s 17 of the Public Trustee Act 1978 (s 161(4), current as at 28 April 2026). How those two states treat other executors is in the guide to executors’ commission in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.