This Intestacy Kit has been developed to assist the families of Indigenous artists who have passed away without making a will. The development of this resource is made possible though the support of Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL). For the complete version please download the document.
What are the applicable intestacy provisions?
If a person passes away intestate, the laws applicable to intestate estates in the State where that person was living will generally apply to the estate. If a person passes away partially intestate, then the relevant intestacy provisions will apply only to assets not covered by the Will.
However it is possible that the intestacy laws of more than one State or Territory may apply to a person’s estate. For example, if a person was living permanently in Western Australia leaving personal estate in Western Australia and real estate in the Northern Territory then it is not clear whether the Western Australian provisions would apply to the whole estate or whether Western Australian law would apply to everything except the real estate which would come under Northern Territory law. If you think that the estate contains assets located in more than State or Territory, you will need legal advice as to which laws apply. Contact Arts Law for more information.
Intestacy Provisions in Western Australia
In this information sheet, we focus on how the intestacy provisions will operate in relation to an artist of Aboriginal descent who was living in, and owned property only in, Western Australia at the time he or she passed away.
In Western Australia, there are three main sets of provisions which will apply to the estate of that artist:
- The Administration Act 1903;
- The Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority Act 1972; and
- The Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority Act Regulations 1972.
One or more of these provisionsdetermine who is entitled to the belongings and property of the artist. These provisions may be very different from the outcome which the family of the artist expect and may also be very different from the result that the artist would have wanted. For that reason, it is usually sensible to prepare a will to make sure that the estate goes to the family and community members that the artist believes should receive them.
Who will administer the Estate?
In some cases, where the artist passes away leaving very few belongings, and has not left a will, the family and community will simply deal with those belongings in the way that they think is appropriate and questions of intestacy law may never arise.
However, simply dealing with the assets as the family wishes is not possible in many circumstances; particularly if the estate includes real property, a large bank account or where unsold artwork is held by galleries or art centres. The artist’s estate is likely to include copyright in any artwork created during his or her lifetime and this can be an important source of income for an artist’s family as it lasts for 70 years after the artist passes away. Royalties may be paid for the right to reproduce the artist’s paintings in auction catalogues, art books and merchandise long after the paintings themselves are sold and the artist has passed away. In addition, the artist’s estate will include the entitlement to re-sale royalties on all eligible commercial re-sales of his or her works which take place in the 70 years after the artist’s passing.
In those circumstances the estate must be administered formally in accordance with the relevant provisions relating to intestacy.
Most importantly, if the artist is a person of Aboriginal descent (which the law in Western Australia defines as a full blooded person or a person of more than one fourth full blood) then the estate of the artist will be managed under the provisions of part IV of the Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority Act 1972 (the AAPA Act). Where this legislation applies, the estate vests in the Public Trustee and is held by the Public Trustee to pay the deceased’s debts. The Public Trustee then distributes the balance amongst the persons entitled to the estate under the laws of Western Australia.
The family of an artist of Aboriginal descent who did not have a will is therefore required to contact the Public Trustee so that the Public Trustee can administer the estate.
However, the Arts Law Centre of Australia believes that the AAPA Act is inconsistent with the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) and, as a consequence is invalid by reason of section 109 of the Commonwealth Constitution.
In our view, a scheme which establishes a system for Aboriginal people which is different from the system applicable to non-Aboriginal people discriminates against Aboriginal families. This is because the automatic vesting of the estate in the Public Trustee will deny the right of Aboriginal families to administer the estate of their deceased Aboriginal relative. The requirement to involve the Public Trustee generally results in a much more protracted process for Aboriginal families. In addition, the Public Trustee deducts fees from all estates it handles.
This is also the view of the Western Australian Law Reform Commission in its final report on Aboriginal Customary Law (Project 94, 2006, see pages 233-242). Arts Law has lobbied the Western Australian government to abolish these provisions in the AAPA Act. Although we have received assurances that legislative reform will be enacted, as at June 2011 no change has occurred.The remainder of this paper is informative only. As the law currently stands in Western Australia, neither the family nor an arts centre can or should administer the estate.
Who is entitled to the artist's estate?
There are two different sets of rules in Western Australia depending on which members of the artist's family survive him or her.
Distribution under the Administration Act.
When a person of Aboriginal descent passes away and is survived by a husband or wife or children then the provisions of the Administration Act will usually apply. This is also usually the case if the artist had been in a de facto relationship or a traditional law marriage during the two years immediately before he or she passed away.
The Administration Act is quite complex and the entitlements of the family depends on the size of the estate and the persons who survive. Examples of distributions include the following:
· Where the estate is worth $50,000.00 or less and there is a surviving husband or wife and children, the entire estate including household chattels eg washing machine, goes to the husband or the wife.
· Where the estate is worth more than $50,000.00, the surviving husband or wife will take all household chattels and the first $50,000.00 of the estate. The remaining estate is distributed to the husband or wife (one half if there is only one child or one third if there are two or more children) and the child or children (who take the remainder, equally if more than one). Children of any child who passed away before the artist would take their parent’s share equally.
· Where the estate is worth $75,000.00 or less and there is a surviving husband or wife but no children or grandchildren, the surviving husband or wife takes the entire estate including household chattels.
· Where the estate is worth more than $75,000.00 and there is a surviving husband or wife but no children or grandchildren then the surviving husband or wife take all household chattels and $75,000.00 together with one-half of the remainder. The other half of the remainder will be divided between the artist’s parents, and extended family in accordance with the provisions set out in the Administration Act.
· Where the artist was at some stage married but divorced or the legal spouse passed away before the artist, then the artist's surviving de facto partner or traditional law spouse who lived with the artist for the 2 years immediately prior to the artist's passing has the same entitlement as a wife or husband from a legal marriage.
· Where the artist was living with more than one de facto partner or traditional law spouse in the two years immediately prior to the artist's passing, the de facto or traditional spouses share their entitlement equally between them.
Distribution where the artist has never been married.
Regulation 9 of the Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority Act Regulations 1972 applies to all situations which are not covered by the Administration Act.
Again the provisions are quite complex and the entitlements depend on relationships of the surviving persons. However the Regulations treat men and women differently. A traditional law wife has a lesser entitlement than a traditional law husband. Children have a lesser entitlement to their mother's estate than to their father's estate.
Examples of distributions set out in the Regulations include:
· Where an Aboriginal male is survived by his Aboriginal traditional law wife then his wife and the children from that traditional marriage (excluding children adopted under traditional law) share his estate equally.
· Where an Aboriginal female is survived by her Aboriginal law husband then her husband is entitled to the whole estate and the children from that traditional marriage have no entitlement.
There are various further provisions to cater for other situations.
It seems that children adopted under traditional law by the artist also have no entitlement either under the Administration Act or the Regulations. Such family members would need to make a 'moral claim' to the Public Trustee under section 35 of the AAPA Act. If approved by the Public Trustee, a recommendation is made to the Minister for approval and in turn, the claim must be approved by the Governor. There is no right of appeal from the Public Trustee's decision.
Again, however, it is stressed that the process of identifying who will receive the artist's estate and distributing any assets to the artist's family members will be in the hands of the Public Trustee. The family of the artist should establish contact with the Public Trustee as soon as possible to assist them in their enquiry and ensure that they have access to the necessary information. Unlike all the other States and Territories of Australia, the artist's family cannot undertake this process themselves. They have no choice but to allow the Public Trustee to perform this role and deduct its fees from the estate.
Overview
Arts Law believes that the laws of Western Australia which:
· prevent Aboriginal families administering the estate of a deceased family member who passes away without a will;
· require the Public Trustee to manage intestate estates of Aboriginal people and permit them to charge fees for doing that;
· give greater rights to Aboriginal men than Aboriginal women in traditional law marriages;
· adopt a system of distribution under the AAPA Act which doesn't recognize children adopted under traditional law;
are fundamentally unfair and discriminate against Aboriginal people on the grounds of race and gender. Arts Law is interested in assisting Aboriginal people who are disadvantaged by this system to challenge these unfair laws.
This paper is intended as advice for families of persons of Aboriginal descent only. The administration of estates of non-Aboriginal persons is outside its scope. It is recommended that in those cases legal advice is sought to determine the rights of the surviving relatives and the procedure for applying for a grant of Letters of Administration.
