Australian Unity has launched Australian Unity Trustees to provide estate planning and trustee services for middle income Australia as the population ages.
Launched in February this year, the new trustee business would form part of Australian Unity’s Personal Financial Services group and would provide services such as estate planning, executor appointments and estate administration, financial attorney, financial and legal
administration, and the establishment and management of personal, native title, community and charitable trusts.
Speaking at a media event, group managing director, Rohan Mead, said these services were created as issues such as dementia and blended families became increasingly prevalent.
“Historically, these kinds of services have only been available to the wealthy, with most trustee companies focusing on high net worth families,” Mead said.
“However, Australian Unity has recently launched Australian Unity Trustees, a trustee company that will offer these services to all Australians.”
Australian Unity Personal Financial Services chief executive, Steve Davis said clients would be charged a percentage of assets as fees, while they would be charged hourly fees and fixed rates for estate planning. The firm would calculate appropriate fee scales for othertypes of clients, depending on the arrangements.
The firm has appointed Emma Sakellaris as general manager of Australian Unity Trustees, who would be responsible for developing the new business and forming a specialist team to provide the services.
Sakellaris has previously held senior positions at Equity Trustees and ANZ Trustees.Anna Hacker has been appointed as national manager, estate planning at the firm. She started her career as a solicitor, before moving into a number of senior leadership roles within the trustee industry, including at Equity Trustees.
