Grieving Victorian families will soon have to pay seven times more death charges, on top of high taxes to fund Melbourne’s Covid lockdowns.
Victoria formally abolished all inheritance rights in 1981.
But those mourning the death of a loved one still have to pay a probate filing fee to the Supreme Court to cover the administrative costs of transferring or dividing the deceased’s estate among surviving family and friends.
The costs of pursuing legal claims through a solicitor had until now been modest in Victoria for relatives of a deceased loved one who had abandoned a typical suburban home.
But now the deceased’s estate costs will be in the hundreds for a small apartment property, in the thousands for an average house in Melbourne and in the tens of thousands for houses sold in more exclusive areas.
Fees are supposed to increase on July 1 each year, but Victorian Probate Office fees will now increase just four months into the 2024-25 financial year.
Shadow Attorney General Michael O’Brien described the increases as a “disguised death tax”.
Starting Nov. 18, estates worth less than $500,000 will incur an estate fee of $514.40, an expense that will be 7.5 times more expensive than the current rate of $68.60.
Grieving Victorians will soon have to pay a seven-fold increase in death charges to fund Melbourne’s Covid lockdowns (photo is a file image)
Properties valued between $500,000 and $1 million will incur a fee of $1,028.80, nearly triple the current level of $367.40.
That kind of cost increase would hit a family selling a median-priced home in Melbourne worth $928,808 or an apartment with a median price of $613,638, according to data from CoreLogic.
For the deceased’s estate assets worth between $1 million and $2 million, the fee will be $2,400.50, up from $685.90.
The fee for properties worth more than $2 million but less than $3 million will be $4,801.00, up from $1,502.40.
On properties worth between $3 million and $5 million, the rate jumps to $7,185.20, triple the $2,318.90.
Acting Attorney General Enver Erdogan also announced new fees for the ultra-wealthy on Monday.
“For the very small percentage of Victorians dealing with multi-million dollar properties, fees will be waived to cover the level of administration and dispute resolution these complex applications often require in court,” he said.
That means properties worth between $5 million and $7 million will incur a fee of $12,002.60, which will increase to $16,803.60 for properties worth more than $7 million.
O’Brien, a former Liberal leader, said the increases were a poor reflection on Premier Jacinta Allan, whose state will have a $2.2 billion budget deficit in 2024-25.
“For Allan’s Labor government to resort to taxing dead Victorians and their grieving families, and announcing this on the eve of the Melbourne Cup, shows just how broke this government is, financially and morally,” he said.
Last year, the Victorian Labor government introduced a series of taxes on businesses and property investors in a bid to raise $31.5 billion over a decade to pay for Melbourne being the world’s most locked-down city during Covid.
The opposition said the increases were a poor reflection on Premier Jacinta Allan as her state will have a budget deficit of $2.2 billion in 2024-25.
This included a $975 land tax for real estate investors.
The federal government abolished inheritance taxes in 1979, following the lead of Queensland.
Other states followed in the years that followed, and all states eliminated inheritance taxes in 1982 in an attempt to prevent the elderly and wealthy from moving interstate.
Each state charges probate fees, and the amounts vary depending on the size of the estate.
While probate fee increases in Victoria are steep, other states charge even more.
New South Wales charges $1,873 for properties valued between $500,000 and $1 million and $2,494 for properties valued between $1 million and $2 million.
South Australia charges $1,914 for properties worth $200,000 to $500,000, $2,549 for properties worth $500,000 to $1 million and $3,826 for properties worth more than $1 million.
Tasmania charges $1,024.76 in fees for properties valued between $250,000 and $500,000, $1,290.30 for properties valued between $500,000 and $1 million, and $1,634.38 for properties valued between $1 million and $2 million. dollars.
Queensland has a flat filing fee of $793, while in Western Australia it is $408.