Deceased estates

To ensure the loan account of your recently deceased family member or friend is protected, please contact us to advise of their passing as soon as practicable so that we can assist you in managing the next steps relating to their margin loan (including, suspending the account to stop any further debits or fees).

You can do this by phoning us on 1300 307 807 or email customerservice@leveraged.com.au

Please provide us with the following details of the deceased account owner:

• Full name
• Loan account number (if known)
• Residential and mailing address
• Date of birth
• Date of passing

Review of the estate

Once we are notified, we will:

• check all margin loan accounts held with us by the deceased
• suspend the facility (or facilities)
• review the requirements for the settlement of the estate.

We’ll then send a letter or email to the personal representatives or the solicitor outlining the requirements for the settlement of the estate.

Documents you may be asked to provide

Depending on the account type, securities, and Loan Balance you may need to provide additional documents.

The documents you may be asked to provide commonly include:

1. Two original certified copies of the Death Certificate;
2. Two original certified copies of the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration.
3. An original certified copy of the executor’s or court-appointed administrator’s driver’s licence, passport or other suitable form of photographic identification.
4. Written instructions, signed by the executor or administrator in relation to the loan account, for instance, instructing us to:

(a) Realise the entire secured portfolio, using the sale proceeds to repay the loan in full, then pay the balance to the estate; or

(b) Realise only part of the secured portfolio, using the sale proceeds to repay the loan in full, and transfer the remaining securities to issuer sponsored shares (i.e. the share company register) or to another broker, e.g. a broker nominated by the beneficiary under the estate.

Where the loan account is a joint account with a surviving account holder, whether we can observe your instructions fully or at all will depend upon the nature of the account holding (e.g. joint tenants or tenants in common) and what the surviving account holder would like to do. Once the required documents have been provided, we can provide the estate executor, administrator or appointed solicitor information about current holdings and summaries of historical transactions, and will advise of the requirements to enable access to this information.

Joint accounts

• If you are a joint account holder with a deceased customer, and you wish to keep a margin loan, you will be required to open a new account. This will require a new application form and assessment.

Settlement of the estate

Once our requirements have been met, we can act on the estate instructions (for example, realising all or part of the portfolio).

As the circumstances of each matter varies considerably, so too will the amount of time taken to settle each deceased estate, depending on the complexity and types of securities held on the margin loan, borrower type and whether a Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration is required. However, the earlier we receive all appropriate documentation as per our requirements, the quicker we will be able to process the request.

Important note:

Please note that even though the account is suspended, or the HIN is locked, Margin Calls or Margining Events may still arise, and/or the credit Limit may still be exceeded, e.g. due to changes in market prices and/or increases in the loan balance and due to any amounts periodically debited from the account (such as accrued but unpaid interest). We will contact the executor/ administrator to notify them and discuss options to resolve should these events occur on the loan account. These events can occur at any time until the loan account is closed.