‘I’m not paying’: His disabled brother died, then he was hit with $1100 bill

Friday, 7 November 2025

Martin Skinner, left, with his late brother Gerard, who died in Serptember aged 77.

Some Public Trust clients hit with new charges after the Government dropped a long-standing subsidy are simply refusing to pay. Tony Wall reports.

Gerard Skinner wasn’t expected to live past infancy.

Born with the genetic disorder Treacher Collins syndrome - the disease made famous by the boy in the Julia Roberts film Wonder - he was “sent home from hospital to die at six months”, according to his younger brother, Martin Skinner.

But Gerard defied the doctors and, despite his facial deformities, deafness and low intellectual ability, lived a long life, becoming a fixture around the cafés of Palmerston North.

Gerard Skinner with his sister, Josephine.

“He looked a little bit strange, but he was my brother, and we loved him heaps,” Martin says.

Gerard died in September in a rest home in Palmerston North, aged 77.

Now, Martin Skinner is locked in a dispute with Public Trust over bills he point-blank refuses to pay.

Gerard Skinner was a well known figure around Palmerston North.

Gerard used to be cared for by their mother, Betty. She wasn’t an official property manager under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act, though.

“She refused to do that - she said, ‘He’s my son, I’ll look after him how I want to’ - she wouldn’t put up with anything the Government tried to do,” Martin says.

When Betty died in 2004, aged 82, Martin became his brother’s property manager under the Act.

This required him to send annual statements to the Family Court outlining how he’d handled his brother’s finances, which were then, by law, audited by Public Trust.

According to Martin, he was initially charged about $170 for the audits, but stopped being invoiced after he complained to his local MP, then-minister of Social Development Steve Maharey.

Martin Skinner was property manager for his brother, Gerard, who had Treacher Collins syndrome.

Contact the reporter: tony.wall@stuffdigital.co.nz

“I wrote to [Maharey] and said, ‘This isn’t fair for a person who’s got no money’. That was the last I heard of it, it didn’t come up any more.”

That was until last year, when the Government quietly dropped a subsidy that had meant there were no audit costs for people with assets and income below certain thresholds.

Suddenly, Gerard and hundreds of other vulnerable people were hit with fees for the work, charged at a new rate of $247 an hour, the first rise in 36 years.

(At the same time, the Government raised the income and asset thresholds for when a property manager must be appointed, meaning fewer people have to submit the annual statements.)

Simon Palmer has taken a petition to Parliament calling for the charges to be scrapped.

Stuff has been reporting on cases where families said they had no idea the charges were coming until the invoice arrived.

One man, Nelson’s Simon Palmer, was so incensed by the charges - including $21.50 simply for phoning and querying them - that he took a petition to Parliament calling for removal of the “discriminatory” fees.

Tauranga grandmother Sue Jayes described how she was chased by debt collectors over an unpaid bill for the auditing, before agreeing a payment plan with Public Trust.

Labour is calling on the Government to revisit its decision to scrap the subsidy, saying targeting vulnerable people during a cost-of-living crisis is “out of touch”.

The Government says it has no plans to change the fee structure at this stage.

Ministry of Justice spokesperson Hayley MacKenzie says the removal of the subsidy aligns with the original intent of property manager examinations, which was that they be funded by the represented person’s assets, not the taxpayer.

The Government had needed to subsidise the cost because the fee hadn’t been updated in 36 years and didn’t reflect the cost of delivering the service, MacKenzie says.

Martin Skinner says Public Trust charged $519 for the 2023-24 audit of Gerard’s finances, $321 for the 2024-25 audit and $321 for a “final audit” after his death - $1161 in total.

His brother received a sickness benefit which went straight to the rest home, plus about $40 a week for incidentals.

He had about $5600 left in his account when he died, which Martin used to help cover the cost of his funeral.

Martin has told Public Trust there is no money left to pay the audit fees and he won’t be paying out of his own pocket.

“I’m not going to pay it, I’m refusing to. If it means I go to court and lose thousands, I’ll have to.

“I will fight it as far as I can - it’s unjust.”

Georgie Hills, spokesperson for Public Trust, says the company recognises that the mandatory costs can be “challenging” and some people “may not want to” pay them.

“But as a court-appointed service provider, Public Trust is legally required to undertake this work, and charge fees at the regulated rate, which we cannot waive,” she says.

Public Trust offers repayment plans, Hills says, and will make “every effort to engage” before referring the debt to a credit control agency.

She says if there is no money left in a deceased’s estate, as in Gerard Skinner’s case, estate executors have a responsibility to follow requirements of the Insolvency or Administration Acts.

“The executor or administrator will need to advise any creditors, so that the creditor can decide how to treat the debt – often it will be written off.”

Gerard Skinner was much loved by his family. He died aged 77 in September.

Another property manager who’s refusing to pay her Public Trust bill is Michéle Theron-Jansen, who looks after the finances of a person with profound mental and physical disabilities.

She has written to the company refusing to pay a $989 auditing bill, saying the charges are “unjust, discriminatory, and unconscionable” and represent about 19% of the disabled person’s annual income.

Theron-Jansen told Stuff the fees were introduced in a “very clandestine way, very sneakily” and she compared the lack of public discussion to the outcry when the Government re-introduced the $5 co-payment for doctor’s prescriptions.

“Imagine having to pay [almost] 20% of your total income on a bloody audit fee. We’re talking the most vulnerable people in New Zealand.”

She also questioned the $247 per hour fee for the work.

“I used to work for PwC, I’m a qualified accountant - the $247 per hour charge is what the partners, the very senior people, charge.

“Most of the work is done by fairly junior people whose charge-out rate is maybe $80 an hour.”

Several other property managers have written to Stuff questioning Public Trust’s profit motive, just as the Crown-owned entity has announced a $2.25m distribution to the Government, only its second-ever dividend.

Hills says the fees charged for property manager examinations are set by regulation and were increased last year for the first time in 36 years.

“This work does not generate profit for Public Trust. The fees we charge are set by regulation and are considered cost recovery.”

Hills says the company is committed to conducting the examinations efficiently and effectively.

“This is specialist work carried out by qualified professionals, and it plays a vital role in protecting vulnerable individuals.”

Hills points out that the Government subsidy was removed on July 1 last year, but Public Trust continued to offer the subsidy at its own cost for three months to ensure continuity.

Martin Skinner says the stress of dealing with the Public Trust bills has been upsetting, and accuses the business of being “ruthless” in its approach to the fees.

“Some people, if they’re millionaires, may be able to afford it, but Gerard could never afford that type of thing.

“It’s the last thing I wanted. I’d like to live with Gerard’s memory - not having to deal with this.”