Deceased Estate Trusts
A Deceased Estate records the estate of a deceased person as a trust entity. The estate holds the deceased's assets until they are administered and distributed to beneficiaries under the will (or under intestacy rules where there is no valid will).
Choose Deceased Estate as the trust type when modelling probate and estate administration, rather than a discretionary or testamentary trust.
Deceased estate vs. testamentary trust: A deceased estate is the administration of the deceased's assets immediately after death. A testamentary trust is a separate, ongoing trust created by the will that may continue for years after the estate is wound up. Model the administration phase as a Deceased Estate, and any continuing trust the will establishes as a Testamentary Trust.
Executor, not trustee or appointor
This is the key difference from other trusts.
- A deceased estate is administered by an executor (named in the will) or an administrator (appointed where there is no will). StructureGram uses the term Executor.
- When you add the controlling-person relationship, the option reads "Has Executor" instead of "Has trustee", and the link is labelled Executor on diagrams and in the inspector.
- Appointor relationships are not valid for a deceased estate. There is no appointor role — the executor administers the estate directly. Attempting to create an appointor link is blocked with: "Appointor relationships are not valid for Deceased Estates."
| Role | Discretionary / Unit trust | Deceased Estate |
|---|---|---|
| Controlling person | Trustee | Executor |
| Power to appoint/remove | Appointor | (not applicable) |
| Recipients | Beneficiaries | Beneficiaries (under will/intestacy) |
Beneficiaries and distributions
- A deceased estate is a named-beneficiary type, like discretionary and testamentary trusts — beneficiaries are specific named people or entities (those entitled under the will or intestacy), not an open class.
- Distributions are checked with a warning only, not a hard rule: "Verify recipient is a beneficiary under the will or intestacy rules." StructureGram won't block the distribution, but prompts you to confirm the recipient's entitlement.
Diagram display
- Shape: Trapezium (distinct from the discretionary hexagon and unit octagon).
- Colour: Warm sand fill with an amber-brown border, so estates stand out from other trust types at a glance.
Importing from Xero Practice Manager (XPM)
Deceased estates map cleanly to XPM:
- On import, an XPM client classified as an Estate (XPM type
estate, or labelled "deceased estate") is created as a Deceased Estate trust. - On export, a Deceased Estate trust is sent to XPM as an Estate client type.
When importing, some of the in-app creation rules above (such as the appointor block) are relaxed so existing XPM data loads cleanly. The executor terminology and diagram styling still apply to the imported entity.
Example
Estate of the late John Smith
- Name: Estate of John Smith (deceased)
- Type: Deceased Estate
- Status: Active (administration in progress)
- Executor: Mary Smith (named in the will)
- Beneficiaries: Mary Smith, the Smith children
- Holds: the deceased's shares and property pending distribution
Once administration completes and assets are distributed, set the estate's status to Vested.