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Trust law is changing – trust structures need to be reviewed now
For a number of our clients it has been appropriate to establish a family trust and to transfer their assets to the family trust.
We assist clients with deciding if a family trust would serve the client’s family well. There are many options when forming a family trust and we assist our clients to understand the options to ensure that the trust best fits the needs of our client and their family.
Record keeping and regular ‘maintenance’ of the family trust is extremely important. Under the new Trusts’ Act which comes into force in January 2021, the statutory responsibilities of a trustee are defined. ALL trusts (both existing and new) will be required to meet the obligations set out in the Act.
Maintenance can include reviewing whether an existing trust still meets the needs of the client’s family, the terms of the trust, who should be the trustees, which assets should be held within the family trust and whether the client should gift or advance money to the trust to enable those assets to move into the hands of the trustees.
For a number of our clients it is appropriate for them to establish a family trust and to transfer their assets to the family trust.
As each client’s circumstances are unique, the creation of a trust, the maintenance of a trust and consideration as to when a trust should be wound up, needs to be reviewed on an individual basis with each client.