Trusts & Personal Assets
Trusts & Personal Assets
There are many reasons why you might consider establishing a trust:
- to protect assets from a person(s) or future event(s),
- to provide for other family members,
- as part of your estate planning,
- as a vehicle for conducting a business,
- for tax effectiveness.
Trust Law in New Zealand
The Trustee Act 1956 was replaced by the Trusts Act 2019 (the Act) which came into effect on 30 January 2021.
The Act applies to all express trusts, regardless of when they were created. Some of the key changes are significant departures from prior practice and include:
- mandatory and default duties of trustees,
- disclosing basic trust information to beneficiaries, and where appropriate disclosing trust information at the request of beneficiaries,
- requirements for managing trust information, including documents necessary for the administration of the trust which could include records of trust property, trustee decisions, contracts, and financial statements,
- prevention of a trust deed from limiting a trustee’s liability for gross negligence, in addition to dishonesty or wilful misconduct.
A trust can be a versatile and useful structure within an asset planning toolkit provided:
- it is established with the advice of your legal advisor in conjunction with Ross Pauling & Partners Limited,
- it meets the clearly defined objectives of the settlor.
Once these fundamentals are in place, a trust becomes a versatile and useful structure within an asset planning tool-kit.
Ross Pauling & Partners Ltd advises on the suitability or otherwise of trust structures in conjunction with legal advisers for:
- asset protection
- trading
- tax planning
- philanthropy
We work hard to minimise your overall tax costs.
