Trusts
With New Zealand’s ageing population, more and more people are losing mental capacity as they grow older. When this happens to a trustee of a trust, it can make trust administration difficult or, in some cases, almost impossible.
Plan ahead. Trustees sometimes need to sign documents in a hurry. An example is bank mortgage documents which may need to be signed so that the trust can borrow to cover expenditure.
Under the Family Protection Act 1955 (FPA), parents have a moral duty to provide in their Wills for their children’s maintenance and support.
Make sure your family trust stands up to scrutiny. The Sunday Star Times recently published an article about Do-It-Yourself family trusts and how failure to manage them correctly can put the integrity of a trust at risk.
Income earned by a trust can be either retained by the trust or it can be distributed to the trust’s beneficiaries.
The present economic downturn has thrown up the problem of what to do when a settlor and/or a trustee becomes bankrupt. This article looks at possible remedies for both situations.
In the last issue of Trust eSpeaking (September 2008), we discussed the scenario that often occurs when trustees provide funds to beneficiaries, for example, to help in the purchase of a house.