ARTICLES
What is an executor?
An executor is the person (or people) named in a will to administer a deceased…
Intestacy
A common question that comes up regularly is what happens if a person dies without…
Who should I appoint as my executor?
There are some legal, practical and emotional considerations that need to be factored in when…
Tax resettlements – the shifting landscape
Whenever a trust is being amended, it is important to consider whether the amendment might…
Dealing with divorce – managing loan accounts and unpaid present entitlements
One issue which is frequently overlooked in the context of any relationship breakdown is the…
Am I dealing with a debt or an unpaid present entitlement?
A number of our previous articles have discussed the tax, stamp duty and trust law…
Child maintenance trusts – when are they useful?
Child maintenance trusts offer a tax planning opportunity where child maintenance payments need to be…
Division 7A and divorce – a dangerous duo
Where assets are owned by a company, care is required to ensure that any transfer…
Division 7A and deceased estates – minimum repayment obligations
There are a number of tax and stamp duty implications which can arise following the…
Dealing with UPEs – navigating the reimbursement agreement provisions in section 100A
Section 100A of the Tax Act 1936 has been in place since 1979 but has…
Binding the Tax Office – tax debts and divorce
Two tax issues need to be considered by family law advisers when structuring family law…
CGT provisions and unpaid present entitlements
We have recently seen the Tax Office scrutinise the capital gains tax (CGT) treatment of…
Varying trust deed schedules – Mercanti v Mercanti
Mercanti v Mercanti [2016] WASCA 206 was a decision of the Western Australia Court of…
Matrimonial breakdowns – is CGT relief always needed?
As discussed in some of our previous articles (see Tax relief for…
Varying a trust deed – when can you vary a schedule?
We commonly encounter deeds of variation which purport to amend a provision in the schedule…
When can a Court extend a vesting date?
When a trust is established with a vesting day shorter than the 80 year period…
Tax relief for matrimonial breakdown – what are the requirements?
When a relationship breaks down there is often a need to transfer assets between the…
Proposed changes to Division 7A
The perceived complexity of Division 7A has led to calls over many years for the…
Trust deeds – when do they need to be updated?
One question we are commonly asked is whether family trust deeds need to be updated…
Similar or the same? New tax loss measures in place
The Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprises Incentives No. 1) Bill 2017 finally passed both houses…
Gift and loan back arrangements – an effective asset protection tool?
One popular asset protection strategy is known as a gift and loan back arrangement (also…
Binding financial agreements – can they protect trust assets from a relationship breakdown?
Binding financial agreements (BFAs) can be a powerful tool for protecting assets of the parties…
Asset protection and the domino effect
Following on from our previous article, the second aspect of asset protection which is critical to…
Corporate appointors – when are they useful?
An increasingly common succession planning strategy is to incorporate a company to act as appointor…
Do I need a corporate trustee?
The trustee of a trust will usually be either a corporate trustee or one or…
What rights do beneficiaries of a discretionary trust have?
A discretionary trust is a trust in which the beneficiaries’ rights in relation to the…
Understanding limited liability
A key principle which is critical to understand in any asset protection exercise is the…
Trustee discretion under attack?
It is a long accepted principle of law that the trustee of a discretionary trust…
Trust review checklist
One of our previous articles mentioned the need to ‘read the deed’ when key events…
Automatic disqualification clauses in trust deeds – do they still work?
Most ‘modern’ trust deeds include automatic disqualification clauses, which remove a trustee or appointor upon…
Do you have all your trust documents?
Our most common saying in relation to trusts is ‘read the deed’. Over the years, we’ve…
Who wins from estate litigation?
A NSW estate litigation case decided earlier this month starkly illustrates the problems with the…
The Rinehart saga continues – what constitutes ‘documents of the trust’?
While the Gina Rinehart family saga seems to have largely disappeared from the headlines over…
If you are the one
A recent Queensland Supreme Court case reminded me of the importance of ensuring clients only…
Individual liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation
