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TRUSTS

If you have heard from friends that they have formed a Trust and you want to know the advantages and disadvantages for you and the pros and cons for forming a Trust, then we are only a telephone call away.

Bruce Dell Law offers a free initial service whereby you are invited to the firm for a free consultation.

Bruce will then ascertain from you all of your assets and liabilities, incomes, outgoings and family details.  From that, Bruce will prepare a written report for you and give you an outline of what you would need and the benefits to you of forming a Trust or otherwise.

Bruce will give you a fixed quote for the work necessary and there is no fee unless you proceed and implement those recommendations through Bruce Dell Law.

The whole point of a Trust and the effectiveness of a Trust is to divest yourself of assets so that you are "bullet-proof" from creditors, Government institutions, legal suit or anything similar .

A Trust is a separate legal entity.  A Trust is formed by what we call a Settlor and/or Appointor and the main task of the Settlor or Appointor is to appoint Trustees.

A Trust is managed and controlled entirely by your Trustees and the Trustees have total control and if there is more than one Trustee, we recommend that the Trustees must at all times act jointly.

We would always recommend that the person instructing us would be a Trustee, together with a spouse or partner if that was appropriate.  We would also (in line with IRD guidelines) recommend an independent Trustee for any Trust.

There are basically two simple forms of Trusts, namely, a Family Trust and a Trading Trust.

A Family Trust is one into which you would normally transfer your family home  or beach house or the like.  We would not nomally transfer trading assets or income earning assets to your Family Trust.

Separately, we form Trading Trusts for holding and owning trading and investment type assets such as rental properties or shares or bank deposits.

We are able, as indicated, to provide fixed quotes for any work necessary and we reiterate that there is no cost for the initial consultation and the initial report unless you proceed with us.

There has been a misconception throughout New Zealand for many years that if you have your property in Trust, you are protected from your future partners or spouses.  That is a myth that has been propounded and set out in a recent case of the Court of Appeal and the recent Court of Appeal landmark decision.  Do not be lulled into a false sense of security thinking that your property is safe because it is in a Trust because the law does not now hold that.  We can advise you in this regard and this may involve relationship agreements.

RELATIONSHIP PROPERTY - SEPARATE PROPERTY - PRE-NUPTIAL AGREEMENTS

As a result of relatively recent developments in this area of law, the starting point is that if you are living together for over three years in a defacto relationship or married, then your asssets are split 50/50 in the absence of a Contracting out Agreement or Relationship Property Agreement.

The consequences of this can be dire.  Therefore, if you come into a relationship with property, then prior to starting to cohabit or the relationship becoming a "defacto relationship"( and we can give you details of what constitutes that), then you will need or at least, should have a Relationship Property Agreement or Contracting out Agreement protecting that asset or assets.

We are able to give you full details and background of the requirements of the Act.

Another very important area of law that is developing rapidly is the fact that a partner can receive under Section 15 of the Relationship Property Act, a payment over and above the 50/50 split to recognise "Economic Disparity". 

Basically and simplistically, if a partner gives up his/her career to bring up a child/children and his/her careeer is put on hold or curtailed and later in life there is a separation, then he/she may well receive a payment to recognise (from the other partner's 50% share) the fact that he/she has had his/her careeer curtailed whilst the other partner's position has been enhanced and his/her career developed and his/her asset pool substantially increased.

We find that this is sadly an area of law now that males find totally bewidering but the reality is, it is the law today and something that should be recognised and considered and discussed and will be a consequence with most Relationship Property divisions today, or certainly a difficulty thrown into the argument pool by the opposing Lawyer.