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Capacity is fundamental to the legality of a person’s decisions. This is relevant in the context of wills, asset and estate planning, and trusts. For practical guidance on the assessment of capacity by professionals see Clients with incapacity – Issues for Professionals. References: Capacity Tools
Certainty as to the subject matter of a trust is one of the three fundamental requirements as to a trust. How digital assets are defined for trust purposes and generally is now an important asset and estate planning consideration. The explosive growth of social media, digital storage and internet passwords means that careful consideration needs to be given as … Continue reading
The bright-line test came into force on 1 October 2015. When the legislation was at Bill stage it was signalled that the bright-line test was intended to come into force on 1 October 2015, as was the case. GG & GE Blackburn Trustee Limited (the Trustee) is the trustee of the Blackburn Family Trust (the Trust). On … Continue reading
Times change, and so do charitable purposes. The recent case of Re Otago Foundation Trust Board highlights that even a charity set up with the best of good intentions might run the risk of becoming moribund owing to societal changes. The original trust was settled under the will of Robert Campbell in 1904. It left … Continue reading
H.W. Fowler’s opinion was that in using presume, the speaker believes the supposition is true and will believe it until he learns otherwise. In using assume, the speaker feels no certainty that his supposition is true or not. In a legal context, presume means “to take as proved until contrary evidence is presented.” Ex. The … Continue reading
Professional trustees are carrying the can! There have been a number of recent cases where professional trustees have been financially caught out where the trustee is held liable, although not in breach of trust, or fails to be entitled to recover costs or be indemnified from the trust fund. The trustees are all too often … Continue reading
Clement v Lucas concerns a family farming enterprise and illustrates the difficulties when beneficiaries cannot agree on how to give effect to the protections parents have put in place for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The contest at the heart of the matter was whether the trustees should distribute the trust assets equally between the … Continue reading
Trusts are a common form of asset ownership. However, the rights and obligations associated with trusts, and even simple matters such as contracting with trusts are not always well understood. Vicki Ammundsen will present a webinar on trust fundamentals on 14 February 2018 at 10.30am. The webinar will take a case study approach to explore … Continue reading
Trustees act personally. As noted in the Supreme Court judgment in Macalister Todd Phillips Bodkins v AMP (emphasis added): “Liabilities incurred by a trustee in relation to a trust are always the personal liabilities of the trustee … A creditor has a personal right to sue a trustee and to get judgment and make the … Continue reading
Being a trustee is hard, and at times quite possibly boring (to paraphrase from the movie An Education: Emma Thompson and Carey Mulligan). And worse, if you get it wrong the beneficiaries can sue you, no matter how hard a trustee might try to get it right. Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of … Continue reading
Matters of Trust 