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The idea behind the “bright-line” test is a clear rule that provides with limited exceptions (the most important one for most people relating to the sale of the family home) sales of residential property within two years of acquisition will be taxable. However, what comprises an acquisition or a disposal is not always entirely obvious. For example, consider the … Continue reading
War of the Roses is a 1989 American film based on the 1981 novel The War of the Roses by Warren Adler. The film, which co-stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito chronicles the demise of a marriage against the backdrop of a beautiful home that the couple, literally fight to the death over. Trust disputes can be … Continue reading
Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you Is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’ Come writers and … Continue reading
There is no register of family trusts in New Zealand thus affording trustees considerable privacy. However, one area where trusts are generally “open to the public” is where trust matters come before the High Court, or a higher court. This has been highlighted in the case of Erceg v Erceg (SC) where the trustee respondents … Continue reading
Certainty as to object, that is, who the beneficiaries of a trust are is one of the three certainties required to evidence a valid trust. See Davis v White. However, what is the position where it is clear that a person or company or trust is a beneficiary – it is just that had the … Continue reading
The taxation of trusts is a dynamic and ever-changing landscape. The third edition of Taxation of Trusts published this week (September 2016) has been up-dated to incorporate recent case law developments and legislative amendments. The text also considers the application of FATCA to trusts and proposed new reforms to the disclosure rules and closely … Continue reading
Mr White established the Rex White Family Trust (the Trust) in 1992 to hold an inheritance he received from his mother. The trustees of the Trust were Mr Davis and the solicitor who prepared the trust deed, Mr McNiece (together the Trustees). Mr White’s wife was not aware of the trust at the time, although she had … Continue reading
The decision in Judd v Hawkes Bay Trustee Company Limited (see Another tributary in the trickle of constructive trust cases) has been upheld on appeal. By way of background Richard Hodgkinson and Michelle Judd were married for six and a half years. Over that period they lived in a property in Lane Road, Havelock North, … Continue reading
The background to Fawcett v Official Assignee is relatively straight-forward, as is the result. However, the highways and by-ways the decision takes to get there are a study in why very few people should be trustees, and even less would want to be. The case relates to a poorly constructed pedestrian bridge that was ultimately ordered … Continue reading
A bare trust arises where property is held by a person (the trustee) only for the purposes to hold until transferred in accordance with the beneficiary’s directions. Bare trusts can be a commercial convenience, but can also effect a remedy in circumstances when property might otherwise be lost due to the fungible nature of the … Continue reading
Matters of Trust 