We wrote to existing clients of our law firm in Whangarei to tell them about the new Trusts Act, which has rules that will apply to their trusts. We have reproduced much of that information below for ease of reference.
If you have not already done so, we recommend your trust documents are now reviewed to ensure they meet the new requirements and to ensure that you are happy with the mandatory obligations and default provisions in the Trusts Act 2019, or whether you would like to make some changes to your trust documents or structure. It is also a good opportunity to consider whether your trust is still suitable for your intended purpose.
If your trust was formed by us after 31 January 2021, then it has been created under the new Trusts Act and no changes should be required.
One of the main focuses of the Act is to give trust beneficiaries sufficient information to be able to enforce the terms of the trust and hold trustees accountable. This is not necessarily information you would want all of your beneficiaries to receive, especially if they do not yet know they are a beneficiary of your trust.
The new Trusts Act 2019 also specifies mandatory and default trustee duties which will apply unless modified or excluded by the terms of the Trust deed. The burden of these may outweigh your desire to continue with your trust.
Find out if your trust is suitable
Below is an indication of the cost involved in the initial stage of reviewing your trust arrangements to determine what and if any changes are to be made as well as details on how to engage us to carry out the review.
How much will this cost?
Our fee for reviewing a trust, including meeting with the trustees (preferably by phone or Zoom) to discuss the trust background and objectives, to provide our advice and review the various options, starts from approximately $2,000 plus GST. The fee will be dependent on the complexity of the trust and family arrangements, the type of assets owned by the trust, the way the trust operates, and the structure of the trust deed.
Any legal work that the trustees engage us to undertake after the review will be additional to the initial review fee and we will provide you with an estimate of those costs once we know how you would like to proceed. Often when we are asked to vary a trust deed, this is cost from $1,200 plus GST.
How to engage us
Please email us at [email protected] and tell us you would like to instruct us to review your trust.
If we don’t already hold your trust documents, please attach a copy of the trust deed, any variations of trust and change of trustees to the email. Please also tell us what property is owned by your trust and the reasons it was set up.
We will then set up a file and send you an engagement letter (by email) together with our terms of service and request a fee advance is paid to our trust account before we proceed.
Once we have carried out an initial review of your trust documents we will arrange an appointment with you to discuss your trust structure and provide advice, as mentioned above. Any verbal advice given during our meeting will be sent to you by email, together with your options and further fee estimates for additional work (if required). This will be your road map forward.
We look forward to hearing from you and working with you and your trust.
Ngā mihi.
Regent Law
09 4300 509
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