Business Law FAQ - Trustee of a family discretionary trust?
Date: March 03, 2011
Q. I am the trustee of a family discretionary trust and am concerned as to whether there is something more I should do to protect the trust and everybody’s entitlements. Is there anything you can assist me with?
A. Yes. There are a number of family discretionary trusts which have a single trustee which is unfortunate. The best way of dealing with a trust is to have a corporate trustee with two directors. This overcomes the difficulty that should the trustee die the trust could fail if proper provision has not been made in this regard. Trusts are like everything else, they can be complicated and require proper attention to ensure they work for the life of the trust which is normally 80 years.
