Trusts Bill

If you can establish a trust, then you must be able to disestablish a trust, and Part 6 deals with what its title of the part describes as the “Termination and variation of trusts”. So it lays out very clearly there the requirements that trustees must meet in order to terminate a trust. It is also true that beneficiaries can terminate a trust through a unanimous decision amongst them.

It is also pretty standard in trust deeds that sometimes powers or provisions in a trust deed need to be varied. Sometimes the trust objects might need to be varied if they are, at least in part, incapable of achievement, and so it’s not unusual that trusts or trust deeds or trust objectives also need to be varied. That also is provided for in this part. It lays out there the beneficiary’s right to a share of trust property and the power of the court to waive the requirement of consent by beneficiaries to the termination, variation, or resettlement of a trust. All those provisions are there and very clear and are just another part of this matrix that makes up this very thorough framework for the operation of trusts in New Zealand.

Part 6 agreed to.

Part 7 Court powers and dispute resolution