Current Trusts Maintenance Documents
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Addition to Designated Beneficiaries

About Product

This document is to be used to add additional designated beneficiaries to an existing discretionary trust; where permitted under the existing Trust Deed.

When a Discretionary Trust is established generally key beneficiaries are named followed by their children and lineal descendants. More often than not a bucket company is also included. This deed of variation- Addition to Designated Beneficiaries- enables the Trustee to add those as specific beneficiaries, generally without a resettlement (where permitted under the existing Trust Deed).

► $129.00 (inc GST) - OR provided under your unlimited membership

► The master document has been signed off by LY Legal and is congruent with Australian law.

General Information

Please ensure the existing Trust Deed allows addition beneficiaries to be added without resettlement. If you are unsure, please seek legal advice from our legal team: info@abbottmourly.com.au.

Benefits

By adding beneficiaries directly it:

  • Shows the Trustees intent.
  • Provides family succession.
  • Limits arguments about who is and is not include.
  • Establishes a simple and quick process.
  • Signed off by LY Legal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my existing Discretionary Trust change its Trustee and what is the process?

The first step is to review the current trust deed of the Discretionary Trust and determine how the Trusteeship may be changed.  This could simply the Appointor, if there is a valid appointor, appoint a new Trustee.  Alternatively, it could be a requirement of the current Trustee at a meeting to remove and appoint a new trustee.  Review your deed now and if it is not apparent you might want to seek help from our legal team – tanamourlis@tgalegal.com.au/

Is a change in Trustee a resettlement?

Generally, a change in Trustee without amendment to other rules of the Trust will not result in a resettlement.  However, if you would like legal advice to that effect contact our legal team – tanamourlis@tgalegal.com.au

Stamping and Lodgment of Trusts

The fees and stamping requirements for establishing a trust deed vary throughout Australia, and the duty payable also varies depending on the type of property that is held by the trust. Please contact our partners at Eventum Optimum (EO) on info@eventumoptimum.com.au for more information on when stamping is required (in what jurisdiction) and the fees/duties payable. EO are able to provide this service to you.  

How long does this document take to assemble?

Depending on the complexity of the data, this document should take approximately 5-10 secs to assemble. If you experience timing outside of this please contact Support via the Surge app, alternatively please read this article for troubleshooting tips https://info.lightyeardocs.com.au/supportcentre/troubleshooting-longer-assembly-times-timeouts .

Is this document a legal document?

All master documents have been signed off by LY Legal lawyers. Tony Anamourlis of LY Legal advises that “at no time, due to inbuilt legal protection and security measures can a user change or amend a document on the LYD platform that has been signed off by a practicing solicitor. To do so would result in the user drafting a document of a legal nature and engaging in the provision of legal services. In addition, it would be a breach of copyright. In our opinion when completing the form fields through the LYD platform, users and their employees are merely carrying out an administrative task which is not the provision of legal advice.”

However in some complex areas such as the insertion of a varied range of client instructions into a Will or other such documents the user must be mindful of the extent to which a document is being drafted by the user rather than merely the administrative task of completing a form where the relevant fields are inserted into the reviewed and signed legal document provided by LY Legal.

The above advice is born out of numerous cases dating back to Re Sanderson, Ex parte Law Institute of Victoria [1927] VLR 394, 397 where the Court held:

“if a person does a thing usually done by a solicitor, and does it in such a way as to lead to the reasonable inference that he is a solicitor – if he combines professing to be a solicitor with action usually taken by a solicitor – I think he then does act as a solicitor.”

Likewise in ACCC v Murray (2002) 121 FCR 428, 448 where Murray was building a franchise business that involved the legal writing and drafting of Wills from scratch based on the client’s personal circumstances.  The Court held that this process was legal work.

Is the document easy to read?

All LYD products are written in plain English and assessed for readability. If at any time you come across any errors, please contact support@lyd.com.au.

What lawyers sign off on the LYD documents?

All LYD documents are prepared and signed off by LY Legal.

Are the LYD documents reviewed regularly?

All LYD documents form part of the LYD internal review process. We review all documents at least annually or when required to do so due to changes in legislation. Further details of this process and a review schedule is include on this website.

Can I get a sample of this document?

Yes, please email support@lyd.com.au to request a sample document for you to review.