Spouse not Added as a Beneficiary in LM Trust or Family Protection Trust

Question: When setting up a Family Protection Trust one of the questions relates to whether the leading member's spouse is to be added in as a beneficiary. If the answer chosen is NO does this mean that the spouse can never receive distributions from the Trust?

Answer: In a Leading Member Discretionary Trust the spouse is not family lineage and not automatically a beneficiary unless the spouse is also a leading member (joint leading members).  However, they do not miss out, as under the beneficiary clauses at any time the spouse can be brought in off the reserves bench so to speak.  This can be done in the trust distribution statements prepared by the trustee at the end of the year.