As set out in earlier posts, and with thanks to the Television Education Network, today’s post addresses the issue of ‘Structuring trusts for intergenerational transfers’ at the following link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Sna2eXvag
As usual, a transcript of the presentation for those that cannot (or choose not) to view the presentation is below –
Probably the biggest risk when structuring trusts is to look at any particular issue in isolation.
Obviously, asset protection from a family law perspective is critical and fundamental in many situations. However, it is also important to be factoring in a myriad of commercial and revenue issues, such as tax, stamp duty and GST.
There's also related issues in terms of asset protection from a bankruptcy perspective, and the overall estate and succession planning objectives.
There are a number of adjacent issues that mean whenever an arrangement is put in place, it must be reviewed regularly.
Adopting a holistic approach is absolutely critical if steps are being considered immediately before a relationship actually breaks down, because arguably the one key principle, not just out of Spry, but out of all the family law cases in recent times, is that the courts will look very dimly on any such steps.