Amy Adams media release November 2016
In November 2016 Justice Minister Amy Adams released draft legislation that will update NZ trust law and aid in its administration.
"Trusts play an important role in New Zealand. Between 300,000 and 500,000 trusts are operating today. Every day, ordinary New Zealanders use them to manage their finances, with an estimated 15 per cent of private houses held in a trust. They also form part of the economic backbone of the commercial and social sectors," says Ms Adams.
"Our 60-year old trust law is complex and hard to navigate, partly because it is scattered across the Trustee Act and a variety of decisions made by courts over many years. That's why in 2009, the Government asked the Law Commission to have a look at how the laws could be modernised and made clearer."
The draft Trusts Bill updates and improves the Trustee Act 1956, marking the first significant change in 60 years. The proposed improvements include:
•making it easier for people to understand how to appropriately use trusts to manage their affairs •clear mandatory and default trustee duties so people know what their obligations are if they're involved in managing a trust
•requirements for trustees to manage and provide information to beneficiaries
•flexible trustee powers and updated rules
•clear rules for when people make changes to a trust or wind them up
•more options for removing and appointing trustees without having to go to court while also preserving people's ability to ask the courts to intervene to resolve disputes.
The draft bill is currently under going consultation and should be introduced to Parliament sometime this year so watch this space
"Trusts play an important role in New Zealand. Between 300,000 and 500,000 trusts are operating today. Every day, ordinary New Zealanders use them to manage their finances, with an estimated 15 per cent of private houses held in a trust. They also form part of the economic backbone of the commercial and social sectors," says Ms Adams.
"Our 60-year old trust law is complex and hard to navigate, partly because it is scattered across the Trustee Act and a variety of decisions made by courts over many years. That's why in 2009, the Government asked the Law Commission to have a look at how the laws could be modernised and made clearer."
The draft Trusts Bill updates and improves the Trustee Act 1956, marking the first significant change in 60 years. The proposed improvements include:
•making it easier for people to understand how to appropriately use trusts to manage their affairs •clear mandatory and default trustee duties so people know what their obligations are if they're involved in managing a trust
•requirements for trustees to manage and provide information to beneficiaries
•flexible trustee powers and updated rules
•clear rules for when people make changes to a trust or wind them up
•more options for removing and appointing trustees without having to go to court while also preserving people's ability to ask the courts to intervene to resolve disputes.
The draft bill is currently under going consultation and should be introduced to Parliament sometime this year so watch this space
