ANNOUNCER: I’m with Victoria Young from Cohen Highley Lawyers if someone wants to leave a legacy for loved ones after they die, what options are there?
VICTORIA: You’d likely want a family trust. Normally when an individual passes, their accounts are frozen, but assets in a family trust are not. The beneficiaries continue to receive funds without having to administer the deceased’s estate.
ANNOUNCER: How are they set up?
VICTORIA: The settlor is the person who establishes the trust through a trust declaration and should be unrelated to the trustees and beneficiaries. If a trustee is also beneficiary, an additional trustee needs to be appointed. Often parents are the trustees who’ve been successful in business. They transfer their wealth to the trust, which freezes the assets, values and future growth within the trust is taxed at the rate of the beneficiaries.
ANNOUNCER: Are trusts expensive to set up?
VICTORIA: There are initial legal costs to create the trust, but beyond annual taxes, no other ongoing legal fees are incurred.
