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Recessions bring about all sorts of changes. For example, in the legal beagle world, frequently people stop purchasing houses, so lawyers run out of conveyancing work. Conversely, money starts to get tight so people start to sue each other. This of course means extra litigation work for the lawyers.

Recessions can also bring about some pretty dramatic personal life changes. For instances, people can be made redundant which in turn, creates financial pressure. Frequently, this pressure spills over into their personal relationships.

Sometimes, facing financial pressure can bring a couple closer as they bury down in the trenches together. But often, the strain can lead to a couples’ relationship breaking down. When this occurs, people separate. We know this because in ordinary times about 42% of Kiwis do just that – separate.

When a couple separate they usually divide up their assets. If their assets have been placed in a Trust the inevitable question arises: What happens to the assets in the Trust? This question is of great importance because when a relationship breaks down, there can be a lot of fighting happening and frequently the only thing left standing is “The Trust”.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

First, before assets are placed in a Trust, all individuals should obtain good legal advice. This is absolutely essential in my view because when assets are moved from an individual to a Trust, an individual’s property rights are affected.

Secondly, the legal advice obtained by the parties will usually include a very strong recommendation for the parties to enter into a legal Property Relationship Agreement. Again, in my view, this is essential because it will set out the basis for future reference. Should a relationship breakdown after the assets have been transferred through to the Trust, this Agreement will become invaluable.

The individuals will be saved a huge legal bill as they will not have to go to Court to argue over the assets. Additionally, and most importantly, those same individuals will not have to suffer the enormous emotional burden going to Court places on a person.

Thirdly, an actual Agreement should be entered into between the parties. This seems almost a moot point considering we have just discussed the absolute need for the Agreement but you would be surprised how many people talk about getting an Agreement but never actually do it.

The Agreement, if prepared and executed, is likely to set out a variety of matters including an acknowledgment of what assets belong to each of the parties before those assets are transferred to a Trust. It may also set out what will happen to those assets when they are transferred through to a Trust should the parties ever separate.

Lastly, if an Agreement has been entered into by the parties and assets have subsequently been transferred to the Trust then the issue is pretty easy. This is of course providing the Agreement stated what was to occur should the parties ever separate. The Agreement is just placed before the Lawyers and hopefully everyone can agree to implement what the Agreement says.

In the normal course of events what this means is the assets of the Trust are sold, loans are repaid and the balance of the sale proceeds are put into the Trust’s bank account, ready for division between the parties.

Often at this point in time the existing Trust is made into one of the individuals own Trust and another Trust is set up for the other remaining party. So in effect, each of the parties ends up with their own Trust.

Then half the sale proceeds are sent to the new Trust and the other half of the sale proceeds simply remains in the existing Trust (which was previously turned into one of the individuals Trust).

two is better than one

It’s no secret that many smart people have two trusts. One each. Each Trust will hold its own assets and frequently a half share in the family home. Why have two Trusts rather than one? Again the answer is simple. If you have two Trusts you have the ability to deal with property that was solely your own before it went to the Trust. This could include family heirlooms.

Also, your own Trust can be the recipient of any inheritances you might receive, such as money from your own Parents. Overall, having your own Trust means you can deal with the assets in the Trust as you and your Trustees wish. You can do this without the consent of your spouse (assuming they are not your Co-Trustee).

Lastly, a very large advantage of having your own Trust is you then have the ability to leave particular assets to specific beneficiaries such as children you had prior to your relationship.

As mentioned above, another great benefit of having two Trusts is that both Trusts can own a half share in the family home. When two Trusts are involved they are also very likely to have entered into a legal Agreement which would have set out the steps to be taken if the parties ever separated.

So overall, a two Trust structure is frequently far superior to one. You do have to be aware that you will have double the set up and running costs of course, but this disadvantage can be far outweighed by the benefits a two Trust structure can confer.

when prevention hasn’t been taken

Here’s where all the trouble begins. The parties don’t ever enter into a legal Agreement and cannot agree on what is to happen with the assets that are in the Trust.

When this occurs only the lawyers win as the battle royale begins and legal fees start to mount. When I see this happening I call both clients. I try to give them a bit of a reality dose. This includes reference to the movie “War of the Roses”. If anyone has ever seen this movie we all know who the winners are and that is the Lawyers. A couple can spend literally thousands of dollars in legal fees as they fight over the assets of the Trust. Let’s face it ... a house worth say $500,000 isn’t worth a couple spending $100,000 on legal fees fighting over.

Often, when you look at what is really going on, the individuals aren’t fighting over the house at all. They are fighting because they are hurt. The trouble is, that fight costs lots and lots of money if it goes on for a long period of time. It is also emotionally draining.

I’m not advocating that an individual shouldn’t engage lawyers when and where they are needed. All I’m saying is a little common sense needs to prevail in these situations. As a Professional Trustee I try hard to calm the parties and seek some form of agreement that I can send through to their Lawyers.

But if you can’t get an agreement, then what happens? Well the matter just has to go to Court. Which means the Courts look at how the Trust was established, how the Trust has been run over the years, who has control of the Trust, what assets have been transferred to the Trust and what loans the Trust owes back to the individuals.

Other matters can also come under scrutiny but in the main, these are the points the Courts will look at. Once the Courts review the matter they may make a variety of Orders. These can include putting an independent person in to run the Trust (act as a Trustee) as well making a monetary award.

I guess there are 3 main points to take from this article.

1. Get great Trust advice when setting up a Trust from a professional who really understands asset protection, estate planning, tax minimization and financial accounting. Get the very best advice you possibly can.

2. Seriously consider a two Trust structure and if you do decide to go down this route, make sure both Trusts have a legally binding Agreement as discussed above.

3. Get good solid legal advice and enter into a legal property relationship agreement.

Remember, if you want your assets to be protected, use a Trust. But do the right thing ... get the right advice, from the right people and chose the right Trust structure to ensure that asset is truly protected.

Professional Trustee Services
Gilligan Rowe + Associates Ltd
Chartered Accountants

Learn more about Janet
Email: jx@gra.co.nz
Ph: +64 9 522 7955

P.S. Did you like this article? Go ahead and sign up to our free newsletter and receive tips, updates and useful information to help you protect your assets and grow your net worth.  GRA are accountants who provide expert accountant advice both in NZ and offshore.

P.P.S.  Check out our sister website, www.familytrusts.co.nz for more family trust information.

Last week a friend of mine unexpectedly passed away.

His passing left behind many family members and friends in great pain. It also resulted in quite a nightmare when it came down to dealing with his business and his personal assets.

Since this is a personal matter, you may be asking...Why am I writing this blog post and sharing this with you? Well I’m hoping that by telling this story, you will put in place the steps to ensure your affairs are in order - to ensure continuity for the people left behind when you die.

You see when someone dies, its hard enough having to deal with the loss. Having to try and take action to protect assets and run a business at the same time just makes a bad situation even worse.

Within two hours of death all Gilligan Rowe & Associates Partners had gathered and pledged help. The deceased was my friend, not a GRA client. But when a Partner at GRA needs help, all GRA partners stand together (that’s the wonderful thing about this firm).

Within 4 hours I had visited my friend’s business and spoke with his staff. Every staff member was in shock but every one of them agreed they’d help.

The Game Plan

The first job was to secure the technology in the business. This was not easy. No one in the business had any idea of the passwords the deceased used. This of course made our second job harder.

The staff (all 58 of them) had to be paid the following day. So now we had a situation where we had no access to money because we had no access to technology. If things weren’t bad enough, word was spreading within the industry and we had staff asking us what was going on, were they still employed, should they still go to their jobs tomorrow and would they get paid.

We had to come up with a solution quickly. We scrambled and managed to deal with the computer issue but it was pretty stressful at the time.

The next issue we had to deal with was the staff. All human beings like some semblance of order and continuity of staff was a question on everyone's mind. So we called a staff meeting and amongst tears, told all the staff it was business as usual.

A serious issue that we had to deal with was how to protect the deceased’s business. One of the competitors was already visiting the businesses clients and offering his services. We dealt with this by putting in a temporary CEO and getting that CEO and the lead salesman in the business out visiting the clients, assuring them that despite the awful set of circumstances before us, the business would go on.

The last really urgent issue we tackled was trying to ascertain what assets the deceased actually had. Turns out he had a Trust, but that Trust contained both his personal assets and his business assets, and debt was completely cross-secured. Our investigation revealed that there was life insurance.  We were all thankful for this because that would at least take care of some of the debt.

On closer checking however our hopes were dashed... The deceased had cancelled his life insurance because he was in the midst of taking out new policies with another insurance provider. We looked at this issue and decided to brief his lawyers on what we felt had to be done.

At that point, we all thought we’d done what we could, so we returned to our own company and got down to the business of dealing with our own clients’ affairs.

Lessons Learned and Checklist

A couple of days later all three Gilligan Rowe & Associates Partners discussed what could have been done differently. You see, we often look at situations in an attempt to improve the services we offer to our clients. We came up a few points and think that if these things had been done, dealing with this death would have been so much easier.

1.  Write down somewhere the name of your bank account numbers and passwords. Keep this document secret. Put it with your lawyer or your accountant or better still, both professionals. Stipulate that the document is only to be opened and read upon your death.

2.  Write a note to either your spouse, your lawyer or your accountant. Tell them what steps should be taken on your death. For example, does someone owe you some money which hasn’t been recorded in say your financial statements but which you want collected on your death? Do you want to be an organ donor? Write your wishes down so they are clear. Again, stipulate that the document should only be opened and read upon your death.

3.  Ensure you have a current Will and that your lawyer, accountant and your spouse have a copy of that Will. Let me help you if you do not have one or need it updated.

4.  Never cancel a life insurance policy without having another one in place.

5.  Keep a copy of your life insurance policy with your lawyer, accountant or spouse.

6.  Ensure the life insurance policy is in the names of the Trustees of your Family Trust.

7.  Have a Trust but make sure personal and business assets aren’t mixed up. For example, put personal assets such as your family home in your Family Trust and keep your business assets, such as the shares in your business in your Trading Trust.

8.  Have a current Memorandum of Wishes for each of your Trusts. Tell your surviving Trustees in your Memorandum of Wishes exactly what you want done with the assets of the Trust when you die.

9.  Leave a copy of your current Memorandum of Wishes with your lawyer, accountant and survivor.

10.  Have a game plan for your business. What exactly should happen on your death? Who should be put in the driving seat until your Trustees or your Executors can handle things? Write this down in detail, because if you have a thriving business, this plan is going to be absolutely invaluable in ensuring your business survives after your death.

11.  Leave a set of house keys, business keys, etc with a friend so that someone has access to your business and your home to feed your pets and water your pot plants. You might have passed on but your pets and plants are still here and still need care.

I’m sure that there are many more tips we could follow. The above isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list. It’s just a list of suggestions to make life a little easier for those left behind so that we can get on with the business of grieving.

Of course we at Gilligam Rowe can help with any or all of the items on this checklist.  For a confidential and no-obligation discussion on any of these points including trusts, wills, insurance or asset planning advice, please contact us.

Professional Trustee Services
Gilligan Rowe + Associates Ltd
Chartered Accountants

Learn more about Janet
Email: jx@gra.co.nz
Ph: +64 9 522 7955

P.S. Did you like this article? Go ahead and sign up to our free newsletter and receive tips, updates and useful information to help you protect your assets and grow your net worth.  GRA are accountants who provide expert accountant advice both in NZ and offshore.

P.P.S.  Check out our sister website, www.familytrusts.co.nz for more family trust information.

In case you missed it over the weekend, the NZ Herald article on a woman being awarded a share of her husband's 'inherited property' that pre-existed the relationship rewrote some relationship property rules.

What Happened?

The supreme court held that a woman whom helped maintain an inherited farm property (that pre-existed the marriage) was entitled to 40% of the growth on the property that occurred during the relationship.

Why?

Because she contributed to the maintenance of the house by performing domestic chores and by earning income.

Why is this a change ?

It was generally accepted before this case that inherited property that pre-existed a marriage is separate relationship property and not subject to 50/50 split on divorce.

Comment;

• Personally I think the case is fair, - she did contribute to the relationship so why should it not be shared property, given she contributed to the properties upkeep? The plaintiff's counsel noted the farm would have likely been forced to be sold, but for her income being used to support bank payments.

•  If you wish to avoid this happening, - put your property in a Trust and ask your spouse to sign a relationship property agreement. The latter ( relationship property agreement or S21 agreement) makes it very clear that the property is not intended to be joint relationship property. Such agreement is much easier than an expensive fight later on, and perhaps easier to put in place earlier than later.

•  The Trust is a great thing to do before the relationship commences, but is weakened as a defence to a claim if setup during the marriage and the property is transferred during the relationship. If you wish to do this during the marriage, the S21 agreement is essential to stop spouses 'tracing' their potential relationship property interest into the Trust.

Thank you,

 Matthew Gilligan
Director

Learn More about Matthew
Contact Matthew at mg@gra.co.nz or call +64 9 522 7955

P.S. Did you like this article? Go ahead and sign up to our free newsletter and receive tips, updates and useful information to help you protect your assets and grow your net worth.  GRA are accountants who provide expert accountant advice both in NZ and offshore.