For professional advisors

Trust reviews and advice

We help make trusts understandable and suitable for your clients

Reading and understanding your client’s trust deeds can be complicated and confusing.

From the antiquated language to the never-ending ‘rules’ of the trust, reading a trust deed often feels harder than other documents.

Combined with everchanging tax laws that affects trusts and complex and historical trust rules, the full terms relating to your client’s trust is often not properly understood.

As a result, unique, obscure and critical clauses may be missed resulting in a range of consequences including (but not limited to):

• invalid trust distributions;
• invalid trust changes (including changes of trustees);
• invalid trust deed.

Having read and reviewed hundreds of trust deeds, we have experience in understanding and deciphering trust deeds, and identifying issues or crucial clauses to be wary of.

We can assist you and your clients with:

• reviewing trust deeds and identifying any crucial issues;
• correcting any issues in relation to a trust or trust deed;
• amending the terms of a trust deed;
• changing the trustee or other roles of a trust; and
• advising on trust law issues relevant to the trustee, beneficiaries or other roles in the trust.

Related party documentation

We help prepare written documents evidencing transactions

Whether for:

• record keeping purposes;
• internal restructuring purposes; or
• documenting a transaction between family or related entities,

we can assist with preparing the relevant documents your clients may require.

With an increase in audit capability by revenue authorities and potential for disputes, it is prudent for family groups to document transactions between family members and related entities to ensure sufficient contemporaneous evidence exists of the intended tax treatment/consequences.

Documents we are able to assist with preparing includes:

• documents required to obtain relevant tax rollovers and concessions (such as business sale agreements or share exchange agreements);
• documents confirming the effect of a transaction (such as a deed of gift, loan agreement, deed of forgiveness, deed of assignment of debt or offset agreement); and
• intra-group related party commercial agreements (such as service agreements).

If you require a certain style of document frequently, please feel free to contact us and we can assist with creating a tailored process for your firm (for example an offset agreement setting off various loans, unpaid dividend distributions and unpaid present entitlements).

Tax advice

We can provide your clients with specialised and tailored tax support

Not a specialist in tax, or just wanting to a second opinion? We are available to assist where necessary to complement your firm in providing holistic advice to your clients.

With our Director, being a Chartered Tax Advisor, we have experience in interpretating and applying the tax law to various client circumstances.

Our engagement can either be directly with you providing specialist support, or directly with your clients (with you providing complementary services).

Monthly presentations

We can help expand your firm's shared knowledge

We have been providing monthly tax and legal presentations to a range of professional firms since 2017.

Our presentations vary depending on the firm but have included topics such as:

• estate planning;
• business succession;
• state taxes such as land tax, payroll tax and stamp duty;
• personal services income provisions and capital gains tax;
• internal tax restructures;
• structuring arrangements for health professionals; and
• trusts.

If you would be interested in having us meet with you and your team on a monthly basis to present, please contact our Director, Darius Hii at darius@chatlegal.com.au or 0403923374 to discuss.