Webinar Recording - Family Trust v Family Court - Not a marriage made in Heaven

Family Trusts are widely known for their asset protection benefits. However, when it comes to family disputes, the Family Court has extraordinary powers to look through the Family Trust structure. Very few Trustees and their advisers comprehend exactly how far these powers go with respect to accessing and modifying Trusts.

With so much wealth tied up in Trust structures, Trust property often proves a fertile battleground with the competing rights of beneficiaries against the Courts accessing what it considers “marital property”. Forget creditors or the ATO, the Family Court is the Family Trust’s biggest enemy when it comes to busting Trusts.

In this Webinar, specialist family lawyer, Paula Wilkinson, will look at the powers of the Family Court in relation to Trusts and how our understanding of the modern Family Trust has been shaped by recent decisions in the High Court.

In her presentation, Paula will address:

• Discretionary Trusts and the management of a Trust;
• Powers of the Family Court in relation to Trusts;
• How parties to Family Court proceedings access documents relating to a Trust;
• The High Court in Kennon v Spry and the law following; and
• Beneficiary loans and UPE’s.

Understanding how the Family Court interacts with Trusts is vital for anyone who advises clients on Trusts. This webinar is suitable for Trustees and their professional advisers and is pitched at an intermediate level. It assumes a basic knowledge of the Trust Structure and the concept of Trust Property.

• 12/08/2021 - Webinar Recording - Introduction to Family Trusts - the basics

• 23/07/2020 - Webinar Recording - Distributing Capital from Family Trusts

• 12/05/2020 - Webinar Recording - Stimulus measures and year-end tax planning for companies and trusts

• 5/12/2019 - Webinar Recording - Dealing with Mistakes and Variations in Family Trust Deeds

• 23/10/2019 - Webinar Recording - Accessing Company & Trust Documents in Family Law

• 1/08/2019 - Webinar Recording - Small Business Tax and Financial Risks

• 2/05/2019 - Webinar Recording - Year End Tax Planning

• 13/03/2019 - Webinar Recording - Superannuation: Current status of the proposed changes

• 27/11/2018 - Webinar Recording - Fixing Family Trust Deeds

• 16/10/2018 - Webinar Recording - The who, what, when & how of Family Trust Elections

• 12/09/2018 - Webinar Recording - You’ve Been Served! - How to deal with a family law subpoena

• 8/08/2018 - Webinar Recording - Beneficiary Entitlements in Trusts

• 6/06/2018 - Webinar Recording - SMSF End of Year Essentials

• 19/04/2018 - Webinar Recording - Unit Trust v Family Trust - Which is Better for Investing?

• 8/03/2018 - Webinar Recording - Do Pre-Nups Work Anymore?

• 13/12/2017 - Webinar Recording - When a Will is not Simple

• 26/10/2017 - Webinar Recording - Winding Up Trusts and Tax Consequences

• 19/09/2017 - Webinar Recording - Untangling Discretionary Trusts – A Family Lawyer’s Perspective

• 23/08/2017 - Webinar Recording - Time to Address the SMSF Sleeper - Estate Planning within the fund

• 20/06/2017 - Webinar Recording - Navigating Small Business Restructure Roll-overs

• 6/04/2017 - Webinar Recording - Dealing with Divorce - An Accountant’s Perspective

• 23/02/2017 - Webinar Recording - Understanding the 2017 Superannuation Changes

• 1/12/2016 - Webinar Recording - Estate Planning Basics for Professional Advisers

• 17/11/2016 - Webinar Recording - Are Family Trusts “Done” as an Asset Protection Tool?

• 13/10/2016 - Webinar Recording - Demise of the Accountants’ Exemption - Walking the line, post 1 July 2016

• 13/09/2016 - Webinar Recording - Family Trust v Family Court - Not a marriage made in Heaven

• 10/08/2016 - Webinar Recording - Managing Trust UPEs - How to do it and potential tax exposures

• 31/05/2016 - Webinar Recording - How does the 2016 Budget affect SMSF Trustees?

• 3/05/2016 - Webinar Recording - Avoiding Business Disputes

• 30/03/2016 - Webinar Recording - Pitfalls that SMSF Trustees should avoid

• 23/02/2016 - Webinar Recording - Asset Protection - Dealing with Risk in Hard Times

• 9/12/2015 - Webinar Recording - Trusts Revisited

• 28/10/2015 - Webinar Recording - Know Thy Business Structure

• 23/09/2015 - Webinar Recording - Social Media in the Workplace

• 27/08/2015 - Webinar Recording - The Powers and Problems of Trustees

• 28/07/2015 - Webinar Recording - Tips and Traps for Property Investment in your SMSF

• 27/05/2015 - Webinar Recording - Companies - Things you should know, but probably don’t!

• 21/04/2015 - Webinar Recording - The Pros and Cons of Unit Trusts

• 11/03/2015 - Webinar Recording - Employee Engagement and Share Plans

• 18/02/2015 - Webinar Recording - SMSFs and Related Party Loans

• 19/11/2014 - Webinar Recording - Trusts - Asset Protection on Peptides

• 15/10/2014 - Webinar Recording - Maximising your Business Value

• 25/09/2014 - Webinar Recording - Project Do It - ATO Amnesty Information Session

• 10/09/2014 - Webinar Recording - Private Company Cash - Division 7A Complications for Professional Advisors

• 6/08/2014 - Webinar Recording - Employee v Contractor

• 4/06/2014 - Webinar Recording - The Protected Super Myth’Conception

• 8/04/2014 - Webinar Recording - Trust Tax Issues and CGT Small Business Concessions

• 11/02/2014 - Webinar Recording - Accountant Road Rules for Super

• 19/11/2013 - Webinar Recording - Are you Ready for Bullying in the Workplace?

• 2/10/2013 - Webinar Recording - Investment Restrictions for Self Managed Superannuation Funds

• 5/09/2013 - Webinar Recording - All About Family Trusts

Presenter Paula Wilkinson

Paula is a founding Director of specialist Family Law Firm, Kim Wilson & Co and has been recognised by her peers as a Leading Family and Divorce Lawyer in the 2015 Doyle’ Guide Rankings, October 2015.

Paula is a graduate of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and an Accredited Specialist Family Lawyer (NSW). In 2012 Paula completed a post graduate course, the Master of Applied Law (Family Law) through the New South Wales College of Law.

She is an adjunct lecturer teaching graduate courses for the LL.M (Family Law) (NSW College of Laws Australia) teaching FLP2 (Property Maintenance & Child Support) and FLP12 (Advanced Issues in Property Maintenance & Child Support).

Paula has given papers at conferences by invitation for Accountants, for the Conference Law on the Lounge (Bali) and at the University of Western Australia Law Faculty as a Guest Speaker to the students in the Advanced Family Law Unit.