Trust law passes third reading

The Trusts Bill (290-3) that was introduced on 1st August 2017, has passed its third reading in Parliament. The Bill now awaits the Royal assent.

The Trusts Bill will replace the Trustee Act 1956 and the Perpetuities Act 1964 to make trust law more accessible, clarify and simplify core trust principles and essential obligations for trustees, and preserve the flexibility of the common law to allow trust law to continue to evolve through the courts. Principal changes include:

• clarification of key features of a trust and the duties of trustees

• clear rules about when trustees are required to provide information to beneficiaries so that beneficiaries can enforce their rights

• practical and flexible trustee powers that allow trustees to manage and invest trust property in the most appropriate way

• options for removing and appointing trustees without having to go to court in straightforward cases

• modern dispute resolution procedures, and

• permitting amendments to certain financial and commercial trusts to enable specified provisions of the Bill to not apply to those trusts.

The legislation will take effect 18 months after it receives Royal assent and becomes an Act of Parliament.

Schedule 4, Pt 1 of the Bill makes consequential amendments to a number of Acts including replacing s FC 1(1)(f)(ii) and s HR 3(6)(a) of the Income Tax Act 2007.

Previous article on the Trust Bill (290-3)