Trust Administration

Family Trusts & More

Forming a Family Trust can be an effective method of protecting your assets and a flexible way to plan for the future. This is achieved by separating ownership of the assets from you personally. However, once formed, it is important that the trust is properly administered to ensure that this separation cannot be challenged.

In general, trustees of a family trust should:

1. Meet on a regular basis, at least annually, to review the trust investments and the needs of the beneficiaries;
2. Be involved in all trust decisions and record their decisions in writing;
3. Ensure that they comply with the legal obligations imposed on trustees; and
4. Ensure that the trust meets its income tax obligations such as filing a tax return if the trust receives an income.

Two examples of decisions that trustees ought to document, sign and securely store are:

1. Resolution approving the Trust's annual accounts and distributions to beneficiaries
2. Resolution approving the extension of financing (without change of security) 

You can download templates for these resolutions by clicking on the icons. 

Our Trusts team will be happy to help if you have any questions on how to use these documents and to assist trustees in meeting their ongoing administrative responsibilities, including preparation of accounts and tax returns.