New Zealand families have created more trust deeds per capita than most countries,  but do the people using them really understand what a Family Trust is and what it can do?  If you don't,  your trust may not be as effective as you think.
This article will hopefully help to shed some light for you.

TRUSTS IN PLAIN ENGLISH
​What does a family trust do?
The idea with a family trust is to protect the ownership of your assets. Here’s how trusts work: you transfer the legal ownership of your assets to the trustees while continuing to use and enjoy them as long as the trust deed permits. For example, if your family home is in a trust, you no longer personally own the house – but you can still live in it if that’s what the trust deed allows and the trustees agree.

Benefits of a family trust
Family trusts are designed to protect your assets and benefit members of your family beyond your lifetime. When your assets are in a family trust you no longer have legal ownership of them – the assets are owned by the trustees, for the benefit of your family members.
People usually set up a family trust to get some benefit from no longer personally owning an asset. A family trust may be useful to:

• Protect selected assets against claims and creditors – for example, to protect a family home from the potential failure of a business venture.
• Set aside money for special reasons, such as a child or grandchild’s education.
• Ensure your children, not their partners, keep their inheritances and have help managing finances.
• Manage the risk of unwanted claims on your estate when you die – such as from a former partner.

Who’s involved?
A settlor: The person or company who creates the trust.
Appointor:  The Appointor is the person who can appoint or remove Trustees. This is usually the settlor but it can be someone nominated by the settlor.   It is important that the Appointor always has someone nominated to replace themselves if they can no longer do the job.
Trustees: The people who manage the trust. The settlor can also be a trustee. It’s also a good idea to appoint an independent trustee who is not a beneficiary. Professionals like lawyers and accountants (or companies they have set up) often act as independent trustees.  Your Trustees need to be people you trust to administer the Trust properly and fairly.
Beneficiaries: The people who benefit from the trust, for example members of immediate family.
Guardian:  This person has certain powers to keep an eye on a trust’s operation. Where a trust deed provides for a guardian, it will usually require that the Trustees obtain consent from the Guardian before major decisions are made.  Often the Appointor and the Guardian may be one and the same person but there are sometimes very good reasons to make those people different.
Special Trust Advisor (previously called an Advisory Trustee):  This person advises the Trustees but is not a Trustee and cannot compel the Trustee.Most Family Trusts will not require a Special Trust Advisor, but with an increasing tendency to outsource financial advice there is likely to be an increase in the number of trust deeds involving one.

How long does a Family Trust last?
A trust doesn’t usually end with the settlor’s death – that is one of the main reasons that trusts are created.  A trust usually lasts for a maximum of 80 years from inception but as of January 2021 that can be extended to 125 years.
 
How family trusts work
A legal document called a ‘trust deed’ will formally set up the family trust. It will name the trustees, list the beneficiaries, and state various rules for the administration and management of the trust. The trust deed needs to be very carefully written.  The “one size fits all” trust deed will fit as well as badly as most items with that label.

Asset transfer
After you have your trust deed prepared, you need to decide what things you own will go into the family trust, and what their value is. In many cases this will be the family home, but other things of value like cash, bank deposits, shares, artwork etc can also be included in the trust.
Once the family trust is formed assets can be sold into the trust, at market value. This is where it can get a little tricky. Although the trust wants to buy, say, your house (and you want to sell it to the trust) the trust may have no money to buy it. How then does the family trust pay for the house?
The answer to this is that you lend the family trust the money. Initially this is a ‘paper’ transaction – you sell the house to the trust, and the trust owes you a debt.  However, the debt that the trust owes you is still counted as a personal asset. So you will need to get rid of the debt so you can achieve your aim of owning less in your name.
The way you do this is through ‘gifting’.

Gifting
Most people who form trusts ‘gift’ away the debt that the trust owes them. IN In New Zealand, before October 2011 there was a limit of $27,000 that anyone could gift in one year without paying a tax called ‘gift duty’ to Inland Revenue. However, gift duty has been abolished and there is no limit to how much you can gift in one year.  This means that where previously it would have taken 22 years to gift the value of a house worth $600,000 to a family trust without paying gift duty, you can now gift the whole amount of the debt straight away.
However, the decision of what to gift and when should be considered carefully after receiving legal and financial advice.
Note that gifts are still included in the assessment for a Residential Care Subsidy.

The costs
Family trusts can be complex and time consuming to administer. It costs money to set them up and there are generally ongoing (at least, annual) legal and accounting fees.

The risks
If a trust is not set up or managed well, there can be considerable inconvenience and cost.
There’s the risk of having the trust declared a ‘sham’, which would mean that the assets are not really the trustees’ but are in fact still yours.  If the trust is declared a sham you may lose all of the advantages that you were hoping to gain from it, and the trustees may be penalised as well.
Once you put your assets into a trust, you no longer personally own or control them. Instead, ownership passes to the appointed trustees, who must act under the terms of the trust deed in the best interests of the beneficiaries.
There have been cases of family members suing other family members for a breach of the trust’s provisions. The courts treat claims of this sort quite seriously and they will normally be expensive to resolve.
Forming a trust is a big decision. When going down this route, make sure that it is established properly, for the right reasons, and managed well.  Keeping clear records of everything that affects the trust is very important. 

Trusts are complex.  Legal advice is essential.  Accounting advice is also recommended. This article talks about Trusts in New Zealand and there can be significant differences in the way trusts can operate from country to country.   

This article is for information only and should not be relied on as legal advice.

On Friday 17 April 2020, the New Zealand Government made urgent new laws for the signing of Oaths and Affirmations, and Wills by means of video conferencing (Zoom, Facetime, Skype etc.) 

This is a significant step.

Although as a lawyer working in this community, I love meeting my clients face to face, during Level 4 (and the likely Level 3 restrictions), I simply can’t.  To do so, is a breach of the COVID-19 rules and as importantly poses a risk to community health and safety. 

Legal work, unless it relates to protection of self and property, or other urgent court matters is not an essential service under current lockdown rules.

I, along with hundreds of other lawyers, have been advocating on behalf of our clients since before the lockdown to ensure that important so called ‘non-essential’ legal matters can continue to be dealt with. This has meant that liaising with banks, and other parties, I have prepared and/or witnessed many legal documents (including Enduring Powers of Attorney) by video conferencing services during the lockdown period.  But there have been problems doing this with Wills. 

​Now, there is a clear way to prepare a formal, valid will using video conferencing and clear guidelines for Oaths/Affirmations, Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney.

I continue to be able to offer ordinary witnessing/certifying duties (by video conference) and to assist with legal questions you may have by telephone, free of charge for my local community. Please let me know if I can help.  

Epidemic Preparedness (Oaths and Declarations Act 1957) Immediate Modification Order 2020
Epidemic Preparedness (Wills Act 2007—Signing and Witnessing of Wills) Immediate Modification Order 2020
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As businesses by necessity rapidly track to online options, there’s more than just a great looking website or app to think about.

Whether you sell online or in person, you need to tell customers important information about your products or services — and how you conduct your business.

Key legal issues to think about include:

• clear terms and conditions for sales and use of your online services
• online payment security options – direct deposit or secure checkout  
• privacy policy to protect your customers’ information 

Important information that should be part of your online presence includes:

• Details about your business
• Contact options
• Product descriptions
• (If sales to be online) Cost of what you are selling including any extra costs, such as delivery costs and call-out fees, and even what currency is being used
• Loyalty program details
• Returns policy
• Complaint policy
• Any conditions on purchases, eg parental approval if a child is the buyer
• Which country's law applies to sales - yours, or buyer's if outside New Zealand.

For more detailed information about Terms and Conditions, see my article here.

Contracting Out
Businesses that sell consumer products or services to other businesses can contract out of the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) and the Contract and Commercial Law Act, which has replaced the Sale of Goods Act. It might be your business contracting out, or it might be one or more of your suppliers.

Contracting out means that if something goes wrong, eg a domestic oven bought by a baker breaks down, the seller does NOT have to pay for repairs or give a refund or replacement — except to the extent stated in the contract.

Contracting out must be put in writing, eg in terms and conditions or contract. If not, the law applies. It doesn’t matter if the document is signed or not. If the sale goes ahead after receiving terms and conditions or contract, it’s taken to mean the buyer agrees to the terms.

Phrases like these, indicate an attempt to contract out:

It is a condition of sale that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 will not apply to any goods or services acquired for business purposes.

No other warranties either express or implied by law are made with respect to these products.
​
If your supplier’s contract attempts to contract out, look closely at what your protection is in their supply contract and  think about whether you can negotiate special conditions. 

The government offers a tool for setting up  a plain English privacy statement. You can access it by clicking here:   Priv-o-matic

A ‘bright-line rule’ is a clear and defined rule, like a line in the sand,  that leaves no room for interpretation.   The bright-line rule you are most likely to have heard of is the bright-line property rule.

What is the bright-line property rule?

The bright-line property rule means that if you sell a residential property you might need to pay income tax on any gains. How it works depends on when the property was bought.

• Purchased before 1 October 2015: the bright-line property rule does not apply.
• Purchased between 1 October 2015 and 28 March 2018: the bright-line property rule may apply if the residential property is sold within two years of buying. 
• Purchased on or after 29 March 2018: the bright-line property rule may apply if the residential property is sold within five years of buying.

When does the clock start ticking?
Generally the bright-line period starts on the date the property title is officially transferred to you, which is the date the property transfer is registered with Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) - NOT the day you sign the Contract.

Different dates apply if you sell the land before your purchase was registered with LINZ, if you bought the land because of a subdivision of property (for example as a sale “off the plan”), or if the property is purchased in another country.

Are there exclusions?
There are some situations where the bright-line rule does not apply: 
Exclusion 1 - Main home
If the property is the family/main home it will be excluded.  Your main home is the property you have the greatest connection to. To be eligible for the main home exclusion to the bright-line rule, you need to have used a property as your main home for more than 50% of the time that you’ve owned it. You also need to use more than 50% of the area of the property as your main home. (The area that counts as your main home generally includes things like gardens and related buildings like the garage). 
If you live in more than one property, you’ll need to decide which is your main home as you can only have one.  Also, you can only use the main home exclusion twice over any two year period. You’d have to pay tax on any profit you make from the sale of a third property in two years because you would not be eligible for the main home exclusion.
You’re also not eligible for the main home exclusion if you show a regular pattern of buying and selling residential property.
Residential properties held in trust can use the main home exclusion under the bright-line rule if:

• the house sold was the main home of the principal settlor of the trust, or the principal settlor did not have a main home, and
• it was the main home of a beneficiary of the trust.

The principal settlor of a trust is the person who has made the biggest financial contribution to the trust.
Exclusion 2 - Inherited Property
If the residential property was inherited, or if the seller is the executor or administrator of a deceased estate then the property is excluded.
Exclusion 3 – Property (Relationship) Act settlement
If you receive a property as part of a relationship settlement agreement, you will not need to pay income tax on the property when it’s transferred to you.  However, if you go on to sell this property within the bright-line period for this property, the relevant bright-line rule will apply.

What are the tax implications of the bright-line property rule?
If you sell a property that falls under the bright-line property rule, you will need to submit an income tax return and a property sale information form - IR833 at the end of the relevant tax year.
Residential land withholding tax (RLWT) will apply to your property sale if:
a) the property sold is in New Zealand and defined as residential land, and
b) the seller:

• has purchased the property on or after 1 October 2015 through to 28 March 2018 inclusive, and owned the property for less than two years before selling, or
• has purchased the property on or after 29 March 2018 and owned the property for less than five years before selling, or
• is an offshore RLWT person.

What if the property is sold at a loss?
If a residential property that the bright-line rule applies to is sold at a loss (and no exclusions apply), these losses are “ring-fenced” as to residential property sales so that if you owe income tax on another residential property sale in the future, you can subtract these “ring-fenced” property losses from the income you earned on this later sale. That means you’ll pay less tax on the later sale.

What about non-residential property?
The bright-line rule only applies to residential property.  A property is not residential if it’s mainly used for business or as farmland.  That means when you sell farmland or business property, the bright-line rule will not apply. But you’ll still need to follow existing tax rules. 

Also, whenever you buy a property intending to resell it, you’ll need to pay tax on any profit you make when you sell that property. This is called the ‘intention test’.  The intention test is not a new rule. It’s been around for a long time.

A final word
If you sell a residential property outside of the relevant bright-line period for you, the bright-line rule will not apply to your property sale. But the intention test may still apply. 
Remember, all existing property tax rules still apply. So even if the bright-line rule does not apply in your situation, that does not necessarily mean you will not need to pay tax on your property profits.

Please note:  This article is designed to provide general information regarding the subject matter covered. It is not intended to serve as legal or taxation advice related to individual situations and cannot be relied on as such.  Because each individual's legal situation is different, specific advice should be tailored to the particular circumstances.

You don’t need to have all your answers lined up before you get advice on an EPA Care and Welfare  but it certainly helps to process the questions in your mind.  The following list includes 10 key things to think about:

1.  Do you need to cancel any previous EPA Care and Welfare appointment? 
If you have prepared an EPA Care and Welfare before, you may need to cancel the appointment.  If so, the attorney/s named in the previous power of attorney need to be formally notified in writing by you, your lawyer or your new attorney/s. 

2.  Who would you like to be named as your attorney/s – will they agree?
You can only name one attorney to act at any one time in relation to care and welfare matters.  
The person you appoint should be over 18 years of age, competent and trustworthy.  You should talk with that person or people about the role you are asking them to adopt and your expectations.  You will need their full name, address and contact details to complete your instructions.

3.  Do you want to name a successor attorney/s (in case the first named attorney is unable to continue in that role) – will they agree? 
I recommend you do nominate a successor attorney if possible as it means the document will survive should there be any reason why your attorney is unable to act (and therefore be more cost effective).

4.  When do you want your successor attorney to act?
When making an Enduring Power of Attorney you must also determine the circumstances under which your enduring and substitute enduring attorneys will act. For example, you might direct that your enduring attorney act only when they are in New Zealand and that you would like your substitute to act when your enduring attorney is out of the country.

5.  Should the EPA Care and Welfare apply to all your Care and Welfare decisions or only to some of your Care and Welfare decisions? 
In most cases, I would recommend broad powers with the inclusion of conditions only(rather than limitations on powers) if there are concerns about the way specific Care and Welfare matters are to be dealt with.  

6.  Do you want to impose conditions on any of those powers?
You might for example want to make it a condition that you need to be placed in care that there are certain things you would like taken into account such as if animals are allowed. 

7.  Who should your attorney consult with and what should they consult about? 
The requirement of consultation is a requirement that takes effect before action is undertaken.  Examples of persons with whom you may wish your attorney to consult are numerous but obvious ones might include your Enduring Power of Attorney (Property) or lawyer.  You will need to provide your adviser with full names, addresses and contact details if you wish to include people to consult.

8.  Who should your attorney give information to and what information should they give? 
The requirement to provide information takes effect at any time but usually after an action is undertaken.  This might involve an attorney providing information to your children or step children for example.  By including a provision to disclose information you can help to ensure that your care and welfare matters when in the hands of an attorney are more open to disclosure.  You will need to provide your adviser with full names, addresses and contact details if you wish to include people to inform.

9.  Should the attorney be entitled to profit from acting as attorney e.g. should attorneys be allowed to charge for their time? 
All professional attorneys are entitled to charge fees. This can prove costly for your estate but may be necessary.  You may also wish to reimburse an Attorney, professional or otherwise for expenses they incur in helping you.  

10.  What other terms and conditions would you like to impose? 
There are some things you can do with an EPA Care and Welfare and some that you can’t.  Your legal adviser will be able to take you through your options.  
Be wary of one size fits all EPA Care and Welfare documents. They are like one size fits all Wills.  Often ill-fitting and some times not even valid. 

Preparing a sound EPA Care and Welfare takes time and consideration and shouldn’t be left until you are in a hurry to get documents done.  Make some notes based on the matters raised above, before you go to meet your adviser and you will be well prepared.

When writing your Will make sure you comply with the formalities set out in section 11 of the Wills Act 2007. Apart from minor exceptions, for a will to be valid it must meet the following criteria:

• be in writing;
• be signed by the testator, or by some other person in their presence and by their direction;
• be clear that it is intended to be a will;
• the signature must be made or acknowledged in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time; and
• each witness must sign the will in the presence of the testator.

Wills have been successfully challenged for instance where witnesses have signed the will but not in the presence of the testator; don’t fall into the trap!

​The Property (Relationships) Act 1976 provides for your surviving spouse, civil union partner or de facto partner to choose whether to apply for a division of relationship property under that Act or to take what is left to them under your will, or, where there is no will, under the laws of intestacy. In deciding what to gift your spouse or partner under your Will you should take this into account. You will need independent legal advice if you aim to gift less than half of your estate to your spouse or partner.

I​For a person to bring a claim under the Family Protection Act (1955) they must firstly, be eligible to do so and secondly, demonstrate that the way in which a person’s estate has been disposed of fails to make reasonable financial provision for them. The court can take many factors into account, including a person’s financial resources, the size of the estate and any other relevant factor.
As such, if you are considering excluding or limiting the provision for any one of the following :

• spouse/civil partner or former spouse/civil partner;
• partner;
• child, whether adult or otherwise;
• step-child or former step-child; or
• anyone maintained by you

It is worth providing detailed reasons of why you are excluding or limiting what you are leaving to them. Your professional adviser can also discuss with you whether it is best to detail your decision in your Will or through a statutory declaration which doesn't become a public document if a grant of probate is needed in your estate.
Alternatively it may be worth considering leaving a smaller gift (taking into account the potential costs of a claim and prospects of success) perhaps with a clause to say that if that person challenges your will then they forego their gift. While this in itself is unlikely to prevent a claim, it can discourage a person to bring a claim.

​A person can make a claim against your Will under the Law Reform (Testamentary Promises) Act 1949 if you have promised to leave that person something in your will in return for services rendered or work done, and you have not kept that promise. For example, the person may have taken care of you when you were ill or looked after your property, and in return you may have promised to provide for the person in your will. 
It may not be necessary to prove that a promise was made in writing. The court may be prepared to infer from the surrounding circumstances that there was a promise.  If the court finds that such a promise was made then it can award the claimant payment out of your estate which it decides is reasonable, considering all the circumstances of the case. Documenting your promises will reduce the risk of this happening.  Putting legal agreements including promises into writing is a really important thing to do anyway.

​One of the main grounds upon which wills are challenged is on the basis that a person lacked the necessary mental capacity to give instructions for and sign their will.
If you suspect there will be questions over your mental capacity, if you have had a diagnosis that could affect your mental capacity in the future or if you are elderly, ask a GP or suitably qualified medical practitioner to provide a report or letter confirming that you have testamentary capacity.
​Testamentary capacity is a legal concept. Given the specific nature, it is best to have a lawyer request a report on your behalf to ensure that the medical practitioner knows precisely what they need to determine. The letter from your lawyer and the report from your medical practitioner would then be stored with your Will.

​You don't need to leave your Will with your lawyer, just make sure it is safe, and also make sure your Executor knows where to find it. Many requests to prove a Will in court (referred to as “Probate”) are made on the basis of either a copy will or a lost will.  While some of these are accepted, many are rejected because where an original will cannot be found, there may be a legal presumption that it was deliberately revoked by the person who made it.  In that case any earlier will, (or, where no such will exists, strict legal rules) may dictate how that estate is dealt with. 

Ensure that your lawyer takes detailed attendance notes of your meeting, conversations and instructions when they prepare your will.If someone wishes to contest a will then usually they will request a copy of your will file from the lawyer who prepared your Will.
The more thorough the notes of your wishes, and the more obvious it is that the terms of your will have been discussed in detail with you, and that you have received legal advice about your wishes  the less likely it is that someone will successfully contest a will. If you are making any significant changes that have not been reflected in any previous wills you have made, discuss these with your lawyer.  Again, the likelihood of a successful claim is reduced if there are statements recording the reasons behind your wishes.

​Although in most cases any previous will may be revoked on signing your new and correctly executed will, provided that will has a revocation clause dealing with any earlier wills, once you have put a new valid will in place, ensure any old original wills and any copies you have of them are destroyed so as not to cause confusion on your death. This is particularly important if you believe people who were previously provided for but now you are removing from the will may find your old will among your possessions and use that to justify bringing a claim to challenge your will.

​If you believe that you are being pressured into making a will then talk to your lawyer, family, friends or anyone else who may be able to help and, if necessary, record your concerns in writing.
If you have concerns that someone will, unjustifiably, argue that you were forced or coerced into making a will, or that the provisions were not your true wishes, there are steps which you can take to avoid this.
If possible, ensure that anyone who benefits under the will is in no way involved in the will making process. If using a lawyer, book the appointment yourself, rather than relying on someone else to do this, ideally attend alone and be clear that the wishes are your own and ask your lawyer to make a clear attendance note.

The law and family circumstances change. Tax laws, births, deaths, marriages, divorces and even remarriages can all have an impact on your will and the extent to which any will reflects your wishes.
Once in place, review your will at least every few years and especially so if your personal situation changes e.g. on marriage, divorce or death, or if your financial position changes, for example, if you have provided for one child by gifting them a large asset in your Will but you subsequently sell it.

Ultimately, the best protection is to have your will professionally prepared by a lawyer with estate planning expertise. Your lawyer should make your will clear and unambiguous and will consider your assets and your gifting wishes to work out the best, most secure way to achieve what you want to happen. You spend years working to build up your assets.  It is well worth paying a relatively small cost for an experienced professional to ensure peace of mind and that you have done your best to safeguard your will and your loved ones’ interests.

You don’t need to have all your answers lined up before you get advice on an EPA Property but it certainly helps to process the questions in your mind. The following list includes 12 key things to think about:
​
Do you need to cancel any previous EPA Property appointment?
If you have prepared an EPA Property before, you may need to cancel the appointment. If so, the attorney/s named in the previous power of attorney need to be formally notified in writing by you, your lawyer or your new attorney/s.

Who would you like to be named as your attorney/s – will they agree?
Usually, you can name more than one attorney for financial matters and they can work together. Some jurisdictions limit the number. The more attorneys you choose to work together, the more likely there might be problems. I would recommend you consider keeping the number to a maximum of 2. The person or people you appoint should be financially competent and should be trustworthy. You should talk with that person or people about the role you are asking them to adopt. You will need their full name, address and contact details to complete your instructions.

Do you want to name a successor attorney/s (in case the first named attorney is unable to continue in that role) – will they agree?
I recommend you do nominate a successor attorney if possible as it means the document will survive should there be any reason why your attorney is unable to act (and therefore be more cost effective).

Do you want your EPA Property to become effective immediately or only if you are mentally incapable (with a Doctors certificate certifying incapacity)?
With trusted family members, if you are travelling a lot, or physically incapacitated it might be that you would prefer the EPA Property to come into effect immediately but this gives immediate powers to the attorney and you might prefer to retain sole power so long as you are mentally capable.

If you have named more than one attorney, are they to act jointly (i.e. both must decide) or severally (either can decide) or by majority vote?
My advice on this is very personal to your circumstances. My usual recommendation is joint power for 2 or majority power for more than 2 but, for example, there are cases where one of 2 attorneys may travel a lot and that can cause complications in signing documents.

Should the EPA Property apply to all your property or only to some of your property or to do specified things?
You may wish to limit the EPA Property to dealings with bank accounts only. In most cases, I would recommend broad powers with conditions if there are concerns about the way specific items of property are to be dealt with.

Do you want to impose conditions on any of those powers?
For example, you may want to include special conditions in relation to the sale of the family home or repayment of loans. I recommend preparing your EPA Property at the same time or at least consistently with the terms of your Will so that, for example if you intend to give someone a life interest in your home, that is reflected in your EPA Property conditions.

Who should your attorney consult with and what should they consult about?
The requirement of consultation is a requirement that takes effect before action is undertaken. Examples of persons with whom you may wish your attorney to consult are numerous but obvious ones might include your accountant or lawyer. You will need to provide your adviser with full names, addresses and contact details.

Who should your attorney give information to and what information should they give?
The requirement to provide information takes effect at any time but usually after an action is undertaken. This might involve an attorney providing information to your children or step children for example. By including a provision to disclose information you can help to ensure that your financial circumstances when in the hands of an attorney are more open to disclosure. You will need to provide your adviser with full names, addresses and contact details.

Should the attorney be entitled to profit from acting as attorney e.g. should attorneys be allowed to charge for their time?
All professional attorneys are entitled to charge fees. This can prove costly for your estate but may be necessary. You may also wish to reimburse an Attorney, professional or otherwise for expenses they incur in helping you.

Should your attorney be allowed to apply to the Family Court if for some reason your will is out of date and needs to be changed?
There may be a change in your financial circumstances while the attorney is acting on your behalf that alters the intended effect or validity of your Will. For example, if a property must be sold to meet your expenses but you gave a life interest to it to one of your children in lieu of other bequest.

What other terms and conditions would you like to impose?
There are some things you can do with an EPA Property and some that you can’t. Your legal adviser will be able to take you through your options.

Be wary of one size fits all EPA Property documents. They are like one size fits all Wills. Often ill-fitting and some times not even valid.
In New Zealand you can even expect to pay more for a well prepared EPA Property than for a Will but that is partly because the current form attempts to address many of the problems being faced in this challenging area of law - not least of which is the growth in the number of Elder Abuse cases.
​
For your documents to be effective in relation to house and land property owned in Australia, you will need to ensure it complies with that state’s requirements and lodge your EPA Property with the relevant land registry (each State and Territory has its own).
There are special considerations if you need your EPA Property to apply to other jurisdictions.  Legal advice is essential to ensure you have addressed these.
​
Preparing a sound EPA Property takes time and consideration and shouldn’t be left until you are in a hurry to get documents done. Make some notes based on the matters raised above, before you go to meet your adviser and you will be well prepared.

Next week I will explore the factors you need to consider in preparing an Enduring Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare (documents which deal with adult guardianship)

With longer life expectancy comes an even greater possibility that at least some of your last years will involve mental incapacity from ill health. Life changing injury, of course, can happen any time.

What happens to you and your finances if you lose mental capacity to make decisions during your life time through illness or injury?

If you don’t have documents appointing representatives to make your decisions for you if you lose mental capacity, the Court makes the decision who to appoint and you will have little to no say in who that is depending on the extent of your incapacity.

Most of us don’t want to think about these possibilities, even if we can point to examples in our own or friends’ experiences where things have gone horribly wrong.

The best time to work out what will happen to your finances and your welfare when you lose capacity is NOW.

NO APPOINTMENT OF ATTORNEY = NO SAY

Two examples I have seen where things have gone seriously wrong because there were no Enduring Power of Attorney appointment include:

• •A Public Trustee was appointed by the Court to act as attorney. (This is the most common appointment type where there are no Enduring Power documents in place - and it’s expensive). In that case the Public Trustee acted slowly and with disinterest in the bigger picture for the represented person. For example, while the represented person was out shopping with her carer one day, a Public Trustee officer came and repossessed her car from the driveway of her house and used a handwritten scrap of paper in the letter box to inform her. In her confused state she believed someone had stolen it which caused her a lot of distress and exacerbated her condition.
• A separated wife (of some 15 years) was appointed by the Court to act as attorney. When the adult children who were overseas found out they applied to the Court to reverse the decision and an Independent Trustee was appointed instead, by then most of the money had been spent and was irrecoverable and the represented person’s living conditions for months had been shocking.
  

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Even if you have documents, they need to be well considered and the subject of solid legal advice.

Examples where I have seen legal documents go wrong include:

• A bossy older son who was appointed Attorney and took control of Mum’s finances after the death of Dad and added an extra wing to his home at Mum’s expense, refusing to discuss the matter with the other children.
• A daughter who took all of Mum’s savings and bought a home in her own name and put Mum into state housing. Again, the other children were not consulted or informed and they thought the house had been bought in Mum’s name but weren’t entitled to see any documents until they obtained a Title search.
• Children who took control of their Dad’s finances to avoid an inheritance going to their Dad’s wife (step-mum), leaving their Dad and step-mum to live frugally by giving only an allowance to their step-mum for food expenses.
• The Public Trustee ceased payments on life insurance policy that had been held for over 25 years because it was a ‘non-essential’ item despite sufficient funds and despite protests from the represented person's family that the represented person had always had an estate plan which included the life insurance policy. This decision seriously changed the terms of the represented person's entire Estate plan.
  

It is really important to prepare for incapacity and to do so properly.

WHAT DOCUMENTS DO YOU NEED?

All Commonwealth countries have the same essential framework for documenting your decisions in these matters, but every one of them has a unique approach. In New Zealand, the documents you need to have in place are called Enduring Powers of Attorney (Property) and Enduring Powers of Attorney (Health and Welfare). In some Commonwealth countries these powers are all combined in one complete document. In other countries, an Enduring Powers of Attorney (Health and Welfare) is called an Enduring Powers of Guardianship document. If you own property in more than one country you will need to have more than one set of documents.

If you are in Australia (or own property in Australia), you also have to consider every State and Territory has different rules. I know this first hand from having worked in four different Australian jurisdictions.

So, what things should you consider in preparing an EPOA (Property) or an EPOA (Health and Welfare)? Next week I will explore the subject further.
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For many of us, starting our own business is one thing we dream to do but unfortunately, of the many hundreds of thousands of new startups every year, over 80% wont make it past their first year.

​A few articles ago I gave 6 Legal Tips for Small Business – those tips could apply to all small businesses no matter what stage of development the business is at. 

This article gives some special tips for startup businesses. To get the best use out of the article, I suggest that you don’t just answer the questions raised with vague comments to yourself – but really ‘get inside’ each issue. 
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So, here goes, here are some things for start up businesses to consider if you haven’t already thought of them….

1. Do something you enjoy – It’s no use running a business you hate.
2. Have an end goal in mind – What is your reason for business?  Is it simply to succeed with your dream so your business is in effect a way of life or will it provide for you and your family going into the future? Whatever it is, keep your goal in mind and strive towards it at all times.  It is your compass.
3. Do something you know – if you want to start a business but have no experience in the field you are entering then you have a steep learning curve to climb. If you need knowledge then acquire it via training or get someone who has the experience to help you.  Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses.  
4. Research your market – ‘Market’ means customers, referrers and competitors. Just imagine your typical customer, their age, where they are based and their income. What do you offer them that your competitors don’t?  What referral sources are open to you?  What is the future likely to bring for what you will be offering?
5. Read up on what the government, local council and the Internal Revenue Department need – There are hoops to jump through and its best to have jumped these or be ready to at the outset.
6. Get professional legal and accounting advice – Although you may read about a legal structure which is right for someone else, it may not be right for you because of your personal circumstances so it’s always wise to seek the advice of a qualified lawyer or accountant as you are setting up your business. An initial 30 minute consultation can be free or certainly low cost and it will help you in the longer term.  Take a look at my 6 Legal Tips for Small Business – these help to identify some of the legal issues you will face.
7. Be extra careful if your startup is part of a franchise – There are some really great franchise operations but there are also some really bad ones around.  Talk with existing franchise owners if you are thinking of going down this route and definitely spend the cash to get legal advice on the franchise documents BEFORE you sign.  Consider subscribing to News and Views  because I will be writing more on this subject in the near future!
8. Prepare a Business Plan – A business plan takes your idea, and (with discipline and effort), converts that idea to a detailed strategy.  The government has a free Business Plan template online and it’s just fine for purpose.  The more you put into your plan the more you get out of it.  For example, my first business plan took around 20 hours but at the end I had a clear and defined strategy for going forward over the next 3 years and in the first months, when it was all quite overwhelming, the business plan served as an anchor.
9. Identify start up costs – For most start ups these are significant (for example if you are going to open a restaurant there are so many initial costs such as shop fitting, equipment, decorating, printing, advertising, insurances, cleaning costs) so make sure you account for them all.  A good accountant will be able to help you work out the likely costs going forward depending on the type of business you are looking at. Don’t forget that your salary is a start up cost – there is no point in business if you don’t intend to get paid out of it!
10. Determine how many customers you need  to meet your profit projections -  Once you have your business plan ready break it down so you know just how many sales you need per day to meet your weekly, monthly or even yearly profit projections. You’ll then know instantly if you are ahead. You can easily put a spreadsheet together to add up sales and costs on a weekly basis then you can make adjustments if things are not quite going to plan.
11. Location, location, location – If your business plan is that you need a location, think really hard about where that location will be.   Premises and fitout costs involves a huge overhead for a business and in reality you only get one shot at getting premises right as once you have signed your  lease it’s going to be hard (and expensive) to get out of it.
12. Discuss your ideas – But only with those people you trust. Honest feedback from trusted friends and family is essential. If you know someone who already has a successful business then ask them to go through your ideas as there maybe something you are missing or could do better. But good ideas do get stolen so be careful who you discuss your plans with especially if you are developing something online.  Having a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) can help with your sense of confidence in talking with others, but if you haven’t put in some intellectual property protection measures at the outset, no NDA will help you.
13. Start small and grow big – It’s OK to be small if it is earning you the money you need from it.  Once you have found success you can duplicate your formula if you really want to.
14. Control your ambitions ​- Although we all think that our ideas are gold, when it comes to planning be cautious and realistic with projections and don’t get caught up believing, for example, that your business will keep doubling in turnover each year. Such beliefs are very unlikely to become reality and may cost you your business.
15. Start while you are employed (if you can) - Try not to quit your job first and then work on your business. If you want to start, ensure you have all your plans ready and a location in mind. Many people quit their jobs and then begin developing their plans. This can cost you about six months with no revenue because there is always something to slow you down whether it is the bank not lending to you or government red tape. If you can start earning while you already have a steady job then you can test your idea before losing that (almost) guaranteed income.  Otherwise you need to be sure you have set aside an equivalent to 6 – 12 months’ salary.
16. Do set up your accounting package – Keep all receipts as you are setting your business up because all of this can be claimed against tax at the end of your first financial year and expenses that have GST attached to them can be reclaimed if you register for GST but make sure you regularly review your accounting  End of financial year stress is easily prevented with ongoing account keeping.
17. Separate your personal and business bank accounts – Because it really is a whole lot easier to account for everything. 
18. Prepare for hard work – Starting a business requires a lot of your time- much more time than the hours of operation.
19. Do outsource administration tasks if you can – If you are going it alone running the business and carrying out all tasks such as accounting, answering the telephone and emails, marketing your business etc takes time and really you should be concentrating on what’s going to bring in the cash. So if you can plan to outsource admin tasks to others who can take this time burden away from you then do so.
20. Prepare your terms and conditions -  Know what your terms of trade will be both with suppliers and customers.  A well prepared set of terms and conditions can save months of heartache and of course lost revenue.  If you don't know why you need to consider Terms and Conditions, check out my article on the subject.
21. Don’t just set up your business and wait for customers -   Your business plan should include a marketing strategy.  You will HAVE to market your business.  If you are good at marketing then you’ll have no problems but most people don’t have these skills so get professional advice if you can or ask others how to get customers to your business.
22. Have fun! - Really!!  You are doing what you always wanted to do and giving it your best shot.  What happens next, is up to you.

​It’s estimated that on average people under the age of 50 will spend the last 3 years of their lives in residential aged care with the present aged population spending between 1.5 years to 2 years.   But who should fund this?

Not everyone will spend time in a rest home, but if they do the cost is high with a current estimated average of up to $80,000 being spent per occupant.

In New Zealand, the obligation to pay for rest home care has been means tested so that the taxpayer only covers the cost if the person needing care is judged to be poor enough to get Work and Income's Residential Care Subsidy.

The maximum subsidy for ordinary aged care is just over $1000 a week showing what a person can expect to pay as a base level if they don’t get the subsidy.

It’s been a feature of Estate planning for some years now to use family trusts, and gift away assets to descendants, to try to keep wealth in the family, and achieve relief through the Residential Care Subsidy if Rest Home Care is required.

But with growing public funding concerns surrounding an increasing life expectancy and a growing, aging population, the means test is becoming harder to meet and however carefully your estate plan is carved, it is getting more difficult to beat the system.

Work and Income is on the lookout for people who have "deprived" themselves of assets and income, and are quick to deny subsidies to people who've done it.

The way Work and Income approaches the means test is complex, so it’s important  to get legal advice before trying to protect  assets and in any event as early as possible before the need arises to approach Work and Income with an application. 

WHAT IF YOU ACT EARLY?

Acting early to protect assets would be my number 1 recommendation.  If you're looking to rearrange your assets because you are likely to go into care in the next few years, it could be too late. 
The longer that a trust has been in existence, and the longer the period between the financial gifting and the time you apply for rest home subsidy, the more likely that Work and Income won't take the gifting into account when calculating your wealth.

ASSET DEPRIVATION

As far as Work and Income is concerned, its mandatory to include gifts made in the five years before someone applies for subsidy when they calculate the asset means assessment so, paying for a granny flat to be added to your children’s home during the five years, for example, needs to be carefully documented as such an arrangement would come under very close scrutiny.

During the 5 year period,  people can give up to $6500 away each year, and it will not be included in the asset means testing.  Outside the 5 year gifting period, people can gift away up to $27,000 in any one year.

But even "allowable" gifting can still result in failing the means test.

INCOME DEPRIVATION

The effect of shifting property into trusts is to "deprive” yourself of assets.  If those assets are income earning assets then Work and Income may form the view that you have deprived yourself of  income that would have been available to help pay for care.

In effect, while there is "allowable" gifting of assets, there is no allowable gifting of the income that can be earned from those assets.
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When it comes to income, people entering aged care are allowed to keep only a weekly personal allowance from their income, plus an annual clothing allowance.  The rest of their income goes to help pay the rest home bill, and reduces the subsidy Work and Income will pay.
There are rules about what income is counted in the test, but it equates to roughly everything for a single person, and half of the income of a couple where one is not going into care.

ASSETS OWNED SEPARATELY

Couples may argue that assets are not co-owned, but Work and Income is unlikely to accept that argument.
Even if the partner regards his or her assets as their own separate property, they are still included in the means assessment.
Even so called 'pre-nup agreements' can be ignored.  If subject to a Property (Relationships) Act 1976 agreement, then separate property assets will still be taken into account unless the couple have separated (bona fide).

WHO PAYS IF NO SUBSIDY IS GIVEN

If the subsidy application is declined, family or family trusts will have to pay.  This use of funds may be inconsistent with the terms of the family trust, thus opening a whole new can of worms. 

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN ASSET PLANNING

While every single case is reviewed on its own merits, arrangements  Work and Income are unlikely to accept, include where people:

• re-arrange their financial circumstances after being notified of a decision by Work and Income.
• don't receive income from loans made to others, for example, lending a child money to buy a house but not charging interest.
• sell a house for less than market value to a family member or a family trust.
• make large cash gifts to family.
• change the nature of ownership of land where there is insufficient reason for the change.
• do not seek income from the family trust to which they had transferred their assets.
• disclaim an inheritance.
• appear to have significant investments or financial arrangements that are structured and managed in a way that they do not receive income.

There may be no way around making a contribution to yours or your family’s residential care but if you want to know if there is in your circumstances get legal and accounting advice as soon as possible.