Topic:
Trust busting — our new sport?
Speaker:
David Marks QC, Hemmants List, Brisbane
Venue:
Recorded at the Hemmants List Chambers, August 2020
Family trusts have long been considered ideal to protect assets from personal creditors.
Insolvency professionals have many tools at their disposal, such as the Alan Bond amendments to the bankruptcy laws, to recover money and assets from wealthy individuals.
Increasingly, however, attention is turning to accessing assets of trusts.The question is whether the family has successfully sequestered wealth in an impregnable vehicle.
A couple of cases with New Zealand origins have recently been determined in England and the Cook Islands which have had a significant impact on the sanctity of the discretionary trust.
What are the warning signs in terms of accessing the assets held, apparently, via trust?