Control, Conflict and Complexity: Designing Estate Plans that Actually Work – 5 program recorded series

Program 1: Ruling From the Grave: Why Wills Fail, And Deeds Succeed in Trust Succession Planning

While many controllers of trusts assume their will can handle successor appointments, using testamentary nominations for trust succession gives rises to legal issues that can leave trust assets in limbo. In this session, we will explore the role of dedicated trust succession deeds, including:

• How trust deed control structures, and not testamentary documents, determine succession.
• How the appointor role represents the true control mechanism for discretionary trusts.
• Why will nominations fail and the fatal flaws of testamentary trust succession.
• Avoiding exposure of sensitive succession plans to banks, the ATO, land titles offices, and other third parties.
• When to use dedicated trust deeds with trigger events for flexible, revocable, and private succession planning.
• How to implement mechanisms to ensure specific distributions occur on death while maintaining trust flexibility and tax advantages.
• Managing complex succession structures with multiple appointors.
• Practical case study

Program 2: Who's Really in Control? How Trustees Can Turn the Tables on Appointors Under Broad Variation Powers

The decision in Staley v Hill Family Holdings has disrupted the traditional assumption that appointors are the "true controllers" of family discretionary trusts. In this session, we will analyse what this case means for trust control structures, including:

• How Staley overturned the conventional wisdom that appointors with trustee removal powers are automatically the ultimate controllers of family trusts
• How widely drafted variation clauses can enable the trustee to remove the appointor
• The role of limited variation powers
• Appointor replacement mechanisms
• How a failure to properly plan appointor succession can created issues within a family
• When courts will uphold broadly drafted variation powers that can reshape trust control structures

Program 3: Helping Hand or Legal Hazard: Structuring Family Financial Assistance

As rising interest rates and cost of living drive more parents to financially assist their adult children, the choice between gifts and loans come with significant legal risk. In this session, we analyse the need for careful legal structuring of gifts and loans, including:

• The legal risks that accompany informal family lending arrangements
• Using formal gift documentation to eliminate ambiguity
• How to structure family assistance as a genuine loan to preserve parental rights to recall funds
• Drafting loan agreements reflect proper terms and compliance obligations rather than disguised gifts
• How to coordinate gifts and loans with estate planning

Program 4: Integrating Super in the Estate Plan: Tax, Trusts and Tactical Alignment

Superannuation, which is often a person’s largest asset, operates under a distinct legal framework that can override testamentary wishes. This session tackles the complexities and risks of dealing with superannuation in the estate plan, focusing on compliance pitfalls and strategic integration with wills and trusts. It covers:

• Navigating the interaction between binding death benefit nominations (BDBNs), trustee discretion, and court challenges
• Technical requirements for valid BDBNs – where practitioners see the most compliance failures
• Managing automatic expiry rules, lapsed nominations, and the risks of “set and forget” approaches
• Strategies when nomination categories are limited or where no qualifying dependants exist
• Circumstances that trigger review and amendment of nominations (relationship breakdown, new children, dependency status changes, etc.)
• Aligning BDBNs with will provisions, testamentary trusts, and tax-effective estate structures
• Integrating superannuation planning with broader financial advice – working effectively with accountants and financial planners to avoid fragmented outcomes

Program 5: Family Business, Family Feuds: Legal Frameworks for Keeping Blood and Business Separate

Family companies can create extraordinary wealth and legacy, but mixing family dynamics with business decisions often leads to complex legal issues. In this session, we will explore the essential legal structures, agreements, and governance frameworks, including:

• Structure selection strategy based on liability protection, tax implications, and succession planning needs for multi-generational wealth
• Drafting comprehensive shareholder agreements that address decision-making, dispute resolution mechanisms, and buy-sell arrangements
• Governance separation techniques including board structures, independent directors, and voting processes
• Creating family charters, management transition plans, and leadership development frameworks
• Documentation and decision-making protocols
• Dispute resolution, mediation processes, independent arbitration mechanisms, and exit strategies
• Compliance and director duties, navigating Corporations Act obligations, ASIC reporting requirements, and fiduciary duties