Continuing on from Webinar 13 (Sole Traders & Partnerships) and Webinar 14 (Companies), this session completes our introduction to business structures by focusing on trusts — one of the most misunderstood, and most commonly encountered, structures in family law property settlements.

Using our ongoing Barbie's Bakehouse case study, Antonella walks through how a business can evolve from a company structure into a discretionary family trust arrangement, and what that means for a family lawyer acting for either party on separation. The webinar covers the core elements of a trust (the trust deed, settlor, appointor, trustee and beneficiaries), the difference between discretionary and unit/fixed trusts, and how to read a trust deed, an ASIC search, and a set of trust financial statements.

Participants will learn a practical, five-part framework for approaching any trust interest in a family law matter: establishing the client's interest and control, calculating their income, determining whether the trust has value, identifying relevant disclosure obligations, and uncovering hidden debt exposure that isn't obvious on the face of a balance sheet. The session closes with a discussion of the most common mistakes family lawyers make when dealing with trust interests, including the misconception that trust assets can simply be excluded from the property pool.