Trusts can be used for a range of private wealth, asset-holding and succession-planning purposes:
Succession planning: establishing how family assets should be held and managed during and after the Settlor’s lifetime.
Family wealth planning: creating rules for management and distributions across generations.
Holding family business interests: maintaining a single legal ownership structure rather than fragmenting shares among family members.
Providing for children or dependents: allowing assets to be managed and distributed over time.
Asset holding: holding shares, investments, cash and other property under a defined fiduciary framework.
Purpose trusts: establishing a trust for a lawful non-charitable purpose where permitted by the applicable trust law.
The appropriate structure depends on the family’s objectives, the location and nature of the assets, tax considerations and the level of control the Settlor wishes to retain.
Can a trust hold shares in a business?
Yes, subject to the law and constitutional documents applying to the company whose shares are being transferred.
A business owner can transfer shares to a Trustee to be held under the trust. Once the transfer is completed, the Trustee becomes the registered legal owner and must exercise shareholder rights consistently with the trust terms and the Trustee’s duties.
Can a trust hold real estate?
Because a conventional trust does not have separate legal personality, the trust itself is not ordinarily registered as the owner. The relevant question is whether the Trustee, acting in that capacity, or another permitted holding structure can be registered as legal owner.