This article will be of interest.

Family trusts can be a great way to lose control of property in a divorce. But a landmark Supreme Court decision may help change that.

The full text of this article appears in the NZ Listener
(April 10-16 2010).

Seven years ago, Hawke’s Bay couple Chris and Danny (Diana) Ward’s marriage fell apart. Danny left their family home and the $2 million farm they had worked together. “I just wanted to get out of the relationship,” she says. 

She rebuilt a life. She found work as a shepherd, rented a cottage and shared the care of her two school-age children. But all these years later, she remains relatively impoverished as her husband has the farm and the house. 

Why? The culprit was the family trust, like those set up by tens of thousands of New Zealand families to protect their assets. The farm and home are owned by the family trust she and her husband set up nine years into their marriage. 

The full text will be available online on 24/04/2010.

Regards

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