The assets of a trust are protected within the corporation and therefore cannot be seized if you or a trustee become insolvent. In most cases, you will also receive tax benefits within the escrow structure. Trustees should maintain accurate financial reports to fulfill their fiduciary duties to beneficiaries. The Master may ask the trustees to file a statement responsible for the administration of the trust. The founder is the person who builds trust. This must be the person who intended to create the trust and who transfers at least the initial gift to the trust. The founder must therefore not be the lawyer who establishes the trust or his secretary. Decide whether you want a discretionary trust or an acquired trust. In a discretionary trust, trustees have the right to decide the amount of income (or capital) granted to each beneficiary, while in an acquired trust, income and capital gains go to the beneficiaries. In the case of acquired trusts, complications may arise in the event of the insolvency or death of a beneficiary.

Establishing a trust is a legal issue. You would be well advised to consult a lawyer with experience in trust and estate planning. They will make sure you have all the documents you need and follow the process correctly, which will save you time and give you peace of mind. The Law Firm of Simon Dippenaar and Associates of Cape Town can help you draft the trust deed and register and manage the trust. Call lawyer Simon Dippenaar on 086 099 146 or send an email sdippenaar@sdlaw.co.za. With respect to the purpose of a trust, it is important to remember that without a clearly defined purpose, no trust is created. In a family trust, the beneficiaries for whose benefit the trust was created are the object. Preferably not your first and/or last name, which would allow creditors or SARS to easily track your trust.

Trusts are registered with the Master of the High Court and not with the Registrar of Companies. This allows you to give a trust any name you want. You don`t need to reserve a name first, as you would when registering a business. For example, suppose you can have multiple trust relationships with the same name. A trust receives an official registration number when it is registered and operates on the same basis as a motor vehicle that has its own registration number. While you can change the name of your trust – if the trust deed allows it – the trust number always remains the same and is the identifier for your trust. The registration number of an inter vivos trust begins with the letters IT, followed by a number issued by the master of the High Court office, followed by the year in which the trust was registered. As an example, registration number IT 3293/17 indicates that this was the 3,293rd trust registered with the Office of the Master of the High Court, where the trust was registered in 2017. A trust is always registered with reference to the Master of the Office of the High Court in which it was registered. Each Master of the High Court Office has his own sequence of numbers for each year.

These documents become mandatory once the system has been confirmed as approved by the Chief Master at a time that has not yet been confirmed. Please be patient with us while we are piloting this system. 02.07.2013 The inter vivos trust must be registered with the master, in whose jurisdiction most of the assets of the trust are located. If more than one master is responsible for the assets of the trust, the master in whose office the trust was first registered remains liable. The following documents must be submitted for the master to register an inter vivos trust and issue a letter of power of attorney to the designated trustee(s). Great caution is required here. Previous experience in managing a trust and knowledge of accounting are highly recommended, as this minimizes the risk that the High Court Master will require trustees to provide security for the performance of their duties. A trust can also be held liable for the following taxes: A trust is a legal agreement in which control of ownership is transferred to one person or entity (the trustee) for the benefit of another person (the beneficiary). You can register two types of trusts, namely the inter vivos trust and the testamentary trust. The inter vivos trust is created between living persons, while the testamentary trust is derived from the valid will of a deceased person. Each trustee must complete a main form J417 to be appointed as a trustee. An inter vivos trust must be registered at the Registry of the Master of the High Court, in whose jurisdiction most of the assets of the trust are located.

If more than one Master of the High Court has jurisdiction over the assets of the trust, final jurisdiction rests with the Master of the High Court in the territory where the trust was first registered. Once the Master of the High Court is satisfied that the documents are in order, he/she will issue letters of authority naming the trustees named in the trust deed. All trusts must be registered as SARS taxpayers. For each trust, a Form IT77TR (Application for Registration as a Taxpayer or Change of Registered Information: Trust) must be completed. Trustees must personally report to SARS in order to register the trust for income tax. SARS generally accepts that the primary trustee or representative trustee register the trust on behalf of the other trustees, but only if approved in writing by a specific resolution, with the words “primary trustee” and “representative trustee” indicated therein…..