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achollis 发表于 2013-5-1 09:24 
我可没说养老金不需要分,养老金有fixed entitlement, discretionary trust是没有的,没有人对信托有实际 ...
Case of varied trustee to avoid asset spliting
Kennon v Spry
On 3 December 2008 the High Court delivered Judgment in the matter of Kennon v. Spry [2008] HCA 56. The High Court upheld decisions of the Family Court (both at first instance and on appeal), to include assets which had been held in a family discretionary trust as property of the parties to the marriage.
The case involved a retired Melbourne barrister and a number of trusts.
17 January 1940 - Husband born –aged 68.
1 January 1968 - Husband set up orally trust (ICF Spry TRUST). He was settlor and trustee.
29 December 1978 - Parties marry.
1 October 1981 - Terms and beneficiaries of the trust settled. Beneficiaries were Husband, siblings, their issue and spouses of all.
1983 - Husband varied the trust by excluding himself as a beneficiary
1 December 1998. Husband further varied the trust by excluding himself and wife as capital beneficiaries (marriage in trouble at this time).
1 December 1998 - Husband further varied the trust by excluding himself and wife as capital beneficiaries (marriage in trouble at this time).
30 October 2001 - Parties separate.
18 January 2002 - Husband established 4 trusts in favour of his 4 children, Elizabeth, Catharine, Caroline and Penelope Husband applied a quarter of all income and capital of the trust to these trusts.
20 January 2002 - Husband conveyed to the children any shares held by him beneficially.
19 April 2002 - Wife filed for property settlement.
20 May 2002 - Husband appointed E. Kennon as joint trustee with him of each of the children’s trusts.
1 December 2002 - Wife filed for divorce.
16 January 2003 - Decree nisi granted.
17 February 2003 Decree absolute.
The trial judge found that when the husband made the 1998 amendment to the Trust Deed and the 2002 dispositions to the various children’s trusts, he did so for the purpose of defeating an anticipated order under the Family Law Act by putting the assets of the ICF Spry Trust beyond the reach of the Family Court. The trial judge then included the assets of the ICF Spry Trust as part of the property of the parties for the purposes of their property settlement on the basis that the husband was entitled to distribute the assets of the Trust to himself. In so doing the trial judge overlooked the 1983 variation to the Trust Deed which excluded the husband as a beneficiary.
The High Court held that the 1998 variation and the 2002 distribution should be set aside. Once they were, the property of the parties to the marriage included the right of the wife to due administration of the Trust accompanied by the fiduciary duty of the husband, as trustee, to consider whether and in what way the power should be exercised. It was open to the husband to distribute the whole of the Trust funds to the wife. Therefore the value of the whole of the Trust funds should be included as part of the property and financial resources of the parties for division between them by way of property settlement pursuant to Section 79 of the Family Law Act.
The High Court also indicated that in determining whether property of a trust can be construed as being property of the parties or either of them, it is important to consider the nature of the trust and the source and purpose of the accumulation of the assets of the trust. Here the property in the trust came from “fruits of the marriage” and was the vehicle they used to provide for themselves and their family, and accordingly it is appropriate to treat the assets of the trust as the property of the parties to the marriage.
The High Court’s decision emphasis the broad power of the Family Court. Family lawyers have always known that the Family court will look behind formal trust structures and to have regard instead to the practical reality of the family’s financial circumstances, and the High Court has now put the Family Court’s power to do that beyond doubt.
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