Queensland Law Society welcomed reforms to the state’s trust laws but better drafting was needed to achieve them, it told a public hearing yesterday.
The Society provided feedback on the Trusts Bill 2025 when it appeared before the Justice Integrity and Community Safety Committee at Parliament House on Monday afternoon.
It was represented by Legal Policy Manager Wendy Devine, Succession Law Committee Chair Angela Cornford-Scott and Not for Profit Law Committee member Jessica Lipsett.
The bill, which was introduced to Parliament on 18 February, seeks to replace the Trusts Act 1973 (Qld) with modernised and simplified legislation.
It broadly reflects recommendations made by the Queensland Law Reform Commission after its two-year review of the Act during 2012-13.
Wendy said the QLS generally supported the bill’s objectives and had advocated for reform to the Act for many years.
She said QLS recommended reinstating clauses from the Trusts Bill 2024 (which lapsed before it could be debated in parliament) to provide a mechanism to protect a trust if the last continuing trustee had impaired capacity.
“In our view, these clauses are necessary to address risks to discretionary family trusts where an older couple are joint trustees. If one of the trustees dies and the other loses capacity, the trust may be left without a trustee for some time until a replacement trustee is appointed,” she said.
Wendy said two other points raised by the Society for consideration were minor drafting amendments in relation to disclaiming a trust; and Part 13 of the bill relating to ancillary funds, which might prove to be overly complex in practice.
“This part of the bill is intended to preserve the charitable status of certain ancillary funds under existing state and federal legislation,” she said.
“However, for the affected funds to gain the protection of this part, a regulation will need to be made. This leaves affected ancillary funds in an uncertain position until such a regulation is made.
“Our preference is to adopt the drafting approach in the equivalent Western Australian legislation, under which the primary Act protects their charitable status. If the bill proceeds without change, we recommend consulting with charitable sector and industry stakeholders about any associated regulations.”
The committee is due to table its report by Friday.
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