You can buy a family trust deed online in about twenty minutes. What you can't buy online is the answer to the questions that decide whether the trust works: who should control it, who should be able to benefit, whether it should own the business or the shares in a company that owns the business, and what happens when you die. Get those wrong and the trust can cost more tax, protect less and end up controlled by someone you didn't choose.
This page covers our family trust service: setting one up and running it every year. If you want to understand how a family trust works first, including how it's taxed and the rules that catch people out, read our guide family trust explained. We won't repeat it here.
Who is a family trust setup service for?
- Business owners who want a trust to own the shares in their trading company, or to run the business directly
- Families buying investment property or building a share portfolio who want flexibility over who receives the income and protection from a family member's creditors
- Professionals and directors moving investments out of their personal name before the 30 June 2027 CGT changes
- Families with an existing trust set up years ago that nobody has looked at since
A family trust isn't for everyone. If every adult in the family is on the top tax rate, you have no business risk and the trust would only hold a modest portfolio, the costs and rules may outweigh the benefit. If the main goal is to protect an inheritance for your children, a testamentary trust in your will may do the job better. We'll tell you which.
What do you need to decide before the deed is signed?
These are the decisions we work through with you. The deed is drafted around them, not the other way round.
| Decision | Our usual view | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Who is the trustee? | A company set up only to act for this trust | Limits personal liability; no retitling of assets when people change; keeps one trust's creditors away from another's assets |
| Who are the directors of the trustee company? | The people who will make day-to-day decisions, often both spouses | Directors sign resolutions and carry director duties |
| Who is the appointor? | Usually the parents jointly, with named successors | The appointor can replace the trustee, so this is the real control |
| Who succeeds the appointor? | Named in the deed, or by a mechanism in the appointor's will | Without it, control can pass to an estate by default |
| Who can benefit? | A wide class: the family, their relatives and related companies and trusts | A narrow class limits flexibility; distributing to a non-beneficiary is invalid |
| Who is the settlor? | An independent person who can never benefit | A settlor who benefits can create tax problems |
| Vesting date | The longest the state allows, with a power to bring it forward | The trust ends on that date, which can trigger CGT |
| Variation power | Wide enough to change the deed later, including control clauses | Courts have struck down changes where the power was too narrow |
| Streaming and income definition | Power to stream capital gains and franked dividends, and to define income | Lets the trustee direct particular income to particular beneficiaries |
| What will it own? | The shares in your trading company, investments, or the business itself | Decides whether you need an ABN, GST registration and a separate trust for risky activity |
Key point: Never use one trustee company for a trust that trades and a trust that holds investments or property. If the trading trust fails, its creditors can reach the other trust's assets through the shared trustee. One trust, one trustee company.
How do you set up a family trust? Our process
- Strategy call and design. We work through the decisions above with you and agree what the trust will own and why.
- Trustee company. We register the company with ASIC, with a constitution suited to a trustee. Each director needs a director ID first.
- Deed. A solicitor or specialist deed provider prepares the deed from our brief. The settlor signs and pays the settlement sum, and the trustee signs to accept.
- Stamp duty on the deed. Some states and territories charge duty on a trust deed or require it to be lodged. We check the rule in your state before signing.
- Tax registrations. TFN for the trust, plus an ABN and GST registration if the trust will run a business or hold commercial property.
- Bank account in the trustee company's name as trustee for the trust. Never in your personal name.
- Moving assets in, if any. Each transfer is a sale at market value for tax and usually for stamp duty. We model the CGT and duty before anything moves, and our business restructuring service covers rollovers where a business is involved.
- Xero file and first-year setup, so income lands in the right entity from day one.
- Your will and estate plan updated. The trust doesn't follow your will. Appointor succession, the trustee company shares and any loans you've made to the trust all need to be dealt with. See our succession and estate planning service.
Our trust deed agent reads the draft deed against our brief and flags anything that doesn't match: a missing streaming power, a narrow variation clause, an appointor clause with no successor. Your accountant checks the flags before the deed is signed.
What does running a family trust involve each year?
Setting up is one afternoon. Running it is every year for decades. This is the calendar we work to.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Through the year | Income and expenses recorded in the trust's own Xero file; BAS if registered for GST |
| May–June | We estimate the trust's income and model who should receive it, checking each beneficiary's position |
| By 30 June | The trustee signs a written distribution resolution, with a short record of the beneficiaries it considered |
| After 30 June | Financial statements, beneficiary loan accounts and unpaid entitlements updated |
| Trust tax return | Lodged with each beneficiary's share; beneficiaries include it in their own returns |
| Each review date | ASIC annual review fee and solvency resolution for the trustee company |
| Every year | Check the beneficiaries actually received or used their money as the ATO's section 100A guidance expects |
| Every few years | Deed review: vesting date, appointor succession, any law changes |
Our trust distribution resolution agent drafts the 30 June resolution against the deed's own powers and flags risk points, such as a distribution to a child under 18 or to a company beneficiary. Your accountant reviews it and the trustee signs on their phone. The trust's annual return is part of our trust tax return service.
Watch out: A resolution signed after 30 June, or not signed at all, can leave the trustee paying tax at 47% on the whole year's income. Diarise it, or let us chase you.
Should your trust make a family trust election?
A family trust election ties the trust to one person's family group for tax purposes. It isn't automatic, and calling your trust a "family trust" doesn't make one. It's a one-way door, so we treat it as a decision, not a form.
| Make one if | Think twice if |
|---|---|
| The trust holds shares and you want beneficiaries to claim franking credits | You might want to distribute to anyone outside the test person's family group, such as in-laws' family companies |
| The trust may have losses to carry forward | Your family structure is complicated or may change, such as a likely separation |
| A restructure concession you need depends on it | You haven't checked past distributions. A distribution outside the group after the election starts is taxed at 47% |
| You want the trust excluded from trustee beneficiary reporting | You aren't sure who the test individual should be. It can only be changed in narrow cases |
Companies and other trusts that receive distributions from an elected trust usually need an interposed entity election too, or the distribution can attract the same 47% tax.
The ATO has said that until 31 December 2026 it may remit up to 80% of the interest on family trust distribution tax where a trust reviews its own past distributions, lodges the payment form and pays the tax. If your trust has an election and a messy distribution history, that's worth a look now. Our family trust election agent works through the family group and any past exposure; your accountant decides what to lodge.
What about the proposed 2028 tax on family trusts?
This is a Bill, not law. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026, introduced on 14 October 2026, proposes a 30% minimum tax on discretionary trust income from 1 July 2028, paid by the trustee, with non-refundable credits for individual beneficiaries. It also proposes rollover relief from 1 July 2027 for families who restructure out of a discretionary trust.
What that means for a new trust:
- We still set up trusts. Asset protection, control on death and flexibility don't depend on the Bill.
- We model the Bill as introduced for every new trust, so you can see how the tax case changes if it passes.
- We design for change. A wide variation power and a trust that's easy to restructure cost nothing extra today.
- We don't restructure existing trusts on a Bill. If it passes, there's a proposed window to move. If it changes, you've saved the cost of moving early.
Our guide to the discretionary trust tax changes tracks where the Bill is up to.
What does a family trust cost to set up and run?
Government fees for 2026–27:
- ASIC registration of the trustee company: $636
- ASIC annual review fee for the trustee company: $342 a year. A company that acts only as trustee of a family trust pays the standard proprietary company fee; the cheaper special purpose rate is for companies such as SMSF trustees
- TFN, ABN and GST registration: free
- Stamp duty on the deed: depends on your state, often nil or nominal
Professional fees cover our advice, the deed and the registrations, quoted as a fixed fee before we start. The cost that matters most is often stamp duty and CGT on assets moved into the trust, which we model separately for each asset.
Once it's running, the trust usually sits inside your fixed-price plan with your company and personal returns. Compare plans on our pricing page. If your trust will hold property, see our page for property investors, because land tax thresholds for trusts are lower in several states.
We already have a trust. What does a review look like?
Most of the trusts we review have at least one of these problems:
- The original signed deed, or a variation, can't be found
- The appointor has died or lost capacity and nobody has stepped in
- Distributions have been made to people who aren't beneficiaries under the deed
- An individual trustee is still on title years after a company should have taken over
- A family trust election was made decades ago and nobody remembers the test individual
- Large unpaid entitlements are owed to a company beneficiary
- The vesting date is approaching
We read the deed and every variation, list the issues in order of risk, and fix what we can before the next 30 June. Anything that needs a deed variation goes to your solicitor with our brief.
"We have been with BPAG for almost a year now and have felt significant improvement with the business, our own knowledge and motivation… BPAG are by far the best." Veronica Thomas, Google review
What should you send us?
For a new trust
- What the trust will own, now and in the next few years
- Your family: names, ages, relationships and rough incomes
- Who you want to control the trust, and who should take over if they die
- Your state of residence and where any property is
- Your current will
For an existing trust
- The signed deed and every deed of variation
- The trustee company's ASIC extract
- The last three years of resolutions, financial statements and trust tax returns
- Any family trust or interposed entity elections
- Beneficiary loan accounts and unpaid entitlements
You can photograph documents on your phone and send them by SMS or email. There's no portal password. Our team works on Nagaris, so the agents draft, a qualified accountant reviews and signs off, and nothing reaches you or the ATO without a person approving it. Your documents are stored in Australia.
If the trust is one part of a bigger plan to protect a business, home and investments, start with business structuring and asset protection.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to set up a family trust?
Once the terms are agreed, the deed can be signed and the trustee company registered within a few days, and the trust's TFN usually follows soon after. The time goes into the decisions beforehand and, if existing assets are moving in, the valuations and stamp duty assessments. Allow longer if a bank needs to approve the trust as a borrower.
Do I need a minimum amount of money to start a family trust?
No. A trust is settled with a nominal sum, often $10 or $20, and can start with nothing else. Whether it's worth having depends on what it will hold and earn. A trust with no income and no assets is just a cost.
Can a family trust borrow to buy property?
Yes, if the deed gives the trustee power to borrow, and most modern deeds do. Lenders will usually want the directors of the trustee company to give personal guarantees, which reduces the protection for that debt. Land tax and the loss of the main residence exemption also need to be considered before a trust buys a home.
Can I take over an existing family trust from another accountant?
Yes. We ask for the deed, every variation, the last few years of resolutions and returns, and the trust's loan accounts. We then review the trust as if we'd set it up ourselves, and tell you what needs fixing before the next 30 June.
Can a family trust pay my children's school fees?
A trust can distribute to adult children who then use their own money as they choose. Paying a child's expenses from a distribution made to a parent, or using an adult child's distribution to pay the parents' costs, can raise section 100A and penalty-rate issues. Children under 18 are taxed at penalty rates on most trust income, so get advice before using a trust for school fees.
Do I have to make a family trust election straight away?
No. The election is optional and is usually considered with the trust's first or second tax return, once you know what the trust will hold. It's very hard to undo, so we only recommend it when the trust needs it for franking credits, losses or a restructure concession.
Official sources
General information only, current as at 18 October 2026. It is not personal tax, legal or financial product advice and doesn't take your circumstances into account. Talk to us before you act. Where a recommendation needs a licensed financial adviser or a solicitor, we work alongside them.