Question 1

How does the Leading Member Non-Foreign Person Discretionary Trust differ from an ordinary Discretionary Trust?

Accepted Answer

The Leading Member Discretionary Trust is based on the LightYear Discretionary Trust, with the added value of limiting Trustees, Appointors and Beneficiaries to the lineage of the Leading Member. In addition there is a limitation on non-citizens or permanent residents of Australia.

Question 2

Can my existing Discretionary Trust be upgraded to this Trust?

Accepted Answer

The issue is resettlement. As there is possibly a change in beneficiaries – limiting to both citizens and lineage, please contact legal at info@lylegal.com.au.

Question 3

Stamping and Lodgement of Trusts

Accepted Answer

The fees and stamping requirements for establishing a trust deed vary throughout Australia, and the duty payable also varies depending on the type of property that is held by the trust. Please contact support - support@lyd.com.au for more information on when stamping is required (in what jurisdictions) and the fees/duties payable. LightYear Group is able to provide this service to you.

Question 4

Is this a legal document?

Accepted Answer

All master documents have been signed off by LY Legal. LY Legal advises that “at no time, due to inbuilt legal protection and security measures can a user change or amend a document on the LYD platform that has been signed off by a practicing solicitor. To do so would result in the user drafting a document of a legal nature and engaging in the provision of legal services. In addition, it would be a breach of copyright. In our opinion when completing the form fields through the LYD platform, users and their employees are merely carrying out an administrative task which is not the provision of legal advice.”

However in some complex areas such as the insertion of a varied range of client instructions into a Will or other such documents the user must be mindful of the extent to which a document is being drafted by the user rather than merely the administrative task of completing a form where the relevant fields are inserted into the reviewed and signed legal document provided by LY Legal.

The above advice is born out of numerous cases dating back to Re Sanderson, Ex parte Law Institute of Victoria [1927] VLR 394, 397 where the Court held:

“if a person does a thing usually done by a solicitor, and does it in such a way as to lead to the reasonable inference that he is a solicitor – if he combines professing to be a solicitor with action usually taken by a solicitor – I think he then does act as a solicitor.”

Likewise in ACCC v Murray (2002) 121 FCR 428, 448 where Murray was building a franchise business that involved the legal writing and drafting of Wills from scratch based on the client’s personal circumstances. The Court held that this process was legal work.

Question 5

How long does this document take to assemble?

Accepted Answer

Depending on the complexity of the data, this document should take approximately 30-50 secs to assemble. If you experience timing outside of this please contact Support via the Surge app, alternatively please read this article for troubleshooting tips https://info.lightyeardocs.com.au/supportcentre/troubleshooting-longer-assembly-times-timeouts .

Question 6

Do you have a data capture form I can use?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It is available here: https://info.lightyeardocs.com.au/supportcentre/data-capture-lyd-discretionary-trust

Question 7

What lawyers sign off on LYD documents?

Accepted Answer

All LYD documents are prepared and signed off by LY Legal.

Question 8

Are the LYD documents reviewed regularly?

Accepted Answer

All LYD documents form part of the LYD internal review process. We review all documents at least annually or when required to do so due to changes in legislation. Further details of this process and a review schedule is include on this website.

Question 9

Is the document easy to read?

Accepted Answer

All LYD products are written in plain English and assessed for readability. If at any time you come across any errors, please contact support@lyd.com.au.

Discretionary Trust – (Non Foreign Person)