Note: This paper was also presented at the Darwin Seminar on 28 November 2008.
Alone among Australian jurisdictions, South Australia provides trusts with perpetual succession. This paper examines the long-term CGT risks of "lives in being" and 80-year trusts (the E events) and looks at the possibility of establishing estate planning trusts in South Australia to avoid the resulting problems. Issues covered include:
- what steps are necessary to make a trust domiciled in South Australia?
- does it matter that the trust's property and/or its control is elsewhere?
- how do you change the domicile of an existing trust?
- can you extend or eliminate the perpetuity period of an existing trust without CGT and State stamp duty problems?