A trust is an obligation imposed on a person or other entity to hold property for the benefit of beneficiaries. A Trust is split between two parties. A “trustee” – the person who manages the Trust on behalf of the beneficiaries. The “beneficiary” – the people who own the property/assets.
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There are different versions of a Trust, and a Trust Deed establishes the trust and outlines how it is to be administered. This document should also outline how any amendments to the trust are to be made and when the trust is to expire.
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Also known as a Family Trust, Discretionary trusts are when the trustee chooses which beneficiaries receive the trust property, and how much of the trust property they get. The discretion is in the Trustee having the option of splitting up the trust property however they like when the tr

A Unit trust can be a fixed unit trust or a non-fixed unit trust.
​Beneficiaries of unit trusts are typically referred to as “unit holders”, and typically each beneficiary is allocated a unit in the trust property beforehand.

It can be difficult to change or amend the unitholders of a Unit trust.

The main difference between a unit and discretionary trust is that you make the decision in the agreement, rather than in the future. You can also combine the two for a hybrid trust.

Ultimately, it will depend on the level of certainty that you want at the time of agreement as to which Trust type you choose. Before making a trust, you should also consider:

Lawpath has created the Discretionary Trust Workflow to help set up the Trust, and we also have our team of lawyers and accountants available to review or draft the Deed for you.
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