Family trust

[Phteven]

Does anyone know the ball park figure for establishing a discretionary family trust?

[LuluHB]

I used to do them for $290. Last time I did one was last year, so that figure for WA at least is pretty current - shouldn't be too much either way.

[Phteven]

Are you an accountant or are there other professions who do them?
My soliciter has suggested it but he doesn't want to do it because it's not something he considers himself an expert at. Mainly he's an expert at talking about football and referring me to other people lol.

[LuluHB]

Solicitors, but we do corporate and tax law so its pretty much our thing. We got most of our trust work from accountants, so be careful if you go that way and your acountant doesn't prepare them in-house that you're not looking at extra fees for the accountant's time in instructing the solicitor. You could end up paying way too much for what really is a seriously simple task that takes 5 minutes. Did I really say that??? No. Really. Verrrry complicated ;-)

Can your solicitor recommend another firm that does them? Otherwise the Law Society in your state should be able to give you a list of commercial/tax firms that could help out. Worth ringing around to get the best price cos it seriously is a fill in the blanks kind of thing.

FWIW, my accountant is an expert at telling rude jokes and generally giving me a hard time!

[OceanPrincess]

Mainly he's an expert at talking about football and referring me to other people lol.

Our accountant did ours. Didn't seem overly complex or anything. Don't know how much exactly because he set up the company and some other stuff at the same time.

ETA - pretty sure it was done in house.

[Enchanted]

Our accountant arranged ours about 3 years ago. From memory it was roughly $500. I'm in Vic.

[Manhattan]

As accountants, we always outsource to a law firm or practice specialising in business structures etc. If you go through your accountant, everything is pretty much double handled and you pay more. And we just ask you for the answers to the questions on the application form, which you can do yourself. So I would prob suggest going straight to the source. I just looked at the website of the business we use, and for the Disc Trust it is $275 plus stamp duty. Let me know if you want more info on them, not sure what state you are in.

[Enchanted]

Yep, was just coming back to post what Manhattan has.

I just had a look at it was handled through a law firm to get it done. We did pay through the nose with our accountant but we knew he'd do it properly and we had no idea about anything

[Frantelle]

I would see a solicitor, I work for one and we do these often, we charge $200.00 for doing the trust deed, you will need to pay an additional $510.00 stamp duty and the cost of setting up a company (if you choose to use one).

I would recomend seeing a solicitor.

[Mother Goose]

the prices vary a lot. I used to work for a company (pre nursing) who did them and they charge between $250 and $400 to do a standard one. You can bypass a lawyer or accountant and go direct to them (lawyers and accountants will charge you their fee as well).

I agree with Lu - it is a fill in the blanks thing (seriously, we had a database to enter the data, hit print, and it merged it with the document). You can alter certain things but it costs you more. If you have a good lawyer or accountant, perhaps ask for a recommendation because there are some dodgy companies out there (like any industry).

[onthefly]

My brother's was through a lawyer.