Keywords: change trustee, deed of variation
Question
When we use the 'Change of Trustee' service for a SMSF, will the Trust Deed or governing rules also get updated? We do not see a replacement trust deed provided as an Annexure.
Do we have to do a separate deed update?
Answer
The change of Trustee only changes the Trustees of a Fund. It does not update the rules of the Fund.
If you need to update the governing rules/Deed of the Fund, you would need to order a SMSF Deed of Variation.
Note - The Deed that gets produced from the Change of Trustee service is an ancillary document which accompanies the original SMSF Deed (and/or other Deeds of Variation). It serves as sufficient evidence of the change in trustee. You do not need to "update" the SMSF Deed each time that you change the SMSF's trustees (i.e. via a Deed of Variation) subject to situations where third parties (like banks) have their own internal policies requiring you to do this.