Question
Why is it that, in the 'Change of Trustee' form, all Trustees are retired/removed even if some are continuing?
Answer
The logic of our Change of Trustee forms is to retire/resign all of the current Trustees and re-appoint them alongside any new Trustees. This approach has been approved by our legal services provider.
The rationale for this approach is that:
- It is conservative, as the role of Trustee is an office made up of all persons acting from time to time and this means that even if there are ‘continuing’ Individual Trustees, they should be retired and reappointed as part of any change of Trustee process.
- Many third parties support this approach in order to register asset transfers to the new Trustee, even though it might be arguable at law that it is unnecessary.
- In particular, most Land Title Offices mandate that change of Trustee deeds be consistent with any asset transfers which are required as a result of the change of Trustee. That is, the transfers must be made by all previous Trustees as transferors to all new Trustees as transferees (regardless of whether some of them are continuing).
Note: If you do not want this approach to be taken you can make use of the Client Legal Review to assist in drafting a custom document to meet your requirements/specifications.