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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Contracts legislation - Minors’ contracts - Agreements relating to trusts

117: Agreement to extinguish or vary trust may be approved

You could also call this:

“Court can approve changes to trusts for young people who have been in relationships”

If you are under 18 and have been married, in a civil union, or in a de facto relationship, you can make an agreement to end a trust or change how it works. For this agreement to be valid, you need to get approval from the District Court before you sign it. This approval makes the agreement as strong as if you were an adult.

You can ask the District Court for approval yourself. Other people can also ask for approval, like someone else who will be part of the agreement or the trustees of the trust.

When the court looks at these requests, they follow the same rules they use for other agreements involving young people. They might need to change these rules a bit to fit this specific situation.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844245.

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116: Effect of this subpart on trust, or

"Explains what trustees and minors can do with trust money and agreements"

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Part 2 Contracts legislation
Minors’ contracts: Agreements relating to trusts

117Agreement to extinguish or vary trust may be approved

  1. Every agreement entered into by a minor who is or has been married, in a civil union, or in a de facto relationship and under which a trust is extinguished or the terms of a trust are varied has effect as if the minor were of full age if, before the agreement is entered into by the minor, it is approved by the District Court.

  2. An application to the District Court under this section may be made by—

  3. the minor; or
    1. any other person who will be a party to the proposed agreement; or
      1. the trustee or trustees of the trust.

        1. Sections 100 and 101 apply to applications under this section (with any necessary modifications).

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