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Trusts Act 2019

Appointment and discharge of trustees - Appointment of trustee

96: Who may be appointed as trustee

You could also call this:

"Who can be in charge of a trust and make decisions about its property?"

Illustration for Trusts Act 2019

You can be appointed as a trustee of a trust unless you are disqualified. You are disqualified if you are a child, an undischarged bankrupt, or you lack the capacity to perform the functions of a trustee. This means you cannot be a trustee if you are not able to make good decisions.

If you are an undischarged bankrupt, you can still be appointed as a trustee with the court's consent. You lack the capacity to perform the functions of a trustee if you have a manager appointed under section 31 of the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988 or if a trustee corporation is managing your property under section 32 or 33 of that Act or that Act. This is because you need to be able to make good decisions to be a trustee.

A body corporate that is subject to an insolvency event is also disqualified from being appointed as a trustee. This means a company that is having financial problems cannot be a trustee. You need to be able to manage the trust's property and make good decisions to be a trustee.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7383009.

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95: Application to review exercise of power to remove or to appoint trustee, or

"Asking the court to check if a trustee was removed or appointed fairly"

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97: Statutory trustee may be sole trustee, or

"A trust can have just one trustee, called a statutory trustee, in charge of it."

Part 5Appointment and discharge of trustees
Appointment of trustee

96Who may be appointed as trustee

  1. Any person may be appointed as a trustee of a trust, unless the person is disqualified.

  2. The following persons are disqualified from being appointed as a trustee:

  3. a child:
    1. an undischarged bankrupt:
      1. a person who lacks the capacity to perform the functions of a trustee:
        1. a body corporate that is subject to an insolvency event.

          1. Despite subsection (2)(b), an undischarged bankrupt may be appointed as a trustee with the consent of the court.

          2. For the purposes of subsection (2)(c), and without limiting that paragraph, a person lacks the capacity to perform the functions of a trustee if the person—

          3. is subject to an order appointing a manager under section 31 of the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988; or
            1. has a trustee corporation managing the person’s property under section 32 or 33 of that Act.