Trusts Act 2019

Miscellaneous provisions - Transfer to the Crown

149: Transfer to the Crown of non-distributable trust property

You could also call this:

"When a trust can't use its property, it can give it to the government."

If you are a trustee and you have trust property that you cannot distribute according to the trust's rules, you can transfer it to the Crown. This is only possible if the trust property is money or financial products that can be legally transferred to the Crown. You can do this if you are administering trust property that cannot be distributed.

When you transfer the trust property to the Crown, you must give the Secretary to the Treasury all the information they need to know about the trust. This includes the trust's rules, who benefits from the trust property, the state of the trust's accounts, and what you did to try to distribute the property.

If you do not provide the required information, the Secretary to the Treasury can refuse to accept the transfer. They can also ask you to sell or convert any financial products into money before they accept the transfer. Once you transfer the trust property to the Crown, you are no longer responsible for it. You can find more information about this by looking at the Trusts Act 2019 and similar laws, such as s 77 of a previous act.

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This page was last updated on 18 July 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7383093.

Topics:

Money and consumer rights > Banking and loans

148: Application of Arbitration Act 1996, or

"Arbitration for trust problems follows the Arbitration Act 1996 rules."

150: Financial products transferred to the Crown, or

"What happens to money when financial products are given to the government"

Part 8Miscellaneous provisions
Transfer to the Crown

149Transfer to the Crown of non-distributable trust property

A trustee who is administering trust property that the trustee is not able to distribute in accordance with the terms of the trust may transfer the trust property to the Crown if the trust property consists of money or of financial products that can legally be transferred to the Crown.
The trustee must provide to the Secretary to the Treasury all the information that the Secretary reasonably considers necessary to allow the Secretary to know—
the terms of the trust; and
the persons having a beneficial interest in the trust property; and
the state of the trust accounts with respect to the trust property being transferred; and
the measures taken by the trustee to attempt to distribute the trust property and the reasons why it was not possible to do so.

The Secretary to the Treasury may refuse a transfer if the required information has not been provided by the trustee.
The Secretary to the Treasury may, before accepting a transfer, require the trustee to sell, or convert into money, any trust property that consists of financial products.
A trustee is discharged from any further responsibility with regard to trust property transferred to the Crown under this section.

Compare

1956 No 61 s 77