This article explores the Trusts Act and its relationship with existing New Zealand trust law. Many of the changes restate or codify the existing law. Other concepts are new. Now is the time for those with involvement in New Zealand trusts to review their deeds and their practices to ensure they will be fit for purpose when the Trusts Act comes into force.

Some of the most wide-reaching changes to the law brought by the Trusts Act 2019 are the new provisions on appointment and discharge of trustees and vesting of trust property (Part 5: ss 92-120). The new provisions are longer and more prescriptive than the existing provisions in Part 4 of the Trustee Act 1956. Law firms will need to consider their precedents in light of the new rules.

This article describes the new requirements in the Trusts Act 2019 for trustees to retain and disclose information, together with some ideas about how the new rules are likely to affect legal practice.