What are excluded trusts
Specified classes of trusts that are excluded from the attribution process in Part IIIB, Division 11A of the VEA are:
- community trusts,
- some court ordered (statutory) trusts, and
- indigenous trusts.
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Legislation Library - Commission Determinations
Means Test Treatment of Private Trusts – Excluded Trusts – Declaration 2001
Community trust
A community trust is a trust that has the sole or dominant purpose of receiving, managing and distributing:
- money paid directly to it, or to it through an interposed entity, by a government body for a community purpose, or
- income earned from the use of indigenous-held land.
Court-ordered (statutory) trust
A court-ordered trust that is an excluded trust if it is a trust created by an order of a court that:
- relates to a personal injury matter, and
- provides for the proceeds of the judgement of the court, or of a settlement between parties, to be held in trust for the benefit of the person in whose favour the judgement or settlement was made.
For example, a statutory trust set up by the court to administer a compensation settlement for a person unable to manage their own affairs.
Indigenous trust
An indigenous trust is a trust that has the sole or dominant purpose of receiving, managing and distributing:
- indigenous land held for a community purpose,
- income earned from the use of such land, or
- a service to the community funded directly or indirectly by a government body.
Examples of an indigenous trust would include payments under the Community Development Employment Projects Scheme or grants under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989.
Classes of trusts that are not excluded
Trusts that are not excluded from the rules relating to private trusts are:
- a testamentary trust created as a result of a grant of probate, or
- a trust created or declared by order of the Family Court, or
- a trust created or declared by a court, Tribunal or Arbitrator as a result of a property settlement, or
- a trust created as a result of a property settlement, without a court order.
If the trust is not one that is specifically excluded, then the rules in relation to attribution are to apply.