When it comes to divvying up your estate after death, testamentary trusts are often touted as an option. They can be a way to ‘rule from the grave’, giving you more control over the way your assets are distributed – placing them in a trust, rather than having them given directly to your beneficiaries…

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has reversed its long held view, expressed in a number of private rulings, that the deemed dividend rules contained in Division 7A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936) do not apply where family companies distribute cash to either the husband or the wife as a result of Family Court Orders…