THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO HELP YOUR KIDS THAN A GIFT

Most parents want to give their kids a headstart in life. Often, this takes the form of money for a car or a deposit for a first home.

Have you considered what would happen to that money if your son or daughter either:

• broke up with their partner,
• passed away; or
• ran into financial difficulties or became a bankrupt?

There are better ways to help your kids than a simple gift of money – protect it so it can continue to be used for their benefit even if they get into financial trouble.

If you give money to your kids, it won’t automatically come back to you if any of those things happen

• on their separation or divorce, it would be an asset of their relationship and be available for distribution between your son or daughter and their partner under the Family Law Actor the Property (Relationships) Act.
• on death, those funds will flow to their beneficiaries as stated in their Will (or if they don’t have a Will, in accordance with the laws of intestacy).
• on bankruptcy, their trustee in bankruptcy will be able to use those funds to pay themselves and any creditors.

In order to protect against these types of events, the advance needs to be documented as a loan. In the absence of such a document, the “presumption of advancement” applies because of the relationship of parent and child and it will be considered a gift.

If your child died, got into financial strife or had matrimonial issues, the loan could be called in – and would be available to lend again once things had settled.

Ideally, in addition to a Loan Agreement, some form of security for the loan could be provided, such as a Mortgage or Caveat over land or a Security Interest registered on the Personal Property Securities Register.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Craig Pryor is principal solicitor at McKillop Legal. For further information in relation to litigation and dispute resolution or any commercial law matter, contact Craig Pryor on (02) 9521 2455 or email craig@mckilloplegal.com.au.