Celebrate Halloween with an SMSF Horror Story in our latest video, starring Flynn and David:
Unfortunately, 1 in 3 marriages end in divorce and when an SMSF is involved, settlements can be even more complicated. SMSF Accountants, Advisors and Auditors need to be cautious in these scenarios and be mindful to give fair representation to all parties.
In a recent situation, we were auditing a Fund for a couple who were getting divorced. It became obvious to us that the wife had been signing documents in blind trust and without understanding the implications of the decisions she was authorising. We suspected that the wife had little or no knowledge of what the Fund was doing, what the legal ramifications were or that she was legally responsible as a trustee.
In this situation, we felt it was appropriate that all trustees of the fund were made fully aware of the situation. By working together, we were able to take action to prevent the Fund from becoming non-compliant - and also prevented an unsuspecting member to fall victim to actions she didn’t fully understand.
Are you aware of your responsibilities as an Accountant and ours as an Auditor in SMSF divorce scenarios? Are there situations in your portfolio of SMSFs where you need to proactively address issues on behalf of all fund members?
Trust Australia’s most experienced SMSF Auditor to help you get it right.
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