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Ask yourself
for the deed, the returns and the year aheadMost people end up with a lawyer who drafts the deed, an accountant who files the returns, and no one joining the two. We do both, so the decisions get made once.
Why choose us?
One team means one bill. You see the whole year before any work starts.
There are two ways trust fees surprise people. Some providers charge a percentage of the assets in your trust, so the bill grows as your family does. Others charge a la carte, where the headline setup fee looks fine until the returns, minutes and questions arrive as separate invoices.
We do neither. One fixed fee, agreed before we start, covering the work a trust actually needs each year.
What that covers
What your trust needs each year |
The usual model |
Lighthouse |
Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
Legal and tax advice |
Two teams, two files |
One team, one file |
Deed drafted with your tax position in mind |
Trust deed and setup |
Billed by the hour as you go |
Fixed fee, agreed upfront |
No hourly billing, no surprise invoices |
Annual financial statements |
Billed separately |
Included |
Prepared by the same team that drafted the deed |
IR6 trust return |
Billed separately |
Included |
Filed by your accountant, not a third party |
Two beneficiary IR3s |
Billed separately |
Included |
Both beneficiary returns are part of the same job |
Trustee minutes and resolutions |
Billed separately |
Included |
Kept current against the Trusts Act 2019 |
Questions during the year |
Charged at an hourly rate |
Included |
Ask without watching the clock |
, your Trust Manager Vaishnu Krishnan is a solicitor with over a decade of experience in trusts and estates. He drafts the deeds and runs the reviews, sitting alongside your accountant so the legal and tax decisions get made together. You deal with him each year, not with whoever happens to be free.
Book a Free Consultation
Leaves a pre-2019 deed exactly as it was written
Sends you between a lawyer and an accountant
Leaves the trustee minutes until something goes wrong
Finds the problem years later, when fixing it means a variation and a fee
Hands you to a different person each year
Reads your deed against the Trusts Act 2019
Trust Manager and accountant on the same file, in the same building
Keeps the minutes and resolutions current each year
Catches the conflict before it is written into the deed
The same Trust Manager, year after year
15 Minutes
1
You get in touch
Fill out the form below. Tell us what you're trying to do: set up a new trust, review an existing one, plan an estate, or update your will. We'll come back to you within one business day.
When Scheduled
3
Discovery and review
If you have an existing trust deed, we read it against the Trusts Act 2019. If you're starting fresh, we map out the structure, beneficiaries and likely tax position. You leave knowing exactly what you'll get.
2 to 4 Weeks
5
We do the work
Deed drafting, trustee minutes, IRD number applications, beneficiary planning, handled in-house. You sign once at the end. Anything urgent gets flagged early.
30 Minutes
2
Initial conversation
Vaishnu calls to understand your situation: what assets, what beneficiaries, what you're protecting against, and whether a trust is actually the right tool. Sometimes it isn't, and we'll say so.
Within 3 Business Days
4
Fixed-fee proposal
A written proposal with a fixed fee, a timeline, and a single point of contact. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices, no scope creep.
Annually
6
Ongoing reviews
Trusts aren't set-and-forget. Each year we check the deed still fits your circumstances, file the IR6 and IR3s, and flag anything worth restructuring. Same team, same fixed fee.
Have a question? You'll find answers to some of the most common things our clients ask us. If you need more detail, we're always happy to chat.
Our annual trust return is $2,200, which includes the financial statements, the IR6 and two beneficiary IR3s. Setup and review work is quoted as a fixed fee before we start, so you know the total upfront. Full professional trusteeship, where we act as trustee rather than adviser, is $10,000 a year.
Honestly, not everyone does. Trusts make sense when you have assets worth protecting from relationship claims, business risk, or future estate complexity. They cost real money to run, so if your situation is simple, we'll tell you.
Two to four weeks for a standard family or trading trust, start to finish. That includes the deed, the trustee minute, the IRD number application, and signing. If we're also setting up a corporate trustee, add another week.
The Act introduced mandatory trustee duties, a presumption of beneficiary disclosure, and stricter record-keeping. Older deeds often don't have the right wording for the disclosure regime or for modern beneficiary classes. If your trust was set up before July 2019, there's a good chance it needs a review.
Most trust work crosses the line between legal and tax. A deed drafted in isolation can name a beneficiary class and distribution power that reads fine legally, but then blocks the distributions needed to move income out of the 39% trustee rate. Fixing that later is a variation and a fee. When both people sit on the same file, the decision gets made once.
Yes. We'll read your existing deed, tell you what's working and what needs an update, and either keep the deed as-is or recommend a variation. The handover usually takes two to three weeks.
Simply fill out your details below, and we'll be in touch shortly.
