Trends in Contemporary Trust Law

Question: Discuss about the Trends in Contemporary Trust Law. Answer: Introduction The purpose of this research assignment is to discuss the Sands Australia Trust which has been formed with the special purpose of offering support to grieving families in Australia who have lost a child. The legal basis of the trust, what it engages in, the form of donors for the trust, the trustees and the type of beneficiaries for the trust are discussed here. Legal basis The trust that is being researched on is Sands Australia Trust. In analyzing for the legal basis for a trust, it is necessary to look into its history. Sands Australia was incorporated as an organization in 1999, but the organizational roots are observed from 1979 when it began as an organization for bereaved parents who wanted to come together to support themselves during a loss. It was registered as a support group later on, and a formal organization Sands SA was incorporated in 1983. Sands Australia was formed in a National Conference that was held in 1988 but it was not until later in 1999 that Sands Australia obtained its legal status (Sands Australia, 2016b). Nature and Purpose of Trust The nature and purpose of the trust is to help bereaved families who have lost a child. The trust provides support in the form of information and education for the families and the healthcare professionals in Australia (Sands Australia, 2016a). Different forms of support are provided to the people. There is a national support line provided for anybody who wants to call and talk about their grief, there are separate men's line. Men might face a stigma when they want to talk about their grief at times, because of social and cultural issues. The trust also arranges for local support groups and email support for people too. Organizations and private individuals continue to support their work. The trust states that it draws on Australias long standing tradition to support grieving families in the context of a death. Now the trust aims to help families grieve for their children, and hence connect with corporate partners in order to do this (Sands Australia, 2016a) The Australian Government's Department of Health ASL, Town Square, and Remy and Co are some of the organizations supporting the trust as of now. ASL supports the Trust by means of fundraising events. The events help Sands in delivering the 24/7 support services. The trust notes that they have been able to help around 2,000 bereaved parents this way. TownSquare is yet another major contributor to the trust, that attempt to provide pro bono support for the agency. This is done by means of national awareness campaigns launched in 2016. InLink is yet another organization that attempts to market the trust and its activities. They offer advertising space in around 160 cafe locations (Sands Australia, 2016c). Trustees The trustee as a legal term refers to the holding of the trusteeship for a trust (Braithwaite, Levi, 2003).Trustee refers to a person who holds position or authority in the trust on behalf of others (Pettit, 2012). Andre Carvalho is the CEO of Sands Australia. Not much information is given about the trustees, but a media link page has been given, where any direct information on the trust could be asked. Beneficiaries The beneficiaries of the trust are the people of the trust for whom the trust was created (Tomasic, 2002; Oakley, 1996). The beneficiaries receive the benefits of the trust. Now for Sands Australia, the beneficiaries of the trust are that of grieving families who have lost a child. The beneficiaries do not receive monetary support here, but would receive support in the form of helping them in overcoming their grief. It is either done through arranged medical professionals or by means of people who have got out of similar situations themselves and who knows what the other must be going through. The beneficiaries can contact the trust directly by means of the direct phone number that is given to them, or by emailing them and there is also a live chat opportunity for them to connect with the trust. Alternatively, a beneficiary can also write to them which is not a preferred method on account of it being a sow mode of approaching the trust. Issues that Surprised Me Some issues that surprised me when going through the trust details was that it was difficult for find information and records on the trustees, the form of sources of income etc. There is some mention of these things but not in detail. I found this surprising because in current times it is usually expected that any organization have to be as transparent as possible when it comes to information. Transparency in information is a basic requirement of organizations (Bovens et al, 2014; Levi, 1998). Information must be easily accessible to different stakeholders of the company (Zhu, 2004; Turilli, Floridi, 2009). This need is especially more in the case of Sands Australia which has to rely on much external support to provide benefits for its beneficiaries. People who want to donate or who want to form an integral part of the support system of the organization, would first look for information about the organization. While it is interesting to note the history of organization, how it was f ormed etc, people will most certainly look for the details on how their contributions are converted into benefits for the beneficiaries. The people who want to support will want to know the governance space of the trust, the trustees that are involved, the financial elements or controls and more. This increases their trust on it and motivates them to contribute better. Donating to Trust Presuming that I could financially contribute to the trust, I think I would donate to the trust. The trust is operating on a mission that has long been spelled out over the years, from 1979 to be exact. There are popular issues in society that often has more direct remedies and solutions, and then there are some issues in which more direct solutions or remedied are not available. In the context of a grieving parent, counselors recommended by a hospital still remains the most basic option. However, grieving parents need more support, end to end support from parents who have lost a child themselves is more supportive. Grieving parents would be able to connect better. Now this is an initiative of the trust that is worth supporting. Grieving parents often have children who are dependent on them, they have work commitments and more, hence when they dont have an outlet for their grief then they tend to suffer as a consequence. So I believe it is everybodys social responsibility to ensure t hat grieving parents are supported. Conclusion Sands Australia Trust is dissected and analyzed here based on some of the basic legal structural elements for Australian Trusts, according to the Trust law. The discussion revealed details of the trust that helps in understanding it better. References Bovens, M., Goodin, R. E., Schillemans, T. (Eds.). (2014).The Oxford handbook of public accountability. OUP Oxford. Braithwaite, V., Levi, M. (Eds.). (2003).Trust and governance. Russell Sage Foundation. Levi, M. (1998). A state of trust.Trust and governance,1, 77-101. Oakley, A. J. (1996).Trends in contemporary trust law. Oxford University Press. Pettit, P. H. (2012).Equity and the Law of Trusts. Oxford University Press. Sands Australia. (2016a). Who we are? Retrieved Sep 27, 2016 at: https://www.sands.org.au/about-us Sands Australia. (2016b). Our History, Retrieved Sep 27, 2016 at: https://www.sands.org.au/2014-07-08-06-52-35 Sands Australia. (2016c). Our Supporters, Retrieved Sep 27, 2016 at: https://www.sands.org.au/our-supporters Tomasic, R., Bottomley, S., McQueen, R. (2002).Corporations law in Australia. Federation Press. Turilli, M., Floridi, L. (2009). The ethics of information transparency.Ethics and Information Technology,11(2), 105-112. Zhu, K. (2004). Information transparency of business-to-business electronic markets: A game-theoretic analysis.Management Science,50(5), 670-685.a