Becoming a trustee of a charity is a huge privilege, but it can also be a complex and time-consuming task and can feel like an overwhelming responsibility.
Our expert charity lawyers can guide you through the processes of being a trustee and help you fit into your role. Our dedicated Trusts Officer can also provide charitable trusts with dedicated support. Whether that’s giving advice on one or two issues, or if you would like us to assume responsibility for administering the trust as a whole.
What does being a trustee involve?
Along with the identity of those who may benefit from the trust (the ‘beneficiaries’) and the trust assets, the law expects you to have a knowledge of the powers and duties given to you in the trust itself and under the law. Being a trustee also involves recurring responsibilities, such as filing trust tax returns, holding trustees’ meetings and taking active steps for any trust investments. We recognise that, even with the best intentions, this can be a lot to manage.
Perhaps you’re looking for help with practical tasks such as assistance in completing trust tax returns, or would like guidance in your legal duties as a trustee. Whatever help you need, we are happy to guide you through what you need to do as a trustee. We manage many different types of trusts and have the experience to deal with your questions or issues.
Our trust administration advice
We can provide bespoke advice tailored to your situation and your charity on:
- the administration of trusts
- trustees’ powers and duties
- trust tax regimes
- trust tax returns
Supporting charities every step of the way
We are one of very few law firms in the South West with genuine specialist, in-depth, charity law expertise, as well as being recognised as a leading firm for charity law by the independent Legal 500 and Chambers legal directories.
Our team is led by James Evans who is one of very few senior charity specialist lawyers based west of Bristol, working exclusively with charities, social enterprises, education institutions and other ‘social purpose’ organisations.