Checklist · Trusts & Estate Planning
Family group map before a distribution from a trust that has made a family trust election
Map of who the ATO page, updated 20 October 2026, treats as in the family group of the individual specified in a family trust election, before a distribution is made outside the usual beneficiaries.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Australia, Commonwealth
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the authority it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a trustee is considering a distribution to a person or company that is not one of the usual beneficiaries, and a family trust election is or may be in force. Family trust distribution tax is imposed outside the family group. The ATO says it has no discretion to ignore that tax.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may list proposed recipients and the relationship recorded on the file. The lawyer decides whether each recipient is in the family group.
AI may
- Enter each proposed recipient and the relationship the file states
- Flag a company or partnership that has no interposed entity election on the file
- Flag a recipient described as an aunt, uncle or cousin
AI must not
- Must not state that a person is in the family group
- Must not state that family trust distribution tax will or will not apply
- Must not prepare the distribution resolution
The lawyer checks
- The election and the specified individual are identified before anyone is classified
- Family and family group are not treated as the same list. A former spouse can be in the group and not in the family
- A company is not placed in the group only because a family member owns some of the shares
- Schedule 2F is read before the map is relied on. The schedule was not opened. The map uses the ATO page
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
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- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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