Setting up a trust or governance structure
What to include in your trust order
Find out what to include when you’re defining the terms of your trust order — the document that sets out the rules that govern your trust.
The trust order defines the powers, responsibilities, or restrictions the trustees will have when managing your trust. It helps to ensure that the trust can deliver the outcomes the owners want.
You should draft your trust order over time during discussions with other owners, when you also talk about your kaupapa or core purpose, tikanga and vision for the whenua. Then at a meeting of owners, you can call for a resolution of general agreement on the draft of the order.
You will need to submit the draft of the trust order to the Māori Land Court when you apply to create the trust.
Once the trust order has been approved by the Māori Land Court, if you want to make changes to the order you need to apply to the Māori Land Court.
What to include in a trust order
Your trust order must include at least:
- the name of the trust
- the name of the whenua block (or blocks) vested in the trust
- who the proposed trustees are
- the quorum requirements for owners meetings.
It could also include things like:
- the number of trustees, how they are appointed or elected and how long they can hold ‘office’ for
- any limits on what the board can and cannot do, like whether the whenua can be leased
- procedures for reporting to owners – for example how often AGMs will be held
- the accounting and financial requirements the trustees must meet.
