Pearse Trust Blog

What Are Legal Entity Identifiers?

Legal Entity Identifiers (“LEI”) are global reference codes used to identify the following legal entities engaged in financial transactions:

This blog post highlights the importance of appointing an independent trustee as illustrated by a recent England & Wales High Court action. The case involved a discretionary trust where the settlor had appointed several family members as trustees. This later led to an acrimonious court battle. Whilst the court put to rest the legal dispute, no doubt the same cannot be said for the family feud which arose as a result of the family members having being appointed as co-trustees of the family trust.

What Is Internal Control?

A charge means an interest or right which a lender or creditor obtains in the property of a company by way of security that the company will pay back the debt.

One of the toughest decisions that any family business may face is whether the business will be passed on to family members or sold by the retiring generation. This decision not only threatens the continuity of the business, but can threaten the family unit itself and often leads to costly litigious disputes.

In our recent blog post Shareholders’ Rights – An Overview, we explained that certain rights and entitlements are conferred on the shareholders of Irish public and private companies by common law and statute (Companies Acts (1963 – 2012)). Today we will focus specifically on the rights conferred by section 205 of the Companies Act 1963 (as amended).

As part of the patent reform in the US, a new bill was introduced into the US House of Representatives on 22 July 2013.  Its aim is to  protect innovators from frivolous patent litigation brought by the increasing number of patent trolls, particularly in the technology industry.

Since the introduction of the Cadbury Report in 1992, there has been an increased focus on corporate governance in the boardroom, particularly in those of listed companies.

As we are aware, a trust is created when a settlor transfers assets to a trustee to hold for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries. The term ‘trust’ simply describes the fiduciary arrangement or relationship between those parties. It is not a legal entity, and does not have juristic personality. It is therefore incapable of holding assets, entering contracts or undertaking any other legal formalities in its own name. Indeed, as Adderly J commented in Tenesheles Trust & ors v BDO Mann Judd (Supreme Court of the Bahamas, 16 November 2009), ‘it is trite law that a trust lacks legal capacity…a trust is an arrangement, not an entity’. 

In a trust arrangement, the appointed trustee is the person or entity with capacity to undertake these legal formalities. In assuming this function, the trustee acts as representative of the trust. The manner in which the trustee exercises this function is governed by the terms of the trust agreement and relevant local trust law.

Holding Of Assets

Requirement To Prepare Financial Statements

Under the current rules, all active small and medium-sized companies registered under the Companies Act 1993 in New Zealand, are required to prepare general purpose financial statements within five months of the end of each accounting period, in accordance with New Zealand Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. There is no requirement to file these financial statements at the Companies Office or with any other authority, provided that the company is neither a large company, a subsidiary of an overseas company or does not offer its shares to the public by prospectus.