Matthew Burgess CTA

With seemingly ever-increasing levels of wealth held in family trusts, advisers need to be aware of succession planning strategies for assets held in a trust environment.


Various options are available to ensure that the control of family trusts passes as your clients intend and desire. But they're not without complexity.

At the upcoming WA Tax Intensive, Matthew Burgess CTA will look at some of the common strategies practitioners can implement. He will take a deep dive into the fundamental issues that need to be considered whenever assisting with the hand over of control of a family trust. 


Matthew founded View Legal, a specialist national tax and estate planning firm, in 2014. Before this he was a lawyer and partner at a leading independent firm.

We spoke with Matthew about what to expect from his session in Perth – ‘Succession planning for family trusts’.


“I’m looking to present an interactive-style session," Matthew said. "The ‘deep dive’ that we’ll take looks at the key issues practitioners need to consider when they’re assisting with passing control of family trusts. While the primary focus will be managing these trusts as part of an estate planning exercise, a range of related issues will also be explored, including the impact of relationship
breakdowns, asset protection issues, related entities including corporate beneficiaries, as well as inter-entity loan accounts.

“There is a myriad of potential blind spots in relation to the issues here, from the interplay between various income tax and capital gains tax provisions to the overlay of various state-based taxes including stamp duty. Related areas of the law, including family law and the bankruptcy regime, need to be properly managed, and there are also various legal and revenue issues in the context of family dynamics that need to be kept in mind.”

Following Matthew’s scene-setting presentation, he’ll deliver a case study session that will feature a factual scenario considering a family trust with a range of assets and the desire to segregate particular assets for particular beneficiaries.

“With the inclusion of this case study session there will be significant learning opportunities around many practical and technical trust-related issues," Matthew told us. "The delivery will be workshop-based, allowing all attendees to be part of a collaborative and shared experience.”

“The overall aim will be to ensure that every participant gets a number of valuable practical solutions that they can immediately start applying for the benefit of their clients.”

As someone who loves what he does, Matthew still finds time for a packed schedule outside of tax, and has written a series of children’s books (under the pseudonym 'Lily Burgess') which profile his family, his other great love in life.


A foodie and keen swimmer, health is high on Matthew’s agenda. He was even an early adopter of the stand-up workstation, which he’s found to be “life-changing”.

For those wondering where he finds the time, the answer may be in having gone cold turkey on television and most forms of media (including social media) in late 2005, which has given Matthew not only the time to study many of the great authors, but also to publish a series of business books that explore the concept of 'true success' at thedreamenabler.com.au.


The 2017 WA Tax Intensive takes place on 9-10 November 2017 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.


You can find out more about Matthew’s session, and the sessions from Grahame Young FTI, Linda Tapiolas CTA, and Chris Wookey CTA, on our website.