Legal publications & articles

For centuries, trust law in New Zealand has been taken from many sources, including the Trustee Act 1956, and court decisions. But 2021 will bring trust law reform, whereby trust law will be contained in one statute, the Trusts Act 2019 (“the Act”). The Act, which...

It is critical that you consider and plan for what happens after you pass away. A death in the family is a stressful event for the remaining family members, and if the deceased person does not have an effective and resilient estate plan in place, the...

It has been nearly eight years since I first published my book Keeping Farming in the Family - a guide to farm succession. I wrote the book for the farming community because there was a lack of information in the sector regarding this important topic...

Read Ian Blackman’s article published in the latest Dairy Exporter regarding the importance of starting your succession plan now and having the right structure Succession Planning – Trust or Company?

On 22 June, I spoke at the Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Growers competition at Mills Reef Winery. This was our first year sponsoring this event and I enjoyed our involvement of supporting another rural industry that is important to our economy and New Zealand. The...

Ian Blackman’s article in the Coast & Country regarding planning for the future...

Ian Blackman, along with eight other rural professionals from around the country, was part of a roundtable discussion on succession, instigated by MyMilk. Read the recent Dairy Exporter article on farm succession: The Elephant in the Room For more information go to the farm succession website and download the...

Ian Blackman recently spoke to farmers in Gore as part of Beef and Lamb New Zealand’s winter seminars. See the attached article on Radio New Zealand News http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/279199/farmers-advised-on-succession-planning...

Ian Blackman spoke at a recent Beef + Lamb NZ seminar on farm succession in Gore. Read this article published in the Rural News on 4 August regarding Farm Succession: http://www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/rural-news/rural-management/farm-succession-best-done-in-company...

An interesting article outlining the need to get the right advice...

Have you thought about what would happen to your farm business and family if you die or become incapacitated? Would the farming operation be sustainable without you? Would the business need to be sold to repay your debts? Would there be adequate income to support...

In December 2011, I wrote a book called “Keeping Farming in the Family – a guide to farm succession”. My motivation for committing a lot of time and effort to this venture was a compelling desire to help farming families understand how farmland in this...

A topic of continual interest and discussion is the use of the family trusts in New Zealand to undertake business transactions. Such trusts are commonly referred to as trading trusts. A likely outcome of the New Zealand Law Commission’s review of trusts are higher standards to...

Over a year has passed since Ian Blackman published his guide to farm succession “Keeping Farming in the Family”. In that time the book has proven to be an indispensable guide for farming families who are interested in creating a workable succession plan. This easy-to-read book...

BlackmanSpargo has developed a Trust Service which will focus exclusively on trust administration. It is important that trustees' manage the trust properly to ensure compliance with their duties as trustees. This includes meeting with the trustees on a regular basis to review the trust. For trusts with...

Ian speaks about the importance of trust management and administration and planning for the trust, the family and business. Please contact our Trust Service Manager on 07 343 1624 for further information.

Ian Blackman was invited to speak about farming succession planning on the radioshow "Nine to Noon" on Radio New Zealand. Please press play and move the dot slightly forward to listen to the recording...

You should know that the Government is presently undertaking a full-scale review of the law of trusts. Our firm is closely following the review and we anticipate several law changes. The anticipated law changes are likely to include regulations to ensure that trusts are better...

Elise Connor, legal executive and one of our experts on the day-to-day mechanics of trust administration, attended a seminar on trust administration presented by Dean Purdue. Dean, who is based in Gisborne, has been presenting on issues around trust administration and farm succession for many years...

Ian Blackman has completed the final draft of a book written for farmers on the complex and problematic topic of succession planning.

My experience of succession planning is almost exclusively limited to the rural sector, and particularly the dairy industry. In the rural sector, the term succession planning refers to the process by which farm assets transfer to the next generation...