Deed of Gift and Loan Back

Gift to Your Family Trust. Lend It Back. Secure It Over the Home.

  • Deed of Gift recording the gift of funds to your family trust.
  • Loan Agreement from the trust back to you, with a charge over the property.
  • Caveat or mortgage lodged on the title to protect the trust.
  • Fixed fee of $1,400 + GST for the Deed of Gift and Loan Agreement.
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Family home secured under a gift and loan back arrangement with a family trust

How it works

Keep Living in the Home. Let the Trust Hold the Security.

A gift and loan back is a common way of protecting the equity in a family home. The home stays in your name and you keep living in it, but the value is tied up in a secured debt owed to your family trust.

Money is gifted to the trust under a Deed of Gift. The trust lends that money back under a Loan Agreement, and the loan is secured over the home by a charge, recorded on the title with a caveat or mortgage. If a later creditor comes knocking, the trust is already registered ahead of them.

Each step needs its own document, and each document has to line up with the others and with the trust deed. That is what we prepare.

Corporate Legal provides legal services only, not financial, taxation or credit advice. Whether this arrangement suits you, and how it is treated for tax, are matters for you and your financial adviser or accountant.
Been recommended this by your adviser? Let us document it properly

What we prepare

The Documents Behind the Arrangement

Three pieces that have to work together.

Deed of Gift

Records that the money is a genuine gift to the trustee of your family trust, with no expectation of repayment, so there is no doubt later about what the payment was.

Loan Agreement

The trust lends the funds back on clear terms: the limit, interest if any, repayment and default. It also grants the trust a charge over the home.

Caveat or Mortgage

The charge is recorded on the title so the trust is protected whenever the property is dealt with. We lodge the caveat or mortgage for you.

Tell us who is gifting, who is borrowing and which property, and we will take it from there.

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The process

From Instructions to Registered Security

01

Confirm the Arrangement

The parties, the trust, the amount and the property, and a title search to see what is already registered.

02

Check the Trust Deed

Confirm the trustee has the power to accept the gift and lend the money on the terms proposed.

03

Prepare the Documents

The Deed of Gift and Loan Agreement drafted to match each other, the trust deed and your adviser’s instructions.

04

Explain and Sign

We take you through what each document means before you sign, and arrange signing and witnessing.

05

Existing Lender

Where there is a home loan on the title, we attend to any consent or notice needed.

06

Lodge on Title

The caveat or mortgage is lodged and we confirm to you once it is recorded.

Pricing

Deed of Gift and Loan Agreement

$1,400 + GST fixed fee. Covers both documents, the trust deed check, our explanation of the documents and arranging signing.

Caveat or Mortgage

Lodging the trust’s security on the title is a separate fixed fee, set out on our pricing page. Disbursements such as title searches and lodgement fees are charged at cost.

Every published fee is on one page.

See Our Pricing
Related Services

A gift and loan back usually sits alongside a family trust and security over property. We handle those too.

Explore: Caveats · Loans, Security & Guarantees · Company, Trust & Structuring · Pricing

Gift and Loan Back FAQs

What is a gift and loan back?
It is a way of holding the value in your home in a family trust while you keep living in it. Money is gifted to the trust under a Deed of Gift. The trust then lends that money back under a loan agreement, and takes security over the home. The debt owed to the trust sits ahead of later unsecured creditors, which is the point of the arrangement.
Why does the trust need security over the property?
Without security the trust is only an unsecured creditor, ranking alongside everyone else. The loan agreement grants the trust a charge over the home, and a caveat or registered mortgage records that interest on the title so it cannot be ignored when the property is dealt with.
Is a caveat enough, or should the trust take a mortgage?
A caveat protects the trust by stopping dealings on the title without notice to it. A registered mortgage goes further and gives the trust a direct power of sale if the loan is not repaid. Which one suits depends on the property, any existing lender and what the arrangement needs to achieve, and we talk that through with you before anything is lodged.
I already have a home loan. Does my bank need to know?
Often, yes. Many home loan mortgages restrict further dealings on the title, including a second mortgage and sometimes a caveat. We check the title and your existing mortgage and tell you what consent or notice is needed before the trust takes its security.
Does this make my home untouchable?
No arrangement does that. A gift can be set aside in some circumstances, particularly where it was made to defeat creditors or in the period leading up to a bankruptcy, and a court dealing with a relationship breakdown can look at assets held in a family trust. The arrangement works best when it is put in place early, for genuine reasons, and documented properly from the start.
Who decides whether this is right for me?
You do, with your financial adviser and accountant, who look at the tax, cash flow and suitability side. We prepare the legal documents to give effect to the arrangement, explain what they mean and work with your advisers on the detail.
How much does it cost?
Our fixed fee is $1,400 + GST for the Deed of Gift and the Loan Agreement. Lodging a caveat or mortgage over the property is a separate fixed fee, set out on our pricing page. Disbursements such as title searches and lodgement fees are charged at cost.

Have a question about your arrangement?

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Gift It. Lend It Back. Secure It.

A gift and loan back only protects you if every document is in place and the security is on the title. Corporate Legal prepares the Deed of Gift and Loan Agreement at a fixed fee and lodges the security for you.

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