Trustees: their role and changing them

1 What this means

Trustees look after the whenua and the trust’s finances, keep it compliant, and report to owners. Trustee appointments and changes are governed by the trust order and approved by the Court, and owners often have an important say in who is chosen.

2 What still needs checking

• The trust order and any trust rules
• Who the current trustees are, and what change is needed
• Minutes or records of any owners’ or beneficiaries’ meeting about the change
• Written consent from any proposed new trustees

3 What you can do next

Forms & templates for this

• Form 38 — Add, reduce, replace or remove trusteesAdds, reduces, replaces or removes trustees of a trust. Open Form 38 — Add, reduce, replace or remove trustees Download Form 38 — Add, reduce, replace or remove trustees
• Document B1 — Trustee consentA proposed trustee’s written consent to being appointed. Usually filed with trust applications such as Forms 36, 37 or 38. Open Document B1 — Trustee consent Download Document B1 — Trustee consent
• Form 32 — Application to call a meeting of ownersAsks the Court to call a meeting of assembled owners — a formal meeting where owners can make decisions about the land. Open Form 32 — Application to call a meeting of owners Download Form 32 — Application to call a meeting of owners
• Template 1 — Trustee ResponsibilitiesAn outline of trustee duties and responsibilities, for trustees and whānau to work from. Download Template 1 — Trustee Responsibilities
• Template 3 — Trustee Resolution RecordRecords a trustee decision (resolution) — what was decided, who voted and when. Download Template 3 — Trustee Resolution Record

Check the latest version on the Māori Land Court website before filing. Templates are starting points, not official Court forms.

Official sources

• Māori Land Court ↗