How do I make a trust a shareholder?

Since a trust is not a legal entity it cannot directly own shares in a company. The trustee(s) of the trust must be listed as the owner of the shares for the benefit of the trust.

On our form you select the trustee(s) as the answer to the first question, ‘Who owns these shares?’. Then to indicate that the shares are being held for the benefit of the trust you then answer Yes to the question that asks “Are these shares held on behalf of another individual, organisation, trust etc?” You may then enter the name of the trust as the beneficial owner.

So for example the Jones Family Trust has Jones Holdings Pty Ltd as the trustee. Jones Holdings Pty Ltd is listed as the owner of the shares and by answering Yes to the last question ASIC is informed that Jones Holdings Pty Ltd is not holding the shares for its own benefit. By filling in the name of the beneficial owner we will list the owner of the shares on the share certificate as Jones Holdings Pty Ltd ATF the Jones Family Trust.

If you have joint trustees of a trust then all the trustees must be listed as joint owners of the shares, please contact to a support person for assistance.


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