I would suggest you steer clear of Mortgage Originators. Best to stick with major banks I think.

there isn't really anything simple you can do, especially for existing assets.

You could set up another trust and borrow money from the trust securrin the house with a second mortgage.But you will have the cash and it will be an asset which will be at risk if you go down. Would be expensive tax wise too,

You could set up a trust and let it buy property using the house as security. But this may not be completely safe as the trust is obtaining an advantage without any benefit.

There are also options – you could sell an option to your trust and have the trust lodge a caveat over your house. This should give some priority to the trust if things go bad.

A life tenancy may be an idea too. But these are only valid for the life of the tenant. A trustee in bankruptcy may be very happy if the life tenant were to suddenly die during your period of bankruptcy.

The only completely safe option is to sell the house and spend the money i think.

If it is a project you are worried about then try to use a company to do it to limit liablity. Do every thing legal, take out insurance and take some protective measures and you should be fine.

In NSW the law society has recommended that solicitors suggest to the purchasers that they lodge a caveat after exchange because of a recent case called Black v Garnot. In this case a third party lodged a writ over the property relating to some sort of debt. This writ was lodged after the solicitor did the final title search in the morning, but before settlement. This was in a space of about 2 hours.

Because of the writ the lodging party was able to prevent the title being transferred. The purchaser settled, but could not register the transfer. It went to court and it was found that the lodging party held a higher priority to the purchaser. Had the purchaser registered their interest with a caveat then they would have had a higher priority and would have been able to keep the property and to register the transfer.

So if your solicitor did not recommend a caveat and something like this happened then they could be in trouble.

Here it is
http://www.lawbooks.com.au/book/drafting-trusts-and-will-trusts-in-australia.do

its only $159 – so why not buy 2 copies.

Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Australia

Author:   Flynn ,  James Kessler
Publisher:   Law Book Co of Australasia
Edition:   1
ISBN:  

9780455225494

Pages:   436
Publication Date:   26 June 2008
Format:   Paperback

That sounds about right.

But to be able to carry forward the losses the trustee would need to make a family trust election and this has an affect of reducing the beneficiaries to close family members only.

Your wife would probably be a beneficiary of many trusts – unknown to herself perhaps. Trusts are worded widely to catch as many people as beneficiaries as possible. So one of your family members, even distant family members, may be able to save to tax.

If one of these trustees could distribute to her that is possibly $16,000 that would go to someone else at a higher tax rate which could then become tax free. 30% of $16,000 is about $3,400 – which may be the savings.

You can only claim your own deductions. Since you don't own her half you cannot claim for expenses related to this. If she ends up with a loss she can carry forward until next year.

But this is a shame as an individual can earn up to $16,000 pa and not pay tax. Do you have any family members with discretionary trusts who could divert some income over rather than waste it?

Hi

You can’t add beneficiaries without causing a resettlement. This will mean a new trust being formed with cgt and stamp duty again.

By long term benefits I mean it will only be negative short term so the tax advantaged will soon come. Plus cgt and other benefits.

Other benefits include asset protection and estate planning. Trust assets do not form part of your estate at death

An adult can earn up to $16,000 pa and pay no tax. This is great for those with one family member not working.

Beneficiaries of a trust cannot be changed without a resettlement and huge tax costs, but you will find that the class of beneficiaries is very wide so you will not need to change anything.

Also think of the long term benefits.

Yes it can. But there are complex rules involved.