What does it mean to be a shareholder?
A shareholder owns ‘shares’ in the Trust. A person becomes a shareholder by receiving or purchasing shares.
What rights do shareholders have?
Being a shareholder gives you certain rights, including:
- voting on decisions about Trust land
- electing the Trust’s Committee of Management
- attending Trust meetings
- receiving dividends (a share of any profits the Trust makes)
- inspecting the share register and being informed of changes
- requesting a certificate showing how many shares they hold.
Shares are considered personal property and can be transferred under certain conditions.
These conditions are outlined in the ‘What you can do with your shares’ section.
How to check if you or your family have shares
Each Trust keeps a share register, which records all shareholders details and their shares.
If you are a shareholder, you can request to inspect the register. This request must be in writing, and the Trust must provide access to you within 14 days.
If you are unsure whether you or your family hold shares, you can contact the Trust directly to ask.
What can you do with your shares?
You can transfer or sell your shares, but there aresome conditions on how to do this and who can receive your shares.
You can transfer or sell shares to:
- immediate family members (partner, brother/sister, children, grandchildren, aunts/uncles, cousins)
- another shareholder
- the Trust
- the Victorian or Commonwealth Governments.
When you have completed these documents, you should submit them to the Committee of Management.
The Committee of Management must approve the share transfer and update the share register before it is final.
The Trust must then notify all shareholders of the transfer within 28 days.
How to sell a share
The Trust’s auditor sets the price of the shares.
If you wish to sell a share, you must first make an offer to the Trust, or someone nominated by the Trust at the price set by the auditor. The offer must stay open for three months.
If the offer is not accepted after three months, you may sell the share to one of the following people:
- immediate family members (partner, brother/sister, children, grandchildren, aunts/uncles, cousins)
- another shareholder
- the Victorian or Commonwealth Governments.
If you are selling shares to one of the people listed above, the shares may not be sold for less than the price set by the auditor.
Shares that are sold or transferred to the Trust
Certain rules apply to what the Trust can do with shares which are sold or transferred to it:
- acquired shares must be held by the Trust on behalf of the other members until the end of the financial year. At the end of the financial year, the total number of shares is reduced by the number of the acquired shares
- the Trust can earn income from dividends on the acquired shares.
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