How we all became the Brady Bunch! Navigating tax, super and structuring issues for blended families presentation

Published on 21 Jul 22

Relationships can cause friction and issues that call for practical resolutions to enable a family business to thrive. The delicate balancing act is often even more fragile for clients who re-partner and create blended families. Practitioners need to be attuned to possible issues and provide practical solutions to handle clients’ second or third marriages, especially when there are children from different relationships. We need to consider numerous factors, such as:

• Who has control of family wealth through their roles as directors, shareholders, trustees, appointors, beneficiaries, and SMSF members?
• Is there an imbalance of power or sibling rivalry tied up with the business or extraneous to it?
• Who works in the business? Are they being appropriately compensated or are they pumping their earnings back into the business? Are some family members slogging it out in the business whilst others are simply along for a ‘free ride’?
• What issues can arise when a client puts everything into their business, leaving no assets that can be dealt with separately?
• What issues can arise in relation to trust distributions?

Leanne shares her wealth of experience to provide insight for practitioners to apply in helping our own clients navigate the minefield and accommodate various family members in a balanced and equitable manner. This practical session will focus on how to handle blended family matters, as demonstrated through the use of real-life examples to highlight the issues and provide potential solutions.

Author profile

Leanne Connor CTA

Leanne Connor, CTA, is a Director of WGC Business Advisors, a chartered accountancy firm specialising in taxation and strategic advice to SMEs and high net worth individuals. Leanne has over 30 years experience providing accounting, business advisory, strategic superannuation and taxation services. Leanne’s areas of expertise include tax and superannuation planning, business restructuring and understanding the fundamental issues relating to SMSFs, family trusts and private companies. Leanne is a Director and National Council member of The Tax Institute and past chair of its Victorian State Council & PD Committee. She is a regular presenter for The Tax Institute and winner of the 2020 SME Tax Adviser of the Year Award. - Current at 29 January 2026

More by Leanne Connor

• Member profile: Leanne Connor - 01-October-2019
• Small business concessions – Div 152 and changes on the sale of a share or unit paper - 28-March-2019
• Plenary 4: Making sense of the menu of small business CGT concessions paper - 15-November-2018
• TBAR for SMSF’s paper - 22-May-2018

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