Professional Trustee Service

ZEDRA will need you to complete their appointment form along with their delegation of investment powers form.

The Settlor(s) will need to sign the documents.

The ZEDRA appointment and delegation forms can be digitally signed and submitted to Canada Life.

All documents relating to the appointment of ZEDRA as the professional trustee should be sent to Canada Life and we’ll arrange the service with ZEDRA on your behalf.

We’ll work with ZEDRA to establish the trustee service over the bond. Once established, we’ll appoint ZEDRA as the trustee and use ZEDRA as the principal contact for any bond related communications or activity.

You’ll become a direct customer of ZEDRA and they’ll be solely responsible for the provision of the trustee services.

Canada Life will not be a party to the relationship between you and ZEDRA or the provision of any of the services that are available through the relationship.

Once we’ve established the trustee service for you, ZEDRA will write to you to welcome you as a customer. They’ll include a copy of the Canada Life trust deed (if this is a new bond/trust application) and a letter of wishes for you to complete and return to them if you’ve not already done this.

ZEDRA will also register the trust with the Trust Registration Service and, if necessary, with the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts and provide the registration details to us.

There is a template within the ZEDRA appointment form that you can use to capture your wishes at application stage. You do not have to complete this section as part of the application process, ZEDRA will contact you following their appointment as trustee so that your wishes can be captured.

If you appoint ZEDRA as a professional trustee, then they must act as a sole trustee. ZEDRA can accommodate additional trustees in their bespoke trustee service.

The Settlor can take on the investment responsibilities for the bond on behalf of the trust (by delegation), if they are suitably experienced and meet the qualifying criteria of an experienced investor.

If the Settlor is not suitably experienced, then ZEDRA will retain the investment powers and charge an appropriate fee for this service. This fee will be in line with the ad hoc services hourly charge and would be expected to take approximately 1 hour per annum, in normal circumstances

Yes, a suitably authorised investment professional can be appointed. ZEDRA will delegate the investment powers to the settlor who can then sub-delegate their investment powers by nominating an investment professional.

We have negotiated a fixed fee tariff with ZEDRA based on the service(s) you need. The services available include the ongoing trustee service along with Trustee Registration Service and Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts registration. The tariff sheet can be found here.

If you’re applying for a new bond/trust application, we’ll deduct ZEDRA's set up fee from the payment we receive from you. The remaining value of the payment will be applied to the bond as premium.

If you have an existing bond/trust, once ZEDRA have been appointed as trustee to your bond, they’ll make a withdrawal from the bond to cover their initial fee.

Annual fee - ZEDRA will make a withdrawal from the bond on an annual basis to cover their fee.

It should be noted that any withdrawals from your bond will form part of your 5% annual tax deferral allowance

You should contact the Canada Life Office that issued your bond:

Isle of Man - focus@canadalifeint.com

Dublin - focus@canadalifeint.com

Onshore - Customer.Services@canadalife.co.uk

You can email ZEDRA at: ztrusts@zedra.com or call them on +44 1565 748 750

Our ican team can provide support before appointment of the Professional Trustee for Trust and Estate planning. After the Trust has been issued, Zedra will provide support and servicing.

You can remove ZEDRA as your professional trustee at any time. However, there may be a charge for their retirement. Further details can be found  here.

It should be noted that whenever a sole trustee is retired, a new appointment will need to be made so that there are always active trustees.