The common myth about losing a self-managed super fund’s trust deed is that you just need to run up a new deed that refers to the lost one and have it signed by the trustee and voilà – lost deed issue solved. A recent Victorian Supreme Court decision makes it clear that there’s a bit more to it than that.

Ellasil’s case involved an application by the trustee of an SMSF who couldn’t locate the original deed. The case provides some useful guidance for those in this situation.