Māori Land Management

Māori land management involves balancing cultural values, legal obligations, and practical needs. We assist clients with establishing and advising Māori land trusts and incorporations, developing governance structures, and ensuring compliance with trust deeds and statutory requirements. Our lawyers provide guidance on land use planning, leasing, joint ventures, and resource consent applications, helping you unlock the potential of your whenua while safeguarding its cultural significance.

Māori Land trusts play a vital role in the management and utilisation of whenua Māori.  There are many different trusts that can be set up to manage whenua Māori for landowners or interests in whenua Māori.  Setting up a land based trust such as an Ahu Whenua Trust or Whenua Toopu Trust involves kōrero with the other landowners, support to create the trust, appointment of trustees and decisions on the rules of the Trust.  An application to the Māori Land Court will also be required.

A whānau trust is a good way to set up a trust to manage your land interests or shares a whānau trust.  Like land based trusts you will also need to kōrero with your whānau and reach agreement to place shares into a whānau trust, elect trustees and make decisions on the rules for the trust.  An application to the Māori Land Court will also be required.

A Māori Reservation trust can also be established over areas of significance such as Marae or urupā.  Holding a meeting of owners, electing trustees and creating a Marae Charter to govern the Reservation will also be required along with an application to the Māori land Court.

Once a trust is set up there are number of governance and reporting obligations for trustees to ensure they are acting in the best interests of landowners.  We can assist with providing trustee training, reviewing trust orders and Marae Charters and advising trust on their legal duties.

Our experienced Whenua Māori lawyers can assist with:

• Setting up land based trusts such as Ahu Whenua and Whenua Toopu Trusts and Māori Reservations
• Setting up land interest based trusts such as Kaitiaki Trust and Whānau Trusts
• Advice in relation to Trust and Māori Incorporation governance
• Advice in relation to applications to review trusts or enforce the obligations of a Trust
• Representation and advice in relation to Māori land Trust or Māori Incorporation litigation