The budget will shake up the structures used by the wealthy. Trusts could be on the way out, but companies and superannuation retain their benefits.

Historically used for everything from protecting knights to shielding women barred from property ownership, the discretionary trust now faces its ultimate test.

Advisers warn that Labor’s three-year rollover window on trusts is an Orwellian trap designed to strip investors of the main reason to have one: asset protection.

The budget will shake up the structures used by the wealthy. Trusts could be on the way out, but companies and superannuation retain their benefits.