Messy Dispute- Thinking Outside the Box
My clients bought a block of land with a friend’s company, then went guarantors on a another loan to the company, and ended up owing the bank $1 million after the friend died a bankrupt and his company went broke and was facing deregistration. Well, after: … the saga finally came to an end last […]
Enduring Power of Attorney
Enduring Powers of Attorney: We only ever allow our clients to execute the first type, because the other defeats the purpose of having an EPA, given that the same evidence is needed if you need to go to the SAT for an administration order if your loved one does not have an EPA. We have […]
Trade Mark Dispute
We recently helped a client with a trademark application, consisting of 3 words. An aggressive US company which has a few trademarks related to one of those works has lodged an objection, claiming that our clients trade mark is deceptively similar, is likely to deceive or cause confusion, and that our client was deliberately seeking […]
Trust Deeds
Do you have your business held in Family Trust or Discretionary Trust? The ATO and most trust deeds, require a resolution distributing the income from the trust to its various beneficiaries to be made. If the resolutions are not passed, they cannot be made and back-dated. That amounts to fraud. Some deed have a default […]
Evil Step-Mother Takes Inheritance
A sad story this week. My client’s father died a month ago. My client understands that her father’s intention was that he would leave everything to his second wife, my client’s step-mother, including superannuation and the proceeds of a life insurance policy, but that the survivor would leave everything to his 3 children, 2 from […]
Technical Building Disputes
I received instructions to chase a supplier for damages relating to over $150k worth of interlocking tiles which are unfit for purpose and not of merchantable quality because the majority have cupped badly at the edges. The expert report states that the likely cause is the difference in tensile strength between the top surface and […]
Con-artist Scam
I’ve been trying to get back money for a client who was convinced to part with money on an offer to purchase shares which was too good to be true. The con-artist is now bankrupt, so he is not worth chasing. However, a substantial part of the money was deposited into a lawyer’s trust account, […]
Granny Flat Dispute
I am helping a client who paid most of the cost of the construction of a granny flat at his daughter and son-in-law’s house, using his $50k life’s savings. He also did a lot of the cooking, cleaning, washing, folding, ironing, lawn-mowing and taxiing of children. On sale, the plan was to buy 2 unit, […]
IT Legal Issues
I helped revise an old Software Integration Agreement and an incorporated Software Licence Agreement so that it applied to the new way in which the software was being provided: in the cloud, with the licence changing to a monthly subscription model. This is where my computer science degree comes in handy. For help with legal […]
Setting up a Charity
I have just helped set up a charitable Foundation. It is to help under-privileged kids participate in tennis, which can be a very expensive sport to get into. Last week it obtained Deductible Gift Recipient status in Category 1, the best category to be in. This means the all donations made to the Foundation are […]