We have probably all heard of (and some of us will have been impacted by) companies that are unable or unwilling to pay their debts and are placed into liquidation, often leaving creditors with little recourse other than to await the outcome of the liquidation and see if they will receive any or a partial […]

Earlier this week I was contacted by Duncan Hughes from the Australian Financial Review for comment on a topic that we are hearing a lot about in the media, namely “children accessing  the Bank of Mum & Dad” – the article published this morning is here. As lawyers we see this issue arising on a regular […]

Contesting a Will has a number of names: challenging a Will, estate litigation, making a claim under the Family Provision legislation or a Testators Family Maintenance Claim.  Some of these are the same, but within a Will challenge there are many possible types of challenge. The main type of challenge overwhelmingly is a Family Provision […]

2017 has been a very interesting year for defamation cases involving public figures. In June we saw Rebel Wilson succeed in a record breaking defamation case against a magazine publisher, Bauer Media, in Victoria over a series of articles that the Hollywood actress claim damaged her career by depicting her as a serial liar. In […]

This recent news article is a sad illustration of a person who as a Director of failed company says she was not aware of her duties as a director. Not only did she not know what her duties as a director were (and went on a massive spend up of company funds on her lifestyle) […]

An important but often overlooked consideration in estate planning are the tax implications that may arise. The decision of the Western Australian Court of Appeal in Caratti v Commissioner of State Revenue [2017] WASCA 128 delivered on 7 July 2017 makes it clear that if a Will is not worded correctly, then it can change […]

How is your business like a marriage? What happens when the business owners decide to part ways or if one business owner is forced to sell their portion of the business due to personal issues? Unfortunately, I see many business owners who have gone into business with a friend on a handshake deal and have […]

Statistics show that in the three-month period ending June 2016, bankruptcies were soaring in WA, with the number of bankruptcies on a national basis having increased 7% compared to the same time in June 2015. Many of these (according to the Australian Financial Security Authorities) have occurred in the mining and resources sector, but prominent […]

In a nutshell, with very limited exceptions, the answer to this question is no. When a person becomes bankrupt, then under the Bankruptcy Act: All of the property they have at the time they are declared bankrupt automatically vests in the Official Trustee in Bankruptcy. In other words, it becomes the property of the Official […]

If you enter into an agreement in writing, such as when you sign an offer and acceptance to purchase a house or you enter into a contract of employment, it is generally accepted that you have entered into a legally binding contract. I am regularly asked whether a verbal agreement or an unsigned contract can […]