Recap By way of refresher from our article earlier this year: new whistleblower legislation commenced on 1 July 2019 it modified laws relating to corporations, the banking industry and insurance companies in order to: provide significantly stronger protections to whistleblowers who make disclosures about matters such as corporate misconduct (e.g. fraud), criminal activity, or any […]
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What is it? Purchasing “off-the plan” involves buying an apartment, house or townhouse prior to the completion of construction. This can be advantageous if you want to save up money for the purchase since there is often a long gap between the development and completion of construction. This is particularly attractive to first-home buyers. But, […]
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By Jeff Brown, a Principal of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group   Legislation introduced to Federal Parliament prior to the 2019 election would have seen the introduction of a 12 month term for bankruptcy, replacing the current three year term.   The move prompted some interesting debate, and a fair degree of […]
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What are the different funds? The type of funds vary. The main types of superannuation funds include: Accumulation funds; Self-managed funds; Defined benefit funds. Accumulation funds are the most common funds we deal with in property settlements. Essentially, it involves your employer making contributions to your superannuation in addition to you salary. The superannuation benefit […]
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If you are living and conducting a business outside of Australia, you may still be liable to pay tax to the Australian Government if you are considered to be a “resident” for tax purposes. Who is a Resident? Essentially a “resident of Australia” or “resident” for the purposes of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 […]
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From 16 November 2019, current international students, workers and other temporary visa holders can apply for two new skilled regional visas which may allow them to: live and work in regional Australia for up to 5 years apply for a permanent visa without a second nomination stage through the proposed subclass 191 visa which will […]
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In a recent article we outlined legal issues regarding capacity to make a Will. A different but related question that is arising more frequently is whether a deceased person who has legal capacity has been coerced into changing his or her Will late in life. Some older people, whilst still having legal capacity, find it […]
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What has changed? As and from 1 October 2019, employers will now be able to reject jobseekers if they have a criminal record “relevant to the job” which they have applied for. Previously, employers were required to show that the jobseeker’s criminal record meant that they could not perform the inherent requirements of the position. […]
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A director or shareholder of a company is often asked to provide a personal guarantee of a company’s obligations. Any person who is considering giving a personal guarantee must be aware of the risks and pitfalls of doing so. Types An agreement based personal guarantee is usually either: set out in a separate document (eg, […]
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  In one of our recent matters, a client instructed us to bring winding up proceedings against four companies with the same sole director. The total debt across the four companies was over $300,000.00. Whilst there were four applications before the Court, one common issue was whether the companies had been properly served with the statutory […]
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By Hayley Hitch, an Associate of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group. Have you ever wondered about the difference between a subpoena and a notice to produce? These can be confusing and sometimes cause delays in proceedings or result in significant additional legal costs. Both a subpoena and a notice to […]
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By Jeffrey Brown, a Principal of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group   The latest statistics published by the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) confirms what I am seeing in the business world – that registering on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) has become an accepted part of trading and credit in […]
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By Chloe Howard,  a Solicitor of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group Whilst there are many options for enforcing a judgment debt, in the right matter a Garnishee Order can be an extremely effective debt recovery tool. They are inexpensive to issue and all you need is the debtor’s name to […]
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By Jeffrey Brown, a Principal of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group Many of you will have seen recent publicity concerning a crackdown by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and other Government agencies on Illegal Phoenix Activity. A “phoenix” company is created when an insolvent company is wound up and, immediately before the […]
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By Chloe Howard, a Solicitor of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group They say a person who represents himself has a fool for a client. However if the person is lawyer, at least the ‘fool’ could recover his or her own professional costs in debt recovery proceedings. Or at least that […]
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Can Employees Express their Political Views through Social Media? The High Court has recently struck down a ruling that a Federal Government department unjustifiably trespassed on the implied constitutional rights of an employee when her employment was terminated over making political tweets. In essence: the employee brought an unlawful termination claim after her employment had […]
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An independent children’s lawyer, also known as an ICL, is a Court-appointed lawyer who acts independently to represent the child’s interests in family law proceedings regarding child custody laws. The child, an organization concerned with the welfare of the child or any other person may apply for an ICL to be appointed. The Court may […]
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If you run a business that supplies goods to a “consumer” within the meaning of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and you also provide an express warranty against defects in respect of those goods, then you will be aware that the ACL imposes mandatory wording that must accompany that warranty. New Requirements Changes to the […]
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Relationship breakdown can often be a difficult and turbulent time for your children. To navigate this time, some families seek parenting orders from the Court to determine where the children should live and when they can see the other parent. But what do child custody laws say if your child does not want to see […]
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The realm of social media liability has been a relatively untouched legal subject up until a recent landmark case in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The case of Voller v Nationwide News Pty Ltd; Voller v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd; Voller v Australian News Channel Pty Ltd [2019] NSWSC 766 held that […]
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