We are living through extraordinary circumstances.

It’s no surprise that many people are updating their existing Will or organising their first Will in order to protect their family.

The good news is that you can start this process today, from the comfort of your home, using our interactive online interview system.

We can assist with fast, efficient and expert preparation of your Will.

We can also assist you to appoint key decision-makers regarding your health and wellbeing.

Organising your Will from home!
It’s no surprise that many people have been organising their Will in recent weeks.  Growing concern over the Coronavirus has prompted a surge in people wishing to protect themselves and their family.
The good news is that you can now start this process today, from the comfort of your home, using our interactive online interview system.  
We remain open during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
We can assist with fast, efficient and expert preparation of your Will and the appointment of key decision-makers regarding your health and wellbeing.

The intention of this new series of articles is to try and improve your business by saving you time and hassle.
When you are negotiating the sale of a property or arranging the finance, some of your valuable time is wasted on unneccesary or avoidable issues.
This has a double impact: You don’t get paid for the time spent resolving the issue, AND, you miss out on other income-earning opportunities.
You can reduce the wasted time by simply avoiding these issues in the first place.
By including a useful special condition or removing an unnecessary special condition, there may be one less hassle to deal with!
Today’s article concerns the contract conditions regarding Finance Approval for buyers.

I’d like to make my job easier.
If you are buying a property this weekend, you can help.
How?
By not signing a Contract until you’ve had it reviewed.
If a bad clause can be removed, or a good clause can be included; then you will have less hassles to deal with during the buying process!
Buyers of Queensland property have enough issues to manage.  You don’t want problems which could have been avoided in the first place!

In November 2017, I wrote an article about a man who prepared his Will on a mobile phone.
I mentioned the potential impact that media coverage of these court cases can have on the decisions that people may make when deciding to do their own Will.
A few months later in early 2018, we became involved in a similar court case concerning a Will which was also recorded on a mobile phone.
Whilst we were successful, the case again illustrates that while informal Wills can be accepted by the Supreme Court, there is a far better alternative.

Land Tax is affecting increasing numbers of property owners.  This may not be important to you if you have never received a Land Tax bill.
However, when the combined value of your Queensland properties reaches the tax-free threshold, your first land tax bill won’t be the highlight of your day!
If you are interested in the potential impact of land tax on your financial security, these brief comments may help.

Why you should upgrade to a smarter Last Will & Testament I wanted to get in touch because we’ve been noticing that more and more Australian’s are considering Wills with Testamentary Trusts, and for good reason.
With a Testamentary Trust you could reduce the taxes on your estate by $155,000 or even more.
If you’ve recently become the owner of property, shares or other assets, you should consider upgrading to a more sophisticated will that properly protects your assets and reduces unnecessary tax.
To find out how, download our FREE guide

There are changes happening in 2019 that will directly impact you: good, bad & indifferent! You don’t need to be told that the digital evolution is changing the way business is conducted, and therefore the practice of law.
You do need to be told that the digital evolution is also changing the practice of international cyber-crime – and that people like you are their target.
How does this impact you?  Many processes and systems are changing in the way that we will communicate with each other.
I’m not going to tell you here what these changes are today – as criminals are monitoring websites, social media platforms, emails etc!
What I will explain today are the changes being made by government agencies that will impact how you and I engage with each other in the future!

Wills need care and attention.  Estate planning needs care and attention.   

And when this doesn’t happen, the consequences can be extremely challenging and unfortunate for those left behind. 

The ever increasing information on the internet only adds to the problems encountered by those left behind.  What if the information they are reading is incorrect, or not relevant to their circumstances, or is incomplete?

Today’s article isn’t directly about someone acting upon incorrect information sourced from the internet.  It is about the benefits of your Will being consistent with your management of your assets whilst you are alive.

It has been (and continues to be) an expensive & all-consuming exercise for these 3 adult children.
Last Friday (1 June 2018) the Supreme Court handed down a decision. But it’s only the beginning!

In 2018, we have all listened with great interest to people recounting their experiences with the banking industry.

Whilst many of the encounters have had a devastating effect on the people involved, few of their stories surprise the legal  profession – and no doubt many others.

At some future time, the Royal Commission will release a detailed report containing recommendations for a raft of changes.

When reading many of these harrowing stories, a consistent factor appeared to be that legal advice was either not obtained, or if obtained – was not acted upon. 

Today’s brief article is intended to give you an idea why a lawyer should often be the first person to speak with when contemplating many finance transactions. 

This article is not about someone buying their first home, or someone upgrading their home.  The emphasis of this article is very much on those people who are borrowing money secured against real estate assets to buy investments – such as real estate, shares or businesses.

It is common for homeowners to want to upgrade their home.

If you have been paying down your mortgage debt for several years and the value of your home has increased, you may want to buy a more expensive property in a better location.

If your family has increased with the addition of children, not only do you want to upgrade, but you need to upgrade to a larger home.

As some government charges for property purchases increase every financial year, this is a good time to look at the costs of selling and buying – from 1st of July 2018.

We will provide an update on the additional costs payable by foreign persons in a separate article.

From 1 July 2018, you will find it more difficult to sell your house, land or apartment to foreign buyers.  Foreign people buying residential real estate in Queensland now pay even more duty to the Office of State Revenue (OSR) for the Queensland Government.

We have previously written about Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty (AFAD) – the additional duty paid by foreign persons when buying residential real estate.  Similar laws exists throughout Australia.

AFAD commenced on 1 October 2016, when an additional 3% of the purchase price was added to the amount of duty payable by foreign buyers.

From 1 July 2018, AFAD increases to 7%.

AFAD is an additional amount, as the foreign buyer is also required to pay the standard transfer duty which is payable by Australian citizens and permanent residents.

The Office of State Revenue has provided guidance as to how New Zealand citizens buying property will be treated in relation to AFAD.

Trying to get useful information from the internet is about as easy as getting a glass of water from a fire hydrant!  If you haven’t heard that expression before, you have now.  I heard that at a law conference last year.

I also heard a discussion on the radio about the ever-increasing need for professional advice due to the avalanche of information which people will be unable to properly decipher and use.

Why write about this?

I’ve just read an article published by a reputable national company involved with the real estate industry – not a real estate agency.

The topic was transfer duty (or stamp duty) – and it contained significant factual errors.

It’s a concern because when information is shared by a well-known brand in the industry, it’s likely that most of their readers will rely upon it and develop their plans based on the information.

Many smaller organisations may re-publish or share the information with their own readers – further adding to the spread of mis-information.

Earlier this year, a court judgement was delivered in yet another case where there was a dispute between 2 people as to which Will of a deceased person (there were two) was their true Last Will and Testament.

The court proceedings were commenced by the deceased person’s niece.  The niece was initially successful – judgement was given in her favour.

However, that judgement was not the end of the matter!  The beneficiary who lost “her” inheritance appealed the decision.  Her appeal was successful!

It’s a sobering reminder that whilst the evidence and the law may be on your side – the journey may be longer and considerably more expensive than anticipated.

As usual, this article focuses on preventing problems from occurring – rather than expensive solutions.

You may be aware that the Office of State Revenue is the Queensland Government tax collector. The OSR informed us last week that they are in the process of sending text messages to home buyers who received a transfer duty concession when they purchased their home.

When you buy a residential property to live in as your home, you pay a lower rate of transfer duty compared with what investors would have to pay for the same property. For first home buyers up to $500,000, no duty is payable.

It is expected that the OSR will be reminding home buyers of their obligations where their circumstances change within the relevant time period.

Where you were not entitled to the full concession, you may have to pay the higher amount of transfer duty to the OSR. In addition to the transfer duty, failing to notify the OSR of a relevant change of circumstances is an offence – where the maximum penalty is $12,615.

That’s it for 2018

Christmas-New Year

Questions & Answers

Website Update: Land Tax

New Brisbane Address

Fine-tuning our information sharing

2019 should be interesting!