Areas of Practice
Residential Conveyancing
An important legal service to most clients is the buying and selling of residential real estate being their homes, or investments, and in Australia, the State Governments initiated a universal system of property transfers and property dealings through Pexa, a computer based system, which has operated well, and the system ties in with other Government Departments, for example, the State Revenue Offices at a State Level, and the Australian Taxation Office on a Federal Level. Conveyancing can now be done entirely from the individual offices of the solicitors and conveyancers, banks and other lenders (including settlements). There is no need for the participants to leave their office. This efficiency is now a bedrock to the Australian real estate market and all other property dealings are also done within the Pexa system.
Stephen understands this process well and has been doing residential conveyancing for many years. If you have a property to sell, you will need a full Contract to be given to the Estate Agent before the property is marketed, and it must have prescribed documents from the Land Registry and other bodies attached to the Contract, so purchasers can see the legal and physical status of the property before they make an offer to buy.
If you are looking to buy, then you will want to have that Contract held by the Estate Agent vetted and receive legal advice on it before you proceed further, and perhaps to make an offer. There are other considerations apart from the Contract, relating to the quality of the property, which can be determined by a Strata Report or Pest and Building Reports. Additionally, there are financing issues, whether to enter a Contract with a Cooling Off period or not, and the list goes on.
So, contact Stephen if you are interested in buying or selling residential property. You will benefit from his years of experience, he is just a phone call or email away.
Buying and selling commercial real estate is also done within Pexa, and registering commercial leases are regular dealings being registered.
The ownership of commercial real property is similar in many respects to residential conveyancing, essentially, that the title to the property is established by a computer printout of the Register of landholdings, and office or retail space in the Cities are generally part of large strata schemes, and outside the city at manufacturing or distribution locations, the blocks are often freehold title as houses are.
But the similarities for the main part finish there. Because of local Council zoning of land uses, businesses are generally in defined areas, and businesses often lease the land for their operations rather than buy the property. Commercial Leasing in New South Wales generally covers two types, either a Retail Lease which has consumer protections in the legislation or normal Commercial Leases which are predominantly used for Office or Industrial space, without those specific consumer protections, on the assumption that the Lessees of Office and Industrial space don’t need them.
In any case, you will benefit from Stephen’s years of experience. He is just a phone call or email away.
Commercial Property and Commercial Leasing
Family Law Settlements, Child Custody and Child Support
A Family breakup is a stressful time for all concerned, so one of the objectives when resolving a family breakup is to reduce that stress if at all possible. The issues have to be identified as early as possible in the process, and the Court has specific steps and requirements in place to achieve this in most cases. Each party is required to disclose relevant documents, their financial resources and their liabilities, and to state clearly what they assert their case to be, and to respond to the other parties’ documents and stated position.
But this pathway may be disrupted if there are young children involved and their needs are significant at the time of a family breakdown. Their normal demands can become overwhelmed with the reality of the family breaking up. There are just so many considerations. The challenge is to also minimize the disruption and stress and allow them to continue their development as unaffected as possible.
How can this be done? Again the Court has procedures aimed to insulate the children from the process of their parents negotiating the family settlement that needs to be put in place. To an extent, the parties have to trust the system. A successful Family Settlement will resolve the financial and children issues and set up procedures which will steady the ship and allow the personalities of the parties to heal and interact positively. That’s the objective.
You will benefit from Stephen’s sensible approach to family law matters. On a par with the importance of a loving relationship amongst family members, is the requirement for the children to get a good education. There is no other way of saying it. In most cases, as a child grows and matures, it will be the child’s education that determines so many outcomes for the child. The child needs a quiet, safe space at home to study, do their homework, and prepare for the next day’s schooling. The parents should be focused on making those arrangements. Without that quiet safe space the child is handicapped. Other children of their age or in their class have that quiet safe space, and will probably perform better at school, get better marks and have better choices. Stephen is a phone call or email away. Give him a call.
Wills and Estates
Debt Recovery
Immigration
It is generally known that making a Will is a preferred way of distributing one’s possessions upon death than leaving the distribution to the laws of intestacy. With a Will, the Executor has de facto control over the Estate (subject to that control later being formalized by the Court with a grant of probate), right from the date of death which provides for a more efficient administration of the deceased’s Estate. Additionally, the Will maker is able to exactly state how the Estate will be distributed and to whom, rather than the Estate being distributed according to a statutory formula which may not be in accordance with the testator’s wishes.
Probate is the order of the Court that the Will is valid and appoints the Executor to manage the Estate according to the terms of the Will. Letters of Administration is another term used to describe the Court’s order appointing an Administrator on intestacy or in other circumstances not amounting to the normal probate orders.
Generally an Executor or Administrator employs a solicitor to apply for the grant of Probate or Letters of Administration and depending on the particular Estate, the process can be complicated, and there may be tax issues at the start and / or the end of the process, and even later when a beneficiary sells property which he or she has inherited.
Stephen can prepare a Will for you, whether it is a short simple Will or one that is more involved, and he can act on the Executor’s behalf to apply for Probate or Letters of Administration if a friend or relative has passed on. It is important that these applications to the Court are prepared thoughtfully, to minimize any delays.
Another person or entity may come to owe you money in a number of different ways, and in varying amounts. Different Courts and Tribunals have different jurisdictions where the different types of proceedings can be initiated and for different sums of money. For example, the Small Claims Court is for claims considered small, the District Court is for larger Claims and the State Supreme Court has an unlimited jurisdiction.
Federal Proceedings are generally initiated in a Federal Court, and the High Court is the national final Appeal Court, and has original jurisdiction on important constitutional issues. Tribunals are generally specialized forums in the nature of a Court which administer a specialized jurisdiction and sometimes because of this specialty are less formal than a Court. Nevertheless, the Tribunal commences proceedings through a process similar to a Court, hears evidence, and makes findings and makes orders.
There are basically 3 major steps in the process of recovering money from another on a contested basis:
Formulate the claim, and collect evidence to prove the claim.
Start the proceedings and go through the Court process.
If successful, receive the Court’s orders, enforce the judgment and collect your money.
Sounds easy doesn’t it. Like going to the ATM? Not quite. On a contested basis means that there are two sides to the story. Your opponent will prepare a case in reply. In NSW, the loser in civil litigation may be ordered to pay the legal costs of the winning party. And another consideration is whether your opponent has the money to pay you, if you win the case.
So, if a person or entity owes you money, speak to Stephen to see if you have a good case, and it is worth pursuing both in terms of getting a positive decision from the Judge, and being able to recover the money from the debtor.
Globalization is a popular term and is used in many different contexts, but it unmistakably means international trade, and the movement of people around the world. The local effect is that each country has a system of authorizing persons from another country to enter the country (Australia for example) to do their business, or as tourists or students or as migrants for example.
This system obviously varies in each country and the regulations are designed to favour the persons who will add value to the country. Businesses and investment add value, tourists add value, as do students and migrants.
Australia has an active and robust immigration system, and residency in Australia is highly sought after. Australia has a good climate, plenty of job and study opportunities, housing, transportation, plentiful and affordable food, and a good place to raise a family.
However, regulations being regulations, occasionally may operate in an unfair way. When they do, there is often a review or appeals process which can be used to have a second look at the circumstances and see whether the unfairness can be resolved. If you find yourself in that situation, give Stephen a call. He will be able to give advice, and may be able to assist in framing the review or appeal to the Immigration Department or a Court / Tribunal.