Our Legal Practice Director presented to the Institute of Public Accountants this week on the Queensland Building and Construction industry. What do you talk to accountants about? dates and numbers, of course. Bruce explained the current legislation that applies and...

An all too often scenario sees a couple owning a house as joint tenants when bankruptcy confronts one of them. The law is that a bankrupt's share in the house vests with the trustee in bankruptcy. In basic terms the bankrupt's share in the house no longer belongs to...

Relax. Subcontractors can still become secured creditors and protect their hard earned. The Subcontractor Charges Act can now be found in chapter 4 of the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld) (“BIFA”). It is more or less the same process as...

When someone wants to make a civil claim against someone the question of interest always arises. You cannot just pick your own rate of interest and add it to the claim. Essentially, you need a contract or law that gives you a reference point for claiming interest. 1....

If you’re in the business of taking security against real property, you’ll be all too familiar with the process of registering mortgages or lodging caveats on the basis of a charging clause or an unregistered mortgage. You’ll probably also be aware that, all things...

Options: From the date you receive the statutory demand you have 21 days to respond to it by: a. Paying the debt; b. Reaching some resolution with the creditor; or c. Bringing an application to set aside the statutory demand. Preliminary steps: 1. You should firstly...

It’s commonplace in business to find yourself experiencing cash flow problems or dealing with debtors who are. Perhaps the tardiness of your debtors is preventing you from paying your own creditors on time? Whether you are the debtor or the creditor in scenario will...

If you have a company you must also have a Registered Office. This is a physical address that is listed with ASIC that anyone who needs to serve documents on the company can rely upon. It cannot be a Post Office Box- which can immediately cause trouble for some. It is...

  The list comes straight out of ASIC v Plymin, Elliott & Harrison [2003] 21 ACLC 700 and has been quoted a further 29 times in subsequent cases and is the checklist that almost every liquidator goes off. 1. Continuing losses. 2. Liquidity ratios below 1. 3. Overdue...

Part and parcel of being advisers in insolvency matters is dealing with unpaid accountants. It is surprising the number of accountants who do not have properly formed engagement documents. Without a proper letter of engagement the accountant can be left as another...

Where a voluntary administrator is appointed after  a winding up application is filed and the matter is contested the Court will often be faced with a decision as to let the incumbent administrator continue as liquidator or appoint the creditor's preferred choice....

Time for your business to find a safe harbour? Get Solid Advice from real experts

Looking for a complimentary presentation for in-house education or a client event? We presently have  a selection of presentations ready to go. Guiding the Director If you can’t generate  $50,000 in fees of the back of this presentation- you must not have been there!...

The Top 5 Appointees in a number of categories are here.

A licensee may not be able to utilise the shelter of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 to restructure their affairs or have a new beginning in the way that others might. The reason for this is that the state government imposes heavy burdens on builders who suffer an insolvency...

In R v Scott (1856) Dears & Bell 47; 169 ER 909 the Court of Criminal Appeal resolved what might be seen from the earlier cases to be a vacillation in judicial approach. In that case, Scott, a bankrupt, was tried and convicted of mutilating one of his trade books. He...

The Federal government has introduced a new set of laws to prevent directors from being prosecuted for insolvent trading so long as the 'safe harbour' provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) are complied with. Here is a link to the sections starting at s588GA...

Deregistering an inactive or dormant company is a relatively simple and inexpensive exercise. Before deregistering a company it is very important to take the time to consider whether the company truly qualifies for deregistration. The ASIC form requires you to make...

So you have registered your security interest on the PPSR. Maybe you have even registered a PMSI. What happens if a financier serves you with a s64 Notice? The rules surrounding s 64 are complicated (surprise!) However, as a basic proposition provided the financier...

Under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (PPSA) you may dispute a registration made over your property by another party if you believe the property described in the registration does not secure a debt or obligation owed by you to that party. When you...

Prevention is better than cure- your terms and conditions of trade are the cornerstone of all sales. Ignore them at your peril. To most people the thought of spending money for the preparation of an effective terms of trade document or credit application is not...

Be it a customer, a business partner or a family member - being owed money can be stressful. Too often the money was supposed to be only out for a short time and nobody thought to do up a loan agreement. Calling in the debt and maintaining relations in these...

It has been a busy first half to 2018. Will the second half of the year be even busier? The scorecard is here.

If you or your clients are connected with labour hire activities in Queensland then you have only one day left to apply for a licence. From the 16th June if you use labour hire services you will need to be in the habit of checking to see if the provider is licensed to...

Because we act in a number of shareholder disputes we also get our fair share of instructions to write shareholder agreements. One of the most critical parts of any shareholder agreement is the method for valuing a partner's share when they exit. What suits? 1. A...

Once a Creditor's Statutory Demand (also known as a s459E Notice or a Form 509H) has expired- that is, 21 days have passed, there are decisions for both parties to make. For creditors an expired 459E Notice is evidence of insolvency and for 3 months after expiration...

Sourced from the ASIC notice services kindly supplied by a number of accounting firms we have collated the information in a table format. We have several years of info so might do a comparative in the future. The chart...

From 16 April 2018 if you are a labour hire provider in Queensland you will have to comply. Even interstate or overseas organisations that provide labour hire services in Queensland will need to be licensed if they operate in Queensland. You have until 15 June 2018 to...

PPSR-have you checked?  Do you have all the relevant documents? You need the security agreement and the documents evidencing the original transaction (tax invoice, hire purchase agreement, et cetera). Does the grantor actually have an interest in the collateral.  Do...