ByLawyers News and Updates

FED – Family Law – Child support agreements

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In line with the recent amendment to the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, By Lawyers have amended the child support agreements, binding and limited, in our Family Law – Children Guide, as well as the payee and payer letters of advice that accompany the binding child support agreement. These precedents are found in the Settling it Early section within the Child Support folder.

The changes concern the suspension of child support agreements when the payee is not an eligible carer and there are no arrangements in the agreement for change of care. We have consequently added a clause to each agreement that states:

In accordance with section 86(1)(2)(a) of the Act, the terms of this agreement are capable of being suspended for up 26 weeks if the payee ceases to be an eligible carer of the child for a period of 28 days or more.

The suspension period in child support agreements can be reduced to less than 26 weeks, however pursuant to the legislation, 26 weeks is the maximum suspension period.

Pursuant to the the Act, the eligible carer will cease to be eligible if they have less than 35% of time with the child. Therefore, if the liable parent has more than 65% of time with the child, this will mean the payee is no longer an eligible carer. In this case the agreement will be suspended and then possibly cease to operate in respect of that particular child pursuant to s 86(1)(2)(a). An optional clause is available that allows the parties to set their own limit that triggers termination:

This agreement will cease to operate in relation to each child … if the care arrangements for the child changes resulting in the payer having more than [insert limit]% care.

The accompanying advice letters discuss the issue and provide advice in addressing s 86.

This is a highly sensitive area for many clients. The By Lawyers guide assists practitioners to operate with confidence.

Combustible cladding ban – Home building warranties

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From 15 August 2018, certain combustible cladding, being any cladding with a core comprised of more than 30% polyethylene, is banned in NSW, with limited exceptions. The state-wide prohibition affects any form of the combustible building material used in external cladding, external walls, external insulation, facades or rendered finishes for certain multi-storey residential and commercial premises. The ban is retrospective and applies to buildings built before 15 August 2018.

The use of such cladding is considered a major defect for the purposes of the home building statutory warranties. This means that owners have a period of up to six years in which legal proceedings can be commence against the builder. There is another six months added to the warranty period if the defect only becomes apparent after five and a half years.

The strata defects bond scheme will continue to operate normally. The introduction of the ban does not stop an owners’ corporation from pursuing a claim under the strata defects bond scheme. An owners’ corporation can use all or part of the bond to pay for the rectification of any defective building work that is identified in a final inspection report, including the use of a banned building product.

The Department of Planning and Environment has released a draft Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Identification of Buildings with Combustible Cladding) Regulation 2017 that will require owners of buildings with combustible external wall cladding to register the building with the government and undertake a fire safety assessment within set deadlines.

The By Lawyers Sale and Purchase commentary and our Reference Guide 1001 Conveyancing Answers (NSW) has been updated to reflect these changes.

Providing feedback to By Lawyers

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At By Lawyers we love to receive feedback from our subscribers. We are available via email: askus@bylawyers.com.au.

We always respond promptly to issues or suggestions about our guides and precedents.

For LEAP users there are two additional ways to provide feedback:

  • When in a LEAP matter, in the top right hand corner of the screen there is a blue Question Mark icon. Clicking on it reveals a drop-down box for the LEAP Community pages – one of these is ‘Help, support and feedback’.
  • When using any precedent in LEAP, there is  always a ‘Provide Feedback’ button in the ribbon at the top of the document, next to ‘Save to matter as PDF’. This opens to a feedback form where any issues or suggestions regarding the precedent can be provided. Where such feedback relates to a By Lawyers precedent, LEAP send it on to us and we will always address it promptly, directly with the user.

By Lawyers have often introduced new precedents or enhanced our commentaries as a result of subscriber suggestions. Whenever we see a need for the proposed additions or amendments we are happy to oblige, so as to benefit not only the firm that made the request but all of our other users as well. Sometimes our subscribers will not only identify an issue, such as a new precedent that might be needed, but they will also provide us with the resolution – a precedent they have developed themselves and are happy for us to publish for the assistance of others. The law is, after all, a noble profession and helping each other in a collegiate way is one of the hallmarks of being a lawyer.

Our goal at By Lawyers is to help our subscribers enjoy practice more. Responding to feedback is one of the ways we do it.

FED – Immigration – Labour Market Testing

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The recent changes to Labour Market Testing requirements for Temporary Skill Shortage visa nominations have been incorporated into the commentary in the By Lawyers Immigration Guide.

The testing time before a nomination is lodged has changed from 6 months to 4 months. At least two advertisements are still required for the nominated position, however the information that needs to be included has become:

  1. the title, or a description, of the position;
  2. the skills or experience required for the position;
  3. the name of the approved sponsor or the recruitment agency being used by the sponsor; and
  4. the annual earnings for the position unless the annual earnings will be lower than AUD96,400. It is acceptable to publish a salary range, e.g. AUD80,000 to AUD90,000.

Advertised positions must remain open for application for at least 4 weeks from first publication, regardless of the medium used. General classified sites and social media platforms are still not suitable media for Labour Market Testing purposes, however LinkedIn’s online recruitment platform is acceptable.

Alternative requirements apply for ‘select occupations’ and ‘select positions’ such as for outstanding and internationally recognised talent in sport, academia or as a top chef. Also included are changes due to business restructures, or where the annual earnings are not less than AUD250,000, or for particular medical personnel.

It is still mandatory under the Migration Act to provide evidence with the nomination application of the sponsor’s efforts to find suitably qualified and experienced Australian citizens or permanent residents to fill the position/similar positions. This entails copies of advertisements and a receipt for any advertising fees being provided and/or a written submission for ‘select’ nomination applications.

Wills – Avoiding family provision claims

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Clients often require advice on avoiding family provision claims, when considering their estate planning.  New commentary has been added to the By Lawyers Wills Guides concerning the issues that should be considered when drafting a will in circumstances where a family provision claim against the estate of the testator appears possible.

This new commentary considers two common issues raised by testators when giving instructions for wills:

  1. How to leave their estate to their partner and prevent children or step children from making a claim on the estate; and
  2. How to leave the estate to their partner, whilst ensuring their children by a prior relationship are benefited on the death of that partner.

The commentary discusses some general principles from the cases and provides a range of likely outcomes for a number of classes of claimants under family provision legislation, which will assist practitioners when they are advising clients who are deciding how to distribute their estates to best avoid a potential claim.

In essence, while there is no absolute way of avoiding a family provision claim by an eligible person against a testator’s estate, appropriate consideration when preparing a client’s will can minimise the prospects or quantum of any claim, or at least ensure the testator has a clear understanding of the issues.

Queensland – Conveyancing – Changing trustees

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A new section has been added to the By Lawyers Reference Guide 1001 Conveyancing Answers (QLD) dealing with changing trustees on the title of a property. This applies where the ownership of the property does not change, only the name of the trustee who holds the property for the trust.

The helpful addition covers the procedure required by the Titles Registry to change the name of the trustee on title, with reference to all  necessary forms and supporting documentation and a note regarding stamp duty consequences.

This new section has been added following a question sent to our Mentor service by a practitioner seeking clarification of the procedure in such a case. At By Lawyers we are always looking to enhance our publications to better assist our subscribers with the practical situations they encounter and we hope this is one example of that happening.

Practice management for small law firms

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Practice management is both one of the most important and one of the most frequently neglected aspects of being a lawyer. The imperatives of doing the clients’ work too often mean that practice management takes a back seat and the future direction, expansion and profitability of the firm becomes an afterthought.

The 11 Habits of highly successful small law firms is an article by Richard Hugo-Hamman, the Executive Chairman of LEAP Legal Software, who has been helping small law firms to make more money for over 25 years. This very informative and inspirational article was recently published on LinkedIn and Richard has kindly permitted us to reproduce it within the Reference Materials folder in the By Lawyers Practice Management guide.

The article contains numerous valuable insights for anyone running a small law firm or thinking of doing so. Richard draws on his enormous international experience to distil the key habits that define highly successful small law firms.  In summary he concludes that:

  1. They are efficient;
  2. They enjoy practising law;
  3. They employ smart people and treat them really well;
  4. They have selected areas of law they like and focus on them;
  5. They dedicate time to building the firm as a business;
  6. They are early adopters of technology;
  7. They confront the challenges of getting paid and solve them;
  8. They have standard processes and procedures in place for all matters;
  9. They make compliance a natural consequence of running a firm well;
  10. They become experts in customer service;
  11. They understand their finances.

We highly recommend reading Richard’s article, which calls upon you to ACT!

Victoria – deregulated Contract of Sale

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Consequences of the deregulated Contract of Sale of Land

What were the regulations?

The Estate Agents (Contracts) Regulations 2008 (‘regulations’) reached their sunset date on 11 August 2018. Consequently, those regulations and the amending regulations in 2011 and 2014, are revoked. The regulations bound estate agents, but not legal practitioners and conveyancers.

Legal practitioners and conveyancers may prepare contracts of sale of land in any form, and such contracts, provided they satisfy formal requirements, will be enforceable. The regulations on the other hand required estate agents to prepare contracts in the ‘prescribed form’, unless an agent used a form of contract prepared by a legal practitioner or conveyancer.

What does the deregulation mean?

The revocation of the regulations notionally means that the minority of estate agents who chose to prepare contracts are left with no prescribed form of contract. However, s 53A of the Estate Agents Act 1980 authorises agents to use contracts that are approved by a professional association, within the meaning of the then applicable Legal Profession Act 2004. The prescribed contract was approved by the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) and the revocation of the regulation does not affect that approval. The current version of the LIV contract includes a warranty in GC 2.1 that the general conditions of the contract are identical with the general conditions prescribed in the regulations. That warranty would appear to be unaffected by the revocation of the regulations.  Thus, we can expect that the prescribed contract will continue in general use into the near future.

What are the alternatives to the prescribed contract?

Whether the deregulation of the contract will result in other forms of contract becoming common is yet to be seen. It would be fair to say that special conditions created to accommodate recent changes, including CGT & GST withholding, have resulted in the LIV contract becoming unwieldy and the use of alternative contracts increasing.

The By Lawyers contract is ready and waiting

The By Lawyers Contract of Sale of Land for Victoria was introduced on 1 March 2018 and its use has been increasing steadily among Victorian legal practitioners and conveyancers. The By Lawyers contract covers CGT & GST withholding in simple terms, without the need for Special Conditions, and has a number of other advances over the LIV contract which further simplify the conveyancing process.

Some of the compelling reasons to use the By Lawyers contract include:

  • it is co-authored by Russell Cocks, who has brought to the task 40 years of hands-on Victorian conveyancing experience and Guy Dawson of By Lawyers, arguably the most widely read legal author in Australia today; and,
  • the By Lawyers legal and editorial teams ensure the By Lawyers contract is always up to date with any changes in the law or practice.

For further information you can read the related post Seven reasons to use the By Lawyers contract.

The By Lawyers Contract of sale of Land is available to LEAP users and can also be accessed through the By Lawyers website by subscribing to the Conveyancing Guide.

Leases – New precedent – Deed of amendment – unregistered lease

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As a result of some helpful feedback from one of our subscribers in Queensland, By Lawyers has added a new precedent ‘Deed of amendment – Unregistered lease’ to all our Act for Lessor matter plans across the country. This deed can be used to record an agreed amendment to an unregistered lease. It includes the following key provisions:

  • Variation details – to be set out in either the operative provisions or in a schedule to the deed;
  • A clause to extend any guarantor covenants in the original lease to the amendments;
  • A clause confirming the terms of the original lease as amended.

At By Lawyers we value feedback from our subscribers and often enhance our publications as a result.

This new Deed is the latest addition to our library of over 6,500 precedents…and counting!

FED – Immigration – New charge

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The Migration Amendment (Skilling Australians Fund) Act 2018 introduces a new charge.

Employers who wish to sponsor employee visa applications must pay a Nomination Training Contribution charge for all nominations after 12 August 2018.

The visa subclasses that will initially be affected are 482, 186 and 187.

Commentary has been added to the By lawyers Immigration publication accordingly.

By Lawyers always keeps you up to date!

 

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