ByLawyers News and Updates

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.

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!

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!

Trusts – New precedent – Deed of termination

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Following a subscriber request, we have added a new precedent to our Unit Trusts Guide, being a Deed of termination of trust.

There are many reasons a client may wish to terminate or dissolve a trust prior to the vesting date. There are also several methods of bringing a trust to an early end including:

  • complete distribution of the trust property by the trustee;
  • revocation by the settlor or trustee;
  • the beneficiaries or unit holders consent to end the trust; and
  • a Court ordered termination of trust.

When brining a trust to an end there are many important issues for the trustee to consider including:

  • the procedures prescribed by the original trust deed;
  • all possible creditors; and
  • all possible taxation consequences – particularly CGT arising from the sale of any trust assets or in specie distributions.

The need for a deed confirming the termination of the trust was suggested by one of our subscribers. Having considered the issue, By Lawyers have created a simple new precedent Deed poll, terminating the trust. This will allow practitioners to ensure that when their trustee clients terminate a trust it is evidenced and supported by proper documentation.

At By Lawyers we are always grateful for any feedback on our precedents and will happily accommodate subscriber requests for new documents where appropriate.

 

 

SMSFs – New precedents – Retainer instructions

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We have published two new Retainer Instructions precedents in our Self Managed Superannuation Funds Guide.

The Retainer Instructions – Self managed superannuation fund is designed to assist practitioners when taking instructions from clients who are establishing a new fund. It covers all of the essential information required for the superannuation trust deed, including trustee and member details.

The Retainer Instructions – Existing self managed superannuation fund is designed to be used when a client wishes to make changes to an existing self managed superannuation fund that has already been established. It can be used to record instructions for a variety of situations including:

  • changing the fund trustee;
  • amending the rules of the fund;
  • making a new death benefit nomination or reversionary pension nomination; and
  • establishing a limited recourse borrowing arrangement.

Retainer instructions, which appear in “Getting the matter underway’ on all By Lawyers matter plans, are not only a useful precedent for file opening and matter management, they are a critical risk-management tool ensuring that all necessary information is obtained from the client and recorded.

Family Law – FCC costs increases

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There have been costs increases in the Federal Circuit Court for itemised costs in family law and child support proceedings, pursuant to Schedule 1 of the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001.

The increases are for initiating applications and other hearing-related costs.

An alert has been added to the By Lawyers Children and Property settlement publications.

Qld – PEXA settlements – Transfer duty

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New commentary has been added to the By Lawyers Purchase Guide and 1001 Conveyancing Answers Queensland to clarify the specific stamping requirements for PEXA settlements.

Stamping must commence in the PEXA Workspace so that an ELN Transaction Number generates. This allows OSRconnect to directly verify the transfer duty once stamping has been submitted.

If stamping has already occurred in paper then the ELN Transaction Number does not exist and the system is unable to verify transfer duty so settlement in PEXA is not possible. The transaction will then need to revert to a paper settlement.

See the heading ‘Duties and Grants’ in the By Lawyers Purchase Commentary for details on the procedure to be followed.

New podcast – Domestic Violence update

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An update on the national enforcement scheme and domestic violence leave

The last week of July marked White Ribbon Night, an important date for raising awareness of the issues faced by victims of domestic violence.

Join LEAP’s National Marketing Manager, Claire James and By Lawyers Senior Consultant and Editor Brad Watts for a discussion on domestic violence laws across Australia.

The podcast discusses the National Recognition Scheme for Domestic Violence Orders and the new entitlement to domestic violence leave under Modern Awards.

Recent updates to the By Lawyers Domestic Violence and Employment Law Guides are highlighted.

White Ribbon Australia is an organisation that promotes the prevention of violence against women in Australia by engaging men to make women’s safety a man’s issue too.

 

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