Commentary has been updated to reflect recent amendments introduced by the Domestic & Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2016.
QLD – Office of State Revenue amendments
First Home Buyer Grant
The First Home Buyer Grant of $20,000 has been extended to 31 December 2017.
Land tax
An ‘absentee surcharge’ introduced from the 2017-2018 financial year. A 1.5% surcharge will be imposed on individuals not ordinarily residing in Australia and who are liable for land tax.
From 1 July 2017 – Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Payments
For contracts entered into on or after 1 July 2017 the new foreign resident capital gains withholding (FRCGW) rate and threshold will apply to:
- real property disposals where the contract price is $750,000 and above (currently $2 million); and
- the FRCGW withholding tax rate will be 12.5% (currently 10%).
All precedents and commentaries were updated to reflect these changes.
QLD – Stepchild includes child of party to de facto relationship
The definition of a stepchild has been extended to include the child of a party to a de facto relationship, so a stepchild of the de facto testator is capable of bringing a claim against the testator’s estate as the deceased step-parent: s 40A Succession Act 1981.
QLD – End of de facto relationship – Revocation of executor
The end of a de facto relationship with a testator has the same effect as a divorce, namely, it revokes the ex-de facto’s appointment as executor of the will and revokes any benefits the testator gave to the former de facto partner under the Will: new s 15B of the Succession Act 1981.
Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Payment
Early Alert – Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Payment
It is proposed that from 1 July 2017 the regime will apply to all real property with a market value of $750,000 or above. Once the bill is law this alert, the commentary and precedents will be updated.
Practice management – superannuation
FROM 1 JULY 2017 Concessional Contributions Cap for superannuation reduced to $25,000 for all ages. Before-tax contributions include compulsory employer contributions and salary sacrifice arrangements. Contributions greater than $25,000 from before-tax income may mean payment of extra tax.
Music copyright
Following a recent mentor question the Sale & Purchase of Business commentary in all states was updated to discuss the licensing requirements for business owners when playing background music in their businesses. Amendments were also made to the Retainer Instructions in each state.
Wills, Powers of Attorney and Advance Health Directives QLD
Wills, Powers of Attorney and Advance Health Directives
DECEMBER
- New Commentary on Challenging the validity of a will
- Challenging a will questions its validity. Contesting a will questions the fairness of its provisions. The circumstances and processes when challenging a will are similar across all the states in legislation and in the common law principles that govern this interesting area of the law. This addition to commentary covers helpful tips for practitioners if they are faced with a client wishing to challenge the validity of a will.
OCTOBER
- Costs Agreements
- Disputes section improved, fields for client and firm details added, trust account details added, solicitor’s lien added, execution clauses for individuals and corporations added and general formatting and grammatical improvements.
JUNE
- Added new precedent – Individual will creating multiple testamentary discretionary trusts
APRIL
- File Cover Sheets for all publications have been completely re-formatted for a better look.
MARCH
- Powers of Attorney – Commentary enriched to include a new section ‘What an attorney can’t do’. Commentary also enriched to include Instruments made in other states.
FEBRUARY
- Making life a little easier for practitioners – look out for Blank Deed, Agreement and Execution Clauses folder in the matter plan at the end of each Getting the Matter Underway.
Criminal Magistrates’ Court QLD
OCTOBER
- Costs Agreements – Disputes section improved, fields for client and firm details added, trust account details added, solicitor’s lien added, execution clauses for individuals and corporations added and general formatting and grammatical improvements.
SEPTEMBER
- New commentary added on making an application for a protection order.