Newsletter
The Law Lowdown – Winter 2023
Catch up on all the news and information in our first copy of The Law Lowdown Inside this issue: Download your copy here
Our Blog
Family Trusts and Estate Planning
Change to Trustee Tax rate – is a Trust still useful?
The Government announced a proposed increase of the trustee tax rate (from 33% to 39%) in Budget 2023. This change, due to take effect from 1 April 2024, would set the rate at which trustee income is taxed at the same as the top individual tax rate. The intention here is to prevent taxpayers from
Conveyancing
Know your obligations before signing up to a conditional house purchase
An example of the critical importance of purchasers understanding their obligations under conditional sale and purchase agreements is the Strack v Grey case. (Strack v Grey [2019] NZCA 432) What Happened Essentially Grey, an Otago businessman who owned a property in Mosgiel, wanted to buy the Strack’s property in Dunedin. Grey wanted to put in
Conveyancing
Fencing – Get it Right
You can change friends but not neighbours … or so the saying goes. So it’s all the more important to try to maintain friendly – or at least cordial relations with your neighbours. When it comes to boundary fences, these relationships can come under additional pressure, so it’s important to do things well and to
Commercial
Incorporated Societies Act changes in the air – do you need to do anything?
Incorporated societies law needed a face lift. The statute which largely regulates the affairs of the many thousands of incorporated societies in New Zealand was passed in 1908! Since that time the whole sector has grown considerably. These days incorporated societies can be significant operations. The Incorporated Societies Act 1908 simply doesn’t fit well with
Articles
Why we need to ask you for information
Information Requirements New Zealand has passed a law called the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“the AML/CFT law” for short). The purpose of the law reflects New Zealand’s commitment to the international initiative to counter the impact that criminal activity has on people and economies within the global community. Recent changes
Articles
New Enduring Power of Attorney Forms
New Enduring Powers of Attorney Forms There have been recent legislative changes (to the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988) which will affect those seeking to make Enduring Powers of Attorney. Some of these changes include: (a) less restrictive requirements for mutual appointments (b) the adoption of standard explanations to explain the effects
Articles
Your Digital Legacy
In this increasingly “digital” world , have you ever stopped and thought about what might happen upon your death in terms of what becomes of your “digital” information. More and more of us are conducting our lives in cyberspace and therefore much of the information about us, our activities, interests, etc are contained in various
Articles
Too Busy To Ask For Business!
Those of us who are flat out doing what we do best often find ourselves in the position whereby we are “too busy” doing what we do to realise that we all need a steady flow of new work and/or repeat work. Have you ever thought that simply by going about your work and dealing
Articles
Business – time to sharpen up?
Business – time to sharpen up? There is an old saying – “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. In tough times such as we are all experiencing at present, we are finding that businesses are benefiting from analyzing their approaches, philosophy and the way they go about doing things. some would say