They may not be up there on Disney’s hit list with Stepmoms but Stepdads can be just as villainous. Your dear old Dad dies unexpectedly at the age of 53 years. He is immediately elevated from the dog house to pride of place on the mantelpiece. Framed photographs appear like mushrooms on every flat surface in the house. Your mother is devastated, and hopefully a little guilty, as she fights with the Insurance Company over a generous insurance payout, which they do not want to let go of. They inspect old medical reports and look for loopholes. Your mother begins to think that your Dad's mates may have told the Insurance Company that she nagged him to death. However, her lawyer assures her that with insurance companies, this is not unusual, despite what their advertisements say. Just about the same time as the insurer finally pays up, your mother’s loneliness is mercifully cut short as she meets a male companion. Your relief at your mother becoming less reliant on you is quickly repla...

  One of the first bail applications that I made was for a murderer.  In retrospect it was not difficult as however good my argument may have been the magistrate was not going to grant bail.  Your property lease negotiations do require tactics.  They are a minefield for the unwary and can make your stay in a property miserable. They contain delayed action mines that can go off six months, one year or three years later, usually when your business is facing its darkest hour. The lease document only ever becomes important if there is a dispute between the Lessor (the landlord) and the Lessee (you). Unfortunately there is plenty to argue about and to send you rushing to find a copy of your lease. Lease Rule One – there is no such thing as a standard lease. There is, however, a fairly standard procedure: Stage 1: You negotiate and agree a lease with an estate agent. Stage 2: The Lessor’s lawyer will provide a lengthy document – sometimes 30 pages or more – which invariabl...

As your children get older, your childrens’ problems (“CPs”) can become more   convoluted than anything that you could have thought up yourself. They can be  the type of problem that you contemplated but could not afford at their age. However, there are CPs which you the parents have created. Not because your children could not be bothered to create their own CPs but due to a general  parental enthusiasm on your part to encourage your children in their lives. It is   these sanctioned childrens’ problems (“SCPs”) which frequently have a legal   slant and together form the Ten Greatest Self Inflicted Legal Mistakes Made by   Parents:  1.   Guaranteeing your child’s loans. If the loan falls into arrears and the Bank  calls in the guarantee parents usually protest that they did not know what they were doing (a common claim of parents). The Courts have even accepted this excuse, and now Banks insist on Independent Legal Ad...

In good times people pay their debts and credit control takes a back seat. There is a corporate veil between a director’s money and the company’s funds. This means that creditors can sue the company but not the director. This is good and sensible commercial practice unless you are the person who is owed the money and then it becomes a charter for cheats and scoundrels. In bad times, experienced creditors get in first, make threats and are quick to take court proceedings.  Here are a few sabres for creditors to rattle to worry directors-      1. Deliberately incurring debts with no chance of paying them back is fraud. If debtors believe that you might call the cops, they are more likely to pay.           2.  Insolvent trading. This lifts the veil and directors can be held personally responsible.           3.  An investigation by the body which regulates companies. This raises the prospect of fines a...

Employee Legal Awareness Day takes place every year on 13 February. It encourages employers to warn their employees of predictable legal mistakes so that they can be avoided such as the ten listed in this podcast.  It was established in about 2007 by Paul Brennan and has been taken up internationally.  https://www.qlsproctor.com.au/2023/02/employee-legal-awareness-day-coming-monday/

The worst thing about committing a legal mistake is that everyone seems to find it obvious after the event especially your wife/partner. If business owners started to create new, exciting, unique legal mistakes then it would be a real challenge for us lawyers-fortunately for us they do not.  This means that your lawyer has probably seen the legal mistake before and has a good idea what to do.  Although it may not seem that way to you. Many small business legal services can be divided into “deals” where lawyers prepare documents to anticipate and avoid future problems or “disputes” where things did not get documented at the start and the parties come out swinging.  Usually deals are cheaper than disputes.   Experienced business owners are adept at working out when to document and when to wing it. Mistake no. 1        You unexpectedly die and your business stops dead too. This can be very inconvenient. Avoid this by having a will including a busines...

  Thank you to all the subscribers to my podcast for their encouragement. The podcast is available at this link https://www.buzzsprout.com/666235