Guarantee Disputes

One of the most contentious areas of finance law is that of guarantees. This typically involves the guarantee by one person of a loan made by a financial institution to another person who is often in a family relationship with the guarantor (for example, the...

Is The QBCC Merits Review A Sham?

In 2014, we reported that proposed amendments to the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (“QBCC Act”) represented a dramatic shift in the powers of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (“QBCC”) against building licence holders. In...

Lost Wills

You may think that if a will is lost, that it no longer exists and cannot be used to distribute the estate of a loved one who has died. This is not correct. Provided certain conditions are met, the court will admit to probate a will that has been reconstructed from...

Variation Of Parenting Orders

So, you have obtained formal parenting orders but you want to make a change to them. Easy right? Not so fast. Orders are essentially a structured arrangement outlining the manner in which children shall live and spend time with their parents. Orders can be made by...

Mandatory Sentencing & Limiting Judicial Discretion

In recent years, Queensland parliament has introduced numerous new mandatory sentencing regimes which effectively limit the discretion of the judiciary to impose a sentence that is fair and just in the circumstances. In particular, the following mandatory sentencing...

Real Life Q&A: Wills

One of our staff members saw the following posted in an online forum: “Wills. How do they work?? Is it magnets? Apparently the post office Will Kits are no good.And I hear “Get a proper one with a lawyer.” Since this is not America, and we don’t have “a lawyer,” I’d...