Family Trusts and the Family Protection Act 1955
Under the Family Protection Act 1955 (FPA), parents have a moral duty to provide in their Wills for their children’s maintenance and support.
Sharemilking Agreements - Variable Order
Federated Farmers has now released an updated Variable Order Sharemilking Agreement. This follows the Sharemilking Agreements Order 2011.
Rest home care
After gift duty comes to an end from 1 October, one thing will still be clear: you can’t give everything away to a trust and then expect to rely on...
Rest home subsidies and the abolition of gift duty
Recently, much has been made of the government’s intention to do away with gift duty from 1 October.
New Unit Titles Legislation now in Force
On 20 June 2011 the Unit Titles Act 2010 and the Unit Titles Regulations 2011 came into effect.
Buying and selling a unit title property: management agreements
Since the Unit Titles Act 2010 came into force on 20 June 2011, we expect to see a greater level of transparency and disclosure of relevant information in respect of...
GST on land transactions
On 1 April 2011, the GST position for some land transactions took effect. Where property including land is sold between two GST-registered parties, the transaction will be ‘zero-rated’ for GST purposes.
Christchurch earthquake: buying property
Property buyers and sellers, together with their lawyers, are generally adapting well to the difficult circumstances surrounding the recent Canterbury earthquakes.
The 'Solicitor's Approval' Clause
Have you ever signed an Agreement for Sale & Purchase without first giving it to your lawyer to consider? What would happen if something went wrong with the contract? You...
Rush to Trust - or Maybe Not?
With the abolition of gift duty taking place on 1 October 2011, commentators are already predicting there will be a rush to transfer assets into trust, or to complete any...