Terms and Conditions

Acting jointly: Where we are acting for two people (including two entities) together, the terms of our costs agreement apply to both parties jointly. Any communications with us must include both parties as our joint client, and our duty of confidentiality applies to both, which does not prevent us from disclosing information to one party that has been provided by the other. If at any time your interests are not aligned or you wish to communicate with us unilaterally in confidence, we will need to stop acting for both of you immediately. Should we determine that we can no longer act for you jointly, we will inform both parties, and our engagement will cease immediately. In that event, you will each need to obtain separate legal advice from different law firms, which will increase your costs in addition to any fees we may charge for work completed up to the termination of our engagement in accordance with this document and our scope of work. You remain responsible for all fees and disbursements reasonably incurred, and we will issue an interim invoice for any outstanding fees for work completed until the date of termination.

Standardised Documents and Intellectual Property: Our pricing reflects efficiencies gained from our investment in systems, processes, intellectual property, and template documents, while also accounting for the necessary legal work each lawyer must undertake to properly consider each matter and its documents. This includes factors such as the complexity of the matter, the difficulty and novelty of the legal questions involved, the importance of the matter to the client, the skill, specialised knowledge, and responsibility required, the number and significance of documents prepared or reviewed (regardless of length), the place and circumstances in which the work is conducted, the labour involved and time spent, the value of any money or property involved, and the nature of the title to any land. Our document templates, including Wills and powers of attorney, are designed to support best practice and long-term wealth protection. Our Wills include broad powers for executors and trustees to manage your estate and any trusts created, while our powers of attorney documents contain the necessary additional powers for attorneys to act on behalf of the principal in a practical and protective way. These form part of our Standardised Documents. If you wish to review an example or anticipate requiring bespoke amendments, please contact us before accepting this agreement, as additional costs may apply for changes made later, depending on their nature and whether advice is required.

Client follow up: Our scope of work and pricing is valid for up to 9 months from the date it is provided. If we don't receive your complete instructions by the date that is 9 months from the date the scope of work is provided, our current scope of work and pricing expires, and we will provide a new scope of work and price (which may be higher than the original scope of work and price). We may send up two follow up emails per month to obtain your complete instructions and the background material that we request. Any additional communications required to complete your instructions and obtain copies of the necessary supporting documents may incur additional costs at our discretion.

Signing your documents: This cost disclosure includes the work involved in coordinating a signing meeting as a general administrative fee. It is your responsibility to cooperate and take positive steps to sign your estate planning documents as promptly as possible. If the coordination of such meeting is delayed into the next month, the administrative fee will apply for each month. If we have not heard from you or you have not cooperated to coordinate a suitable time for signing after 2 months after we have emailed you confirming your documents are in order to be signed we will send your final estate planning documents to you by registered post, together with detailed signing instructions, and close our file (regardless of whether you have signed your estate planning documents). 

Delays with signing your documents: Until you have properly executed your new estate planning documents, your existing estate plan (if any) will remain in place. This may result in many issues, including: your objectives not being achieved; Government bodies or legislation deciding who controls or receives your assets; Government bodies or legislation deciding who makes decisions about your health and personal care; protracted and costly negotiations with third parties, such as superannuation funds; expensive court litigation; and unexpected tax, stamp duty or registration costs.

No Apportionment of Liability: Where we act for two or more people or entities in a matter each of you will be individually responsible for payment of our entire account whatever arrangements may be made between you. You agree that you are personally liable for our costs and disbursements even if the matter involves our acting for other persons and/or organisations. If you provide us with instructions for or on behalf of a third party or jointly with another party you will be personally liable to pay for our services in accordance with the terms of this letter irrespective of the liability  of any third or other party to pay our bill.

Conflicts of Interest: We will not intentionally become involved in a situation where there is a conflict of interest of a legal nature between you, us and/or another client but if through inadvertence or unforeseen circumstances, this should occur we may be obliged to terminate the engagement in this matter.

Engagement of another lawyer or law practice: In providing legal services for you, it may be necessary to engage another law practice (including Barristers or law practices in another jurisdiction) to provide specialist advice or services.  

If and when we believe engaging another law practice is necessary, we will consult you about the purpose of such engagements before incurring the expense. We will provide you with a statement setting out the rates and estimated costs of any other law practice we propose to engage as soon as the relevant law practice provides this information to us. 

Interest on unpaid accounts: If our invoice remains unpaid 7 days after we email it to you (or provide it to you in some other agreed manner), we may charge you interest at a rate not exceeding the cash rate target, as fixed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, plus 2 per cent.  The interest may be applied as and from the date that the invoice is issued to you.

Your right to request a written report on legal costs:  You have a right to request a written report of the legal costs incurred to date or since our last invoice (if any), and we must provide such a report within a reasonable period and without charge.

If you have a concern about our legal costs or this agreement:  If you have any concerns about our legal costs, please do not hesitate to telephone Claire Van Raay on +61 403 676 351.  This is because it is important to us that, in consenting to the proposed course of action for the conduct of your matter (in particular the proposed costs), you are informed and understand the issues involved. 

Copies of documents: Our work includes providing you with electronic copies of any documents prepared by us and signed by you, once, at the completion of the matter. If you have been communicating with us through an agent then you expressly authorise us to provide electronic copies of any documents prepared by us and signed by you to your agent. At your request, we will provide one hard (physical) copy or one certified copy (physical) of each original document prepared by us and signed by you.  Unless instructed otherwise in writing, these copies will be posted to your address (as noted in your will) once, at the completion of the matter. If you request additional hard (physical) copies or certified copies, additional costs may apply

Storage of documents:  The following applies to your documents:

(a) Notification of Document Storage Location: Any storage of your signed documents by us is ‘passive’, and we are not required to check death notices, diarising the lapsing date of any superannuation nominations or reminding you that your superannuation nominations need updating, or inform other parties of the location of your documents, unless specifically requested verbally and in writing with evidence of capacity and identificaion. It is your responsibility to notify your family, executors and alternative decision makers (attorneys) that you have chosen to store your original estate planning documents with our firm and we are not responsible for contacting them at the time of receiving your original documents for storage nor at the time of your death or incapacity.

(b) Period of Storage: Our work for you includes free storage of any original documents prepared by us for up to 7 years from the date the documents are executed.  At the expiry of 7 years, we reserve the right to contact you to discuss the following alternatives. These may be: continued at no cost; continued at a cost to be agreed upon between us and you; destruction of the original documents based on your express instructions (electronic copies may be retained); transfer of the documents to you; or transfer of the documents to another party of your choice, at your cost. Where we are unable to contact you, we will contact our legal services board and commissioner for directions at the time We also reserve the right to transfer the documents to another law firm that succeeds our practice (including a firm that purchases our practice). 

Copyright: We own the copyright in all documents we author in supplying our services and you have the right to use those documents only for the purposes for which they are supplied.

Liability:  The personal liability of the Director responsible for your matter and staff engaged on your matter is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. 

To the extent permitted by law, you agree that to the extent that any loss or damage suffered by you is attributable to fault, negligence, or lack of care on your part or on the part of any person for whom you are responsible including, without limitation, any other advisors engaged by you, we (and our Directors and employees) are not liable (in tort, contract or otherwise) for the loss or damage to the extent caused or contributed to by you, your advisors or by any person for whom you are responsible.

Confidential information:  We will not disclose any confidential information which we obtain as a result of acting for you to anyone else unless compelled by law or to the extent permitted by these terms. Possession of confidential information or knowledge will not prevent us from acting for another person if the Directors and solicitors personally involved in acting for that other person do not have actual knowledge of the confidential information.

We will not disclose to you any confidential information or knowledge which we obtain as a result of acting for any other client.

Privacy of personal information:  We are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of information we collect from clients, service providers and contractors. In acting for clients, we adhere to our fiduciary duties, duty of confidentiality and legal professional privilege in all actions taken on clients’ behalf.  Further, in the conduct of this practice, we are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including any amendments to that Act from time-to-time (Privacy Act).  We must therefore comply with the relevant policies and principals which govern the collection, use, handling and disclosure of personal and sensitive information.

(a) Information collected:  We may collect personal and sensitive information about you.  Indicative information we may collect includes your name, contact details, date of birth and any fact or opinion you provide that is related to the matter you are seeking advice or representation on.  Also, where we refer to “personal information”, this means information which identifies an individual or from which an individual’s identity can be reasonably ascertained.  In some circumstances, including where it is necessary for the conduct of your matter, we may also need to collect sensitive information. Sensitive information includes health information.

We may also collect personal information or sensitive information from you about third parties, such as your customers or employees.  Before giving us this information, you must provide any notifications and obtain any consents which are required by the Privacy Act or any other applicable laws or codes to enable us to collect and otherwise handle that third party personal information lawfully and without taking any further steps.  This may require you to inform those third parties of the matters set out in this paragraph (a).

(iv) Manner of collection:  For the purpose of providing our services to you, we may collect your personal or sensitive information from you, your accountants, financial and other advisers, your bank and the like.  This may be through correspondence, email, in person or by telephone.  

If we are not provided with personal information that we request, we may not be able to fully provide our services to you.

(b) Purpose of collection:  The information we collect is to enable us to provide you with legal services, advice and representation.  In the provision of such services, we may provide information to agents to take actions or make enquires in relation to the conduct of your matter.  For example, at your instruction, a barrister may be briefed, expert advice sought, or a search firm may be engaged to conduct a title search in relation to your matter.  

(vi) Use and disclosure of your information:  We may share your information with third parties including your accountants, financial and other professional advisers and organisations with whom we have co-promotional arrangements (and any third parties used in administering those arrangements).  We may also share your information with other service providers including barristers, experts and law firms in other jurisdictions, and organisations that assist us by providing archival, auditing, consulting, mailhouse, delivery, technology and security services.  In the conduct of your matter, we may also need to share your information with courts, tribunals and other regulatory authorities.

In addition to providing our services (including legal, training and consulting services) to you, we may use and disclose your information to maintain our relationship with you, to keep you informed of our services, events, developments in the law and other matters which we consider may be of interest to you, and for purposes related to our research, planning, service development, security and risk management. We may also use and disclose your information to the extent that we are required or authorised by law to do so.

(c) If you are an individual:  If you are an individual, you authorise us to collect, use and disclose your personal and sensitive information as set out in paragraphs (a) to (d), including where this may involve a transfer of personal information outside Australia or of health information outside the State or Territory in which it is held.  It is not practical to advise at this stage to which countries a transfer of personal information may be made, if such a transfer of information outside of Australia is indeed required during the conduct of your matter. 

(d) Security of information:  The information you provide us is stored on computer and paper based files as appropriate. The secure storage and use of information is of paramount importance to us so that all reasonable steps are taken to protect the information from misuse or loss, or unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by means such as password and network protection, and secure storage of paper based and other records. 

In addition, all staff with access to your personal information are bound by duties of confidentiality.

(e) Accuracy of personal information:  We take all reasonable steps to ensure that the information we collect is accurate, complete and up to date at the time of collection. If your circumstances change or you have reason to believe our records are not accurate, complete or up to date, please contact us immediately and we will take all reasonable steps to amend the information in accordance with the above criteria or an alternative may be discussed with you.

(f) Access:  You may request access to personal information that we hold on you. However, our discretion, duties and obligations under law may restrict your access. Given this, all reasonable actions will be taken to assist access or to address any reasons you have to seek access. If access is denied, we will provide you with reasons in accordance with the law. If access is provided, a reasonable fee may be charged for time and other costs incurred in providing access.

(g) If you have a concern:  If you have any queries concerning any aspect of this policy or our practices, or a concern or complaint, please contact Claire Van Raay on +61 403 676 351.

Internet communications:  We will communicate with you electronically (including by SMS message or text message).  Electronically transmitted information cannot be guaranteed to be secure, error or virus free and it can be adversely affected or unsafe to use. We are not liable to you in respect of any loss, damage, error or omission arising from or in connection with the electronic communication of information to you.  Please let us know if you do not want us to communicate electronically with you.

Jurisdiction: The Uniform Law as applied in Victoria is applicable to legal costs in this matter.