Drafting Div 7A Loans – ATO’s 4 concerns

The ATO has just audited my new client’s Div 7A agreement. It did not go well. Many Div 7A Loan agreements are not ‘commercial’ and therefore not valid based on 4 common drafting errors: The Div 7A Loan must be signed as a ‘Deed’ not as an ‘agreement’....

Why doesn’t your Employment Contract allow for specific Awards?

QUESTION: I am building an Employment Contract for my employee. She’s been with me for 6-years (hence the anxiety). I notice there’s no reference to the Award provisions under which she is employed. Does your Employment Contract override the Award provisions? Should...

Disaster with no employment termination clause

Q: Why put a termination clause in your Employment Contract: Brett, you strongly recommend termination clauses. We approached the website that normally prepares our Employment Contracts. They don’t use termination notices. I asked them why. They said they were...

How to use 4 secret trusts

What is a Bare Trust? Firstly, what is a ‘trust’? Trusts became fashionable when King Henry VIII was on the throne. So much so that he attempted to reduce their tax benefits – without success. Here is an example of a ‘trust’. When your son is born you open a bank...

Son lost the farm to his sisters – Family Trust guilty

  To better understand this article you may wish to first: watch the free Family Trust training course read the latest upgrade requirements to Family Trust Deeds over 5 years old read how to do succession planning in a Family Trust (showing the importance of the...