Archive for 'News'

Volatility in the Australian economy and global financial uncertainty continued to put pressure on Australian businesses in 2011 with the latest insolvency figures released by Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealing a record high of the collapse of 10,481 Australian businesses. That figure representative of a 52% increase in the historical average and an 11% increase from 2009 figures at the height of the Global Financial Crisis.

The number of companies entering into external administration for the past five years ...

The trustee has the power to prevent you leaving Australia whilst you are in bankruptcy

There is a common misconception that “going bankrupt” is an easy way to escape your debts.
Nothing could be further from truth.

A recent Federal Court decision (Pearce (Trustee) v Mulhern (Bankrupt) (No 4) [2012] FCA 54) highlighted the consequences to a bankrupt of not cooperating.
This is the focus of this article, and this case concerns an application by Mr Mulhern (a bankrupt) to travel to ...

IT CAN BE HARD KEEPING A STRAIGHT FACE AS A COURT REPORTER
These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said , ‘Where am I, ...

Personal insolvencies dropped in the UK by 11.3% last year compared to 2010’s figure, with 119,850 individual cases being recorded in England and Wales.

Bankruptcies (41,845) registered the steepest drop, plummeting by some 30% while Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAS) (49,056) also followed suit by falling 3%. By contrast, Debt Relief Orders (DROs) (28,949) jumped up 15% on the previous year.

“UK consumer debt declined by £9 billion to £207 billion in 2011 with UK personal debt declining by £1 billion. ...

Predatory Lending

The global financial crisis has created cash flow difficulties for most businesses, as everyone seems to be delaying payment.

This has placed pressure on cash flow, at a time when it is harder than ever to obtain traditional loans from banks and other financial institutions.

These businesses become desperate. Many fall victim to predatory lending practices when they try to cover the shortfall.

Predatory lending is unfair, unconscionable, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent practices in the provision of credit to a ...

The Queensland Government has announced on Friday (27 January 2012) that the Queensland Building Boost Grant has been extended for a further 3 months.

There has already been a significant increase in the number of Queensland Building Boost Grant (QBBG) applications in recent weeks.

The QBBG is a State initiative designed to protect the property market, and therefore Australia’s economy.
The Federal government is assisting same also by continually dropping the interest rate – with experts predicting that the recent interest ...

A statutory demand is a formal demand served pursuant to s509H of the Corporations Act (2001).
If it is ignored for 21 days, then the company will be presumed insolvent, and any creditor can apply for the company to be wound up.
It is imperative that the Directors of companies understand the importance of these demands, and the need to act quickly when one is received.

The Supreme Court of Queensland ruled on 15 December 2011 that a statutory demand be ...

Litigation in Queensland is to be governed by a new Act just passed by the Queensland parliament – the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld) will replace the Supreme Court Act 1995 (Qld) once it has been proclaimed.

The new Act contains many crucial changes – and notably has specific sections requiring parties in dispute to make a bona fide attempt to settle disputes before commencing proceedings.
These changes are designed to encourage resolution before proceedings commence, and also to attempt settlement ...

On the seventh of December, 2011, Zeke Bentley appeared in the following segment of Channel TEN’s 6pm News:

Proposed legislation before Parliament amending the Directors Penalty Regime was withdrawn unexpectedly yesterday!

The proposed legislation was to include amendments to:

• allow the ATO to immediately (without first issuing a Director Penalty Notice) commence recovery of all director penalties when the company’s unpaid liability remains unpaid and unreported three months after the due date.
• impose a personal liability on directors for unremitted superannuation contributions, in addition to unpaid PAYG.

News that the proposed amendments had been withdrawn came quite unexpectedly to most industry professionals, ...