Armour-Craig Legal

30/11/2024

10/11/2024

09/03/2024

A Girls' Day Out Warragul - A Girls' Day Out Warragul Car Raffle 2023 - 2024. Drawn on: Saturday, 4 May 2024. Sponsors: Sponsors: Turnbull Motors Warragul

14/08/2022

Marriage

In broad terms a Will is revoked by the marriage of a Willmaker.
There are exceptions including as to dispositions to a person the Willmaker is married to at the time of death, and appointments of that person as executor or trustee or guardian. A Will can be made in contemplation of marriage, or expressed to be made in contemplation of marriage, and won’t be revoked upon the contemplated marriage occurring.

Divorce

Divorce revokes any disposition to the Willmaker’s ex-spouse and appointment of that person as executor or trustee and guardian of children (other than the ex-spouse’s children). The Will otherwise remains unrevoked. It is important to note that separation and division of matrimonial property and resolution of parenting mattes (including by court order) do not revoke a Will.

Joe & Cathy

Joe and Cathy had both been married before and have adult children from their previous relationships. They had been together for over a decade and made new Wills after they divorced their ex-spouses. In these Wills they appointed each other as their executors/trustees with one of Joe’s children and one of Cathy’s children as their back up executors and they each left their whole estate to each other in the first instance and then equally between all their children.

Then a few years later they got married but didn’t realise that their marriage revoked their Wills. Joe developed early onset dementia and then Cathy passed away suddenly.

Cathy’s appointment of Joe as her executor/trustee wasn’t revoked by their marriage, but Joe doesn’t have capacity to act as her executor. Cathy’s estate will pass to Joe (that disposition surviving their marriage), but an Administrator will need to be appointed (an Application for Letters of Administration of Cathy’s Estate with the Will annexed).

Joe doesn’t have capacity to make a new Will and their marriage revoked his appointment of his back up executors/trustees and revoked his disposition of his estate to all their children equally. Joe will die intestate unless an application to court for a statutory will is made.

Eric & Sarah

Eric and Sarah had been married for 15 years and had 3 children. They separated 2 years ago and have finalised property and parenting issues, but neither have applied for a divorce. Eric had a new partner who was pregnant with their first child when he tragically died in a car accident. He hadn’t updated his Will which appointed Sarah as his executor/trustee and left his whole estate to her.

Penny

Penny made a will appointing her parents as her executors and her mother as the sole beneficiary of her whole estate when she was in her 20s. She married and divorced twice. She died of cancer in her early 70s and never made a new Will.

Her Will was revoked by her first marriage, but it appears that she mistakenly thought it was still valid when she died.

Cathy, Joe, Eric, Sarah & Penny are all fictitious, but unfortunately the above scenarios are not uncommon.

Wills and estate plans should be reviewed regularly to ensure your wishes can and will be effected when you die, especially after marriage and divorce.

Contact Fleur Craig at Armour-Craig Legal to review your Will and estate plan on (03) 5636 4986 or [email protected].

30/07/2022

Most needed items -

Baby Bundles are a pack of essentials gifted to vulnerable families around the time of welcoming a baby. For many families these will be the only brand new items they have.

We give out around 50 baby bundles a year and recently restocked our local hospitals to make sure they have bundles to give when a family needs it most.

We are now in urgent need of these items to be able to pack more baby bundles. These items should be size 0000 or suitable for a newborn.

Can you add them to your shopping cart and deliver to our warehouse? Or do an online order and ship direct to us?

29/05/2022

20/02/2022

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION – SSSHH ITS SECRET!

Have you ever had a brilliant idea but didn’t know what to do with it? You didn’t know how to talk to people who did without letting the cat out of the bag?

Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, information, styles or techniques. Copyright only applies when material is created. It protects the story when reduced to writing or the song when recorded or notated.

Ideas, information, techniques and other facts can be protected if they not made public and either fall under the definition of confidential information at common law, or under the definition attributed by a contract entered into to protect it from unauthorised exploitation. Such contracts may be separate Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) or Confidentiality Agreements or may be clauses in another contract.

The law of confidential information is not statute based like copyright law or trade mark law. Enforcement action is for breach of confidence or, if there is a contract is place, breach of contract.

Protection without a contract in place is limited to what information is considered confidential in nature. It is limited to information that:
- is not public knowledge;
- has been communicated as confidential or the circumstances in which it is obtained imply that it is confidential;
- is identifiable with sufficient specificity; and
- is at risk of actual or threatened misuse.

The information that can be protected by a contract is much broader and includes the information defined in the Contract (NDA or Confidentiality Agreement) as confidential information. The definition can be made as broad or narrow as the parties agree.

Even if you have an NDA in place it is still important to identity confidential information when it is disclosed.

Before you talk to anyone about your “brilliant idea”, have them sign an NDA to keep your idea safe.

For legal advice contact Fleur Craig of Armour-Craig Legal on (03) 5636 4986 or [email protected].

13/02/2022

Happy Valentines Day for tomorrow! Sure, buy your loved one flowers and chocolates, but if you really want to show how much you care, make an appointment to make your Wills and Estate Planning!

04/09/2021

Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme 2021

The Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme (“2021 Scheme”) has been introduced by the Victorian Government to help ease the financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic for commercial tenants.

Like the 2020 Scheme the aim is to encourage tenants and landlord to negotiate in good faith to reach an agreement as to rent relief, the big differences are that this Scheme will provide support to landlord who provide rent relief to their tenants and includes mandatory reassessment for the parties to check whether rent relief should be adjusted due to changed circumstances.

Applications must be submitted before 30 September 2021 and can request rent relief back to 28 July 2021.

The Victorian Small Business Commission has an excellent list of FAQs which provide valuable details of the Scheme and a useful Table setting out comparison and turnover periods - FAQs | Victorian Small Business Commission (vsbc.vic.gov.au).

If you require assistance with your lease (as either a landlord or tenant) during this difficult time, please contact Fleur Craig of Armour-Craig Legal on (03) 5636 4986 or [email protected]

30/07/2021

Trade mark basics

What is a trade mark? A trade mark identifies a product or service and helps to distinguish it. It is your brand – your identity. It must be capable of distinguishing your goods and services from those of other people. A trade mark is a type of intellectual property (IP) and forms part of the good will of a business.

Usually, a trade mark is a word, phase or logo, but it can also be a letter, number, picture, sound, smell, shape, colour, movement or aspect of packing or a mix.

Registration. When you register a trade mark you have exclusive rights to use, license and sell the trade mark. Registered trade marks can bear the ® symbol.

Registration of a business name, company name or domain name does not give you the exclusive rights to use these names. It does not stop others using the same or similar names.

Having a registered trade mark gives you the right to take legal action against others if they use your trade mark without your consent (trade mark infringement).

Non-use. Even if you have registered your trade mark, you must use it or it can be removed from the register on the grounds of non-use.

Common law trade mark. There is no legal obligation to register a trade mark, but if you use a trade mark that someone has already registered they can take legal action against you. If a trade mark has been used (without registration) for a sufficient period of time and built up a significant reputation then the user may be able to stop others using that mark.

Assignment of trade marks. You can assign the ownership in a trade mark, for example if you sell your business you would assign the trade mark to the new business owner.

Class of goods or services. When you register a trade mark you register it in a specific class of goods or services (or several). There are 45 different classes, 1 to 34 for goods, and 35 to 45 for services. For example, class 25 is for clothing, footwear and headwear, and class 41 is for education, providing of training, entertainment, sporting and cultural activities.

Changes to your trade mark or class of goods or services. Sometimes a trade mark changes over time and it is important to make sure that these changes don’t require registration of a new trade mark. This is especially important with logos or pictures. It is usually a good idea to register the word as well as the logo (where it is a combination of a logo and word) to provide the best protection and protect your word trade mark if you do change your logo in the future.
Sometimes the goods or services sold under the trade mark may change or increase and require the trade mark to be registered in different or additional class.

The IP Australia website has a wealth of useful information and you can search the trade mark register for similar goods and services to your own to see what classes they are registered in. You can also do preliminary searches for pre-existing trade marks when you are working through the process of creating your own trade mark.

For legal assistance please contact please contact Fleur Craig of Armour-Craig Legal on (03) 5636 4986 or [email protected].

20/07/2021

Australian Consumer Law – Consumer threshold increases to $100,000

The definition of a “consumer” under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) changed as at 1 July 2021. A party is now defined as a consumer if the party purchases goods or services that are:
- valued less than $100,000; or
- valued at more than $100,000 but are of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption; or
- a car or a trailer.
This threshold amount has increased from $40,000.
This increase will markedly increase the cover of the ACL.
The ACL imposes mandatory guarantees in relation to the supply of goods or services to consumers. These guarantees include that:
- goods must:
o be of an acceptable quality (safe, durable and free from defects);
o be fit for the purpose that the business told you it would be fit for;
o be fit for any purpose for which goods of that kind are commonly supplied for;
o match the description, model or sample;
o meet any promises as to performance;
o come with full title and ownership with undisturbed possession; and
o have spare parts and repair facilities available for a reasonable time after purchase;
- services must:
o be supplied with due care and skill;
o be fit for purpose; and
o be delivered within a reasonable timeframe.

For assistance with commercial issues please contact Fleur Craig of Armour-Craig Legal on 03 5636 4986 or [email protected].