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We resolve commercial disputes and get business owners paid promptly!

29/10/2026

If you have ever had a dispute worth more than $30,000 but wanted to avoid the cost of going to court, there is some welcome news.

The Disputes Tribunal, New Zealand's version of a small claims court, can now hear cases worth up to $60,000, double the previous $30,000 limit.

This change came in under the Disputes Tribunal Amendment Act 2024.
Previously, if your dispute was worth somewhere between $30,001 and $60,000, you were stuck with an awkward choice. You could either cap your claim at $30,000 and accept less than you were owed, or take the matter to the District Court, where legal costs could end up costing more than the dispute itself.

The Disputes Tribunal is designed to be simple and affordable. Filing a claim at this higher level costs as little as $496. Cases are heard by referees rather than judges, and formal legal representation is not allowed at the hearing itself, although getting advice beforehand is still common and often sensible, especially now that higher-value, more complicated disputes can end up there.

This is a meaningful change for small business owners and individuals who previously had no good option for mid-sized disputes.

Read the full details here: norlinglaw.co.nz/blog-posts/disputes-tribunal-jurisdiction-increases/

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

28/10/2026

The new High Court disclosure rules mean the early stages of a dispute now carry more weight than they used to. If your business gets drawn into litigation, being unprepared at the outset can be costly.

A few practical points worth knowing.

First, the duty to preserve documents starts before a case is even filed. This covers emails, texts, contracts, drafts, and internal notes, anything that could be relevant to a dispute, including documents that may not help your position. Deleting or losing these, even unintentionally, can lead to real consequences, including the court drawing negative conclusions about your case.

Second, because everything needs to be ready sooner, legal costs tend to be more front-loaded than under the old system. Businesses that get advice early, before a dispute escalates, are generally in a stronger position than those who wait.

If your business could be facing a dispute, or you simply want to understand what these changes mean for how you keep records, it's worth getting advice early rather than after a claim lands.

Book a free 30-minute consultation to talk through your situation: norlinglaw.co.nz/book-a-consultation/

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

27/10/2026

If your business ends up in a High Court dispute, the rules around what documents you have to hand over, and when, changed significantly this year.

Until recently, businesses involved in a High Court case could gather and hand over relevant documents in evidence gradually, as the case progressed. That has now changed. Under new rules that came into effect from 1 January 2026, parties must exchange key documents right at the start, at the same time as filing their first court papers.

This includes documents that support your position, and, importantly, documents that might work against you. In the past, some of this could come out much later. Now it needs to be on the table from day one.
Asking the court to order the disclosure of extra documents later on is also harder than it used to be. A judge generally needs to agree it is fair and proportionate before more documents are required.

In practice, this means businesses need to have their paperwork in order well before a dispute reaches the High Court, not once it gets there. Emails, contracts, notes, and internal messages relevant to a dispute all need to be kept, even before a claim is filed.

We've written a full breakdown of what these changes mean and who they affect.

Read more: norlinglaw.co.nz/blog-posts/new-high-court-disclosure-rules/

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

26/10/2026

If you have been cut out of a joint venture or business opportunity you helped build, it is worth knowing that you may have options, even without a formal written agreement in place.

The first step is usually working out whether the other party's conduct crossed a line, taking a shared opportunity for themselves, or excluding you without justification after you both put in the work. This often comes down to looking closely at what was contributed, by whom, and what was actually agreed, even informally.

From there, the value of what was lost or gained needs to be worked out. This might be profit the other party earned, opportunities you missed out on, or the value of your original contribution.

Depending on the situation, early action can matter. In some cases, this might mean sending a formal letter, opening negotiations, or in more serious cases, taking urgent legal steps to protect a position, for example around property involved in the deal.

Many of these disputes are resolved without going to court once the affected party gets proper advice and asserts their position. Outcomes can include compensation, a share of profits, a buy-out, or being reinstated in the venture.

If this sounds like your situation, it is worth talking it through with someone who can assess your options.

Book a consultation: norlinglaw.co.nz/book-a-consultation/

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

25/10/2026

22/10/2026

You team up with someone to chase a business opportunity. You put in the time, the money, the contacts, maybe months of groundwork. Then, right before it pays off, your partner cuts you out and takes the deal for themselves.

This happens more often than people expect, and it is not just frustrating, it can be financially significant.

When two or more parties agree to work together toward a shared business goal, whether that is developing a property, launching a venture, or pursuing a deal, the law can treat that arrangement seriously, even if nothing was ever formally signed. Parties in this kind of relationship are generally expected to act in good faith and not take the shared opportunity for themselves.

Some signs this may apply to your situation: you jointly pursued an opportunity with someone else, you contributed money, time, or expertise, and then you were shut out just before the deal was finalised, while the
other party went on to profit.

The good news is that being excluded like this does not necessarily mean you have no options, even where there was no formal written agreement.

We've outlined what typically happens in these situations and what can be done about it.

Read more: norlinglaw.co.nz/blog-posts/joint-venture-agreement-disputes/

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

29/09/2026

Most shareholder disputes don’t begin with a dramatic falling out.

They begin with a decision made without consulting the other shareholders.

Or a direction the company took that one director didn’t agree with. Or a dividend that wasn’t paid when it should have been.

By the time someone calls a lawyer, the relationship has usually been breaking down for months, sometimes years. The dispute has a name by then, but it’s been in motion for a long time.

What we see consistently: the earlier a dispute is properly framed and specialist advice is taken, the more options remain available. Negotiated buyouts, mediation, structured exits, Court-ordered remedies. Those options exist, but they require time and a clear legal position to work with.

The longer a dispute runs without structure, the fewer of those pathways survive.

If there is tension among your shareholders right now, even if it feels manageable or unlikely to escalate, it is worth understanding your legal position before it does.

We work on shareholder disputes, not shareholder agreement drafting. If you’re in a dispute, or can see one forming, that’s the work we’re built for.

Book at norlinglaw.co.nz/book-a-consultation/

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

09/09/2026

Insolvency appointments are running at their highest year-to-date level since 2011, and construction alone has shed over 500 companies in the past year. For law firms without a dedicated insolvency or restructuring practice, that volume is starting to show up as referral pressure: clients with matters that need specialist handling, arriving faster than usual.

We work with a number of firms on exactly this basis, taking on insolvency, restructuring, and director-risk matters as a referral partner rather than a competitor for the firm's broader relationship. That includes shareholder disputes that surface out of a distressed business, tax debt negotiations that sit outside a general practice's usual scope, and formal insolvency processes that need a team who does this work daily.

For firms managing an increasing number of these referrals, having a specialist partner who can pick up a matter cleanly, and hand it back cleanly, matters more this year than it has in some time.

If your practice is fielding more insolvency-adjacent matters than usual, we're glad to talk about how a referral relationship might work.

Get in touch: norlinglaw.co.nz/book-a-consultation/

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

07/09/2026

Last June, personal finance research site MoneyHub published a comprehensive guide to IRD tax debt for New Zealand business owners, developed in partnership with our tax debt negotiation team.

The guide walks through how a missed GST or PAYE payment compounds through penalties and use-of-money interest, why GST and PAYE are treated as trust money with personal liability implications for directors, and what options exist before IRD's enforcement powers come into play.

It's the kind of detail we work through with clients directly, now available as a standalone resource for any business owner wanting to understand their position before picking up the phone.

Read the guide: https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/tax-debt.html

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

04/09/2026

New Zealand's construction sector lost 551 companies over the past year, and the fourth quarter of 2025 recorded the highest quarterly failure rate since sector tracking began in 2022. Construction now accounts for roughly 30% of all liquidation appointments nationally, a disproportionate share for an industry that makes up a much smaller slice of the economy.

Consolidation of this scale rarely happens cleanly. When a construction business closes, unwinds, or restructures, the people left holding unresolved positions are often co-owners: shareholders who built the business together and now disagree about what happens next. Should the remaining assets be split, sold, or wound down. Does one shareholder buy the other out. Who carries what's left of the liability.

These situations are rarely about who's right. They're about which options are still realistically open, given the state of the business, the relationship between the parties, and how much time is left before a decision gets made for them by creditors or the market.

We work with shareholders navigating exactly this: not adjudicating blame, but mapping the practical options that remain (buyout, wind-down, restructuring, or a negotiated exit) and helping clients choose the one that protects their position.

If your business is part of a shareholder relationship under this kind of pressure, it's worth understanding your options before others decide for you.

Talk to us:
norlinglaw.co.nz/book-a-consultation/

Norling Law is a specialist Litigation and Dispute Resolution Law firm with a core focus on Insolvency and Restructuring.

Address

Level 1/55 Corinthian Drive
Albany
0632

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5:30pm
Friday	9am - 5:30pm

Website

http://www.norlinglaw.co.nz/

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