We set our fees in accordance with the New Zealand Law Society guidelines. Fee estimates may take into account the time required, the complexity of the matter, risk to the firm, value to the client, whether the matter is urgent, and a number of other factors set out by the Law Society.

Where possible we will provide a fee estimate at the beginning of an engagement, such as common transactions like conveyancing, where we know from experience how long those files generally take. All fees are estimated on a case by case basis as no two files are the same.

If you would like to discuss a fee estimate for work you are considering, call us today.

We are required by law to obtain a lot of basic but personal information about all our clients. This may include proof of identity, address, source of wealth (if money is passing through our trust account), your IRD number if we are dealing with land, and a number of other things.

Where you use a name that is different to that shown on your identification, we may ask to see a marriage certificate or deed poll, and we may need you to sign a statutory declaration to explain the difference.

We work with people all over the country and around the world. For established clients we can do most work remotely, meeting and witnessing documents via Zoom or similar. A small number of documents still require in person witnessing. We can help make arrangements for that, depending where you are and what the document is.

We can complete client onboarding remotely as long as you have a New Zealand driver’s licence and cellphone number. Where you are required to sign a document in front of a JP or lawyer, we can help arrange that in your town, or you are welcome to come in to the office.

Most of our lawyers and legal executives are experts in more than one area of law. For example, we might advise on conveyancing with relationship property matters, or rural transactions with succession planning. Not many files are only about one thing!

The easiest way to get the best fit lawyer for your work is to call our receptionist Briar and give her an idea of the sort of work you need. She will put you through to the right person, and if necessary we will put together the right team for you.

Downie Stewart is a modern firm with a very long history. We value integrity, hard work and personal relationships. Our staff have lived and worked all over the world, with many coming to law as a second career. Their maturity and depth of experience is very helpful when analysing legal issues and giving practical legal advice.

We are very privileged to work with the clients that we do, we love being their trusted advisors.

We encourage our staff to live well and implement various wellness initiatives for them. This is reflected in the number of long-term staff that we retain.

Yes, Downie Stewart can act as a professional trustee for client’s trusts.  Each trust is assessed on a case-by-case basis.  

New Zealand courts have emphasised the importance of having an independent trustee.  A key role of the professional independent trustee is to provide an independent view on matters and ensure that trustees meet their legal obligations. A key element of this role is helping to ensure that trustees uphold their legal obligations. This is particularly relevant to the additional duties imposed by the Trusts Act 2019. 

The Partners of Downie Stewart are commonly appointed as executors of clients’ wills. Our partners are very experienced in estate administration and accustomed to dealing with families of clients in the difficult times after death.  Our Partners often provide much-needed reassurance, experience and oversight in what can be a very challenging time.

In New Zealand, barristers are courtroom specialists.  A unique hangover from the historical separation between barristers and solicitors is that barristers are unable to accept money from clients directly, nor can they operate a trust account.  Instead, clients must first engage a solicitor who in turn engages a barrister. 

A solicitor is someone more likely to be your first point of contact when you have a legal issue.  Solicitors generally advise on rights and obligations, draft legal documents and assist with legal compliance and typically have an area of law in which they specialise.  A solicitor though, is not precluded from appearing in court. All lawyers at Downie Stewart are qualified as barristers and solicitors of the High Court, although we practise as solicitors.

During a transaction, whether it be in a commercial or personal context, you may be asked to take independent legal advice. This could be because the transaction you are entering either involves you incurring liability or waives one of your rights. Some legal documents require all parties to it to have received independent legal advice to be legally enforceable. Some examples of these types of documents are:

• Relationship Property agreements also known as a ‘Contracting Out agreements’ or ‘Pre-nups’;

• Separation agreements; 

• Personal guarantees (albeit there are times when you can waive your right to independent legal advice); 

• Occupation right agreements; and 

• Enduring Powers of Attorney. 

Independent legal advice is where you meet with a lawyer who has no association with any other party to the matter you are involved with. The lawyer will advise you of the effects and implications of entering the transaction and answer any questions you have in relation to this.

We will be asking you all the standard client on-boarding questions. In addition, we will need to know about your New Zealand residency or citizenship status, because not everyone can buy residential land in New Zealand. In particular, there are some houses and sections that resident visa holders cannot buy under current Overseas Investment rules.

We will also have a number of questions about the house you are interested in. Those will likely include:

How old is the house? Has it had renovations? Does it have a woodburner? Has there been any rewiring? Have you checked you can insure this property? Has there been any flooding at this property? Any earthquake damage claims? How will you pay for it? Will you be using savings, kiwisaver, a family loan or gift? If you are using a mortgage advisor, who?

All of these answers help us do a better job for you and be accurate with our fee estimate for your work. Some of these make a nice list of questions you can ask the agent.

Start with a call to Jane Fletcher. Jane heads our property team and specialises in subdivision work including fee simple, cross lease and unit title developments. Jane will help you put together the team you will need for an efficient, well-organised project, including your surveyor, valuer, accountant and lender.

“Solicitor’s Approval” clauses are often mistaken for Due Diligence conditions.  A well-written Due Diligence condition can give a purchaser an opportunity to carry out broad investigations of the property including reviewing the LIM report, Title, Building Report, insurance and even finance, after their offer has been accepted.

Solicitor’s Approval clauses, by contrast, allow a solicitor to disapprove the agreement only if there are quite narrow legal issues which impede the legal conveyance (passing of title) of the property.  This clause is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card, and cannot be used to insert a condition, such as finance, that the buyer and seller did not include in the agreement to begin with.  We discourage the use of Solicitor’s Approval clauses as they are widely misunderstood and dangerous to buyers.  If you have any queries about the clauses in your offer, have the agent to send it to us to check over before you sign.

The Bright Line rules are a set of tax rules under which the government taxes the capital gain on some residential land and house sales.  There are some exceptions to the rules, including when you are selling your main home, and some exceptions to the exceptions!  It is important to remember that even when you qualify for a bright line exemption, there are other reasons a residential land sale can be taxed too.  We recommend you seek advice from an accountant to check any tax and timing implications before you sell.

Yes.  We recommend that you allow your lawyer to check the Sale and Purchase Agreement before it is sent out to potential purchasers. There are significant vendor warranties in the Agreement relating to the state of the chattels, council notices, and whether work done to the property has all the appropriate consents.  We are often engaged to limit these warranties where they are too onerous on a vendor.

A purchaser buying a house or building with vacant possession (no tenant) usually has a right to inspect the property once prior to settlement.  This is the purchaser’s chance to check the chattels are in reasonable working order and that there has not been any damage to the property since the date of the Agreement. We recommend this inspection be completed 2-3 working days before settlement.  The deadline for raising issues under this clause is very strict, and the best results sometimes take time to negotiate.  Book your pre-settlement inspection through the sales agent, and let us know everything is great – or not – at least 2 working days before settlement date.

In general, a director of a company can sign any document that is not a deed. There are exceptions to this rule where it is for instance not reasonable to assume that only one director would sign an agreement of that particular nature and importance.

If the document is expressed to be a deed then if there is only one director that director must sign and have their signature witnessed. If there are two or more directors then two directors must sign the document. Their signatures need not be witnessed.

A company also can appoint attorneys. A document creating a power of attorney must be signed as a deed.

Most leases have what is called a holding-over period. This means that unless the lease expressly says otherwise the lease will continue on a month-to-month basis. This means that either party can terminate the lease by giving the other party one months notice.

A broad range of laws apply to businesses in New Zealand. Which ones apply will depend on the individual business involved and therefore it is worthwhile to discuss any concerns with a lawyer in advance of establishing a business.

Generally speaking, the main laws that will apply to your business are likely to be the laws relating to employment contracts (including rules relating to entitlements of employees), Fair Trading Act matters (such as ensuring that you do not make misrepresentations), tax laws (to ensure that you pay the correct amount of tax), intellectual property, consumer laws (such as the Consumer Guarantees Act and the law relating to contract generally (eg supply agreements and terms of trade).

If you also form a company to operate your business then there are additional laws to consider such as the Companies Act.

You can give notice to the creditor canceling a guarantee but you will remain liable for monies owing as at the date of cancellation. There may also be implications for the person whose obligations you have guaranteed.

Prior legal advice should be sought before giving any notice.

A constitution is a document filed with the Companies Office and is freely searchable by the public. A Shareholder Agreement however is a private contract between shareholders of the company is generally confidential.

Shareholder agreements are generally used to govern more complex and specific matters (and private) than a constitution, which is typically used to deal with more mechanical issues.

We recommend the use of Shareholder Agreements before business relationships are entered into.

Great care needs to be taken when entering into restraints of trade in even greater care needs to be taken when seeking to enforce them.

It is important for instance that if a restraint of trade is sought adequate consideration is provided for that restraint. Employment agreements regularly contain restraints of trade that have far-reaching and often unenforceable restrictions. It is more likely outside of an employment contract, that a restraint is able to be enforced (eg. upon the sale of your business).