Welcome to our latest newsletter. We’re now mid-spring but still in the silly season when it comes to the weather – snow and rain, and sunshine and high temperatures, sometimes in the same place within a week, but still you’ve got to love New Zealand, it’s a beautiful country!
This month we cover some sensitive topics that have been newsworthy this year – namely the process to adopt a child in New Zealand and particularly the laws around surrogacy. We also cover what happens if you are entitled to or need to provide child support – what are the options/methods available.
Andrew and Simon attended the ALPMA (Australasian Legal Practice Management Association) conference last month and share their key takeaways from this conference.
Our spotlight this month is on one of our lawyers, Michael, so well-known and respected in our community that he now acts for some second and third generation clients.
We’d also like to send our heartiest congratulations to Nicola Dixon, our Registered Legal Executive, who has become a Fellow of the NZILE. This is a very prestigious award and is the highest level obtainable by Legal Executives.
We hope you find our newsletter informative and useful. If there is anything you would like to see us cover in future issues please let us know.
Cheers,
Simon, Petra, Andrew, Richard, Kirsten & the team
Michael assists clients with buying and selling of residential and commercial property, buying and selling of small businesses, estate and family trust planning and administering, wills and enduring powers of attorney. He also has in-depth knowledge of subdivisions.
He's passionate about delivering a prompt and effective service to clients and making sure that they understand and are comfortable with what's being planned. He advises it's always best to get legal advice early on so that overall things progress more smoothly [read more]
For some people natural conception is not possible – so what are some of the alternatives available? Adoption and surrogacy are two ways of forming a family when natural conception isn’t possible. Both have complex and sensitive issues that require careful planning and preparation, and involve ethical, legal, medical, social, and emotional aspects that affect all parties involved. Intended parents should be [read more]
We’re delighted to share that Nicola Dixon, our Registered Legal Executive, has become a Fellow of the NZILE. This is a very prestigious award and is the highest level obtainable by Legal Executives.
It means Nicola is now able to perform additional duties such as witnessing statutory declarations, certifying identification documents, and witnessing donor signatures to enduring powers of attorney.
Congratulations Nicola!
Last month Andrew and Simon attended the ALPMA Conference in Melbourne. The focus of the conference was on the relationship between people and technology. It was interesting to get an Australian perspective on the legal market and practices and although we do things similar in many ways there are interesting differences.
We also discovered there are some exciting new legal technologies being developed and it was good to see what products are available. Also, we can confirm Melbourne has great food!
Child support is money paid by parents who do not live with their children, or who share care with someone else. In New Zealand, child support can be managed by Inland Revenue (IRD) through a formula assessment or a voluntary agreement, or by the parents themselves through a private agreement. The amount of child support depends on the income, living costs and care arrangements of both parents [read more]
You can now use your credit card to pay your invoice online. Simply go to https://payments.treadwellgordon.co.nz/ and enter your details. Please note there is a convenience fee of 2.7% + $0.30 to pay your invoice this way.
