Blog

Martelli McKegg welcomes Andrew Skinner to the partnership

We are delighted to welcome Andrew Skinner to the partnership. Andrew is an experienced commercial lawyer with specialist industry experience in building and construction and franchising.

By Melissa Higham - 4 Feb 2020

Good news for Unsecured Creditors: Directors' Duties

A proposed new change to insolvency law is good news for unsecured creditors.  As the law currently stands, when a director is successfully sued for breaches of duties to the company, any recovery is an asset of the company.  This means that the money is subject to a secured creditor claim and quite possibly will not be available at all as a dividend to unsecured creditors.

By Tony Johnson - 19 Dec 2019

Building consents FAQS

We are often asked about the rules and regulations around building consents. We have put together answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.

By Meika McHardy - 12 Dec 2019

Court costs in disputes as to who should be trustee

The recent Court of Appeal decision in Guest v Guest [2019] NZCA 64 stands as a reminder to trustees that if they do not act reasonably, then they may be exposing themselves to a significant costs liability.

By Terri Gough - 10 Nov 2019

Changes to the Disputes Tribunal - threshold increased to $30,000

The Disputes Tribunal has just increased the financial threshold for submitting a claim to $30,000. Until 29 October 2019, a party could only file a claim up to a maximum of $15,000 (or $20,000 with both parties' agreement). At this low sum it meant that parties who wanted to pursue claims slightly over $15,000 faced the prospect of either writing off a portion of the debt to pursue their claim in the Tribunal, or abandoning it all together.

By Pierce Bedogni - 1 Nov 2019

Want to drug test your employees? What you need to know first

Employers are becoming increasingly aware of the risk that drug-taking poses to a workplace. However, employers should tread carefully when deciding to drug test employees. The employers in the recent case A v N learned this lesson the hard way.

By Claire Mansell - 10 Oct 2019

Modern families and changing laws

Family demographics have changed significantly over the past 60 years.  To keep up, the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 (PRA) was amended in 2002 to extend the property sharing to heterosexual and homosexual de facto and civil union partners.

By Dharsh Nanayakkara - 26 Sep 2019

Changes to employment laws widening the scope for personal grievances

The Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Bill has passed its third reading in parliament and will come into force by at least 27 June 2020. The Bill allows for a "controlling third party" to be joined to a personal grievance claim in the Employment Relations Authority. This means that an individual employee can bring a claim against both their 'official' employer and any other controlling third party.

By Claire Mansell - 4 Sep 2019

Tenancy reforms: Who pays if the tenant damages your property?

In 2015 the Court of Appeal told landlords they could not recover the cost of damage caused by their residential tenants unless it was done intentionally. This was because the Property Law Act 2007 said that a landlord could not require a tenant to meet the cost of damage which can be insured against. From 27 August 2019 the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 dictates the law on this issue.

By Mathew Martin - 28 Aug 2019

We're separating and our assets are all in trust. Does that mean I get nothing?

The Property (Relationships) Act 1976 determines what is and is not "relationship property" and which assets should be divided equally between de facto partners and spouses on separation. It also defines "separate property" as assets owned by one partner alone and not to be shared equally. But in a country with the highest number of trusts per capita in the world, what happens if your assets are held in trust?

By Telise Kelly - 18 Aug 2019