PHANGLEGAL.COM Lawyers and Notary Public

Challenges in Business

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money -- that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot -- it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.
- John Ruskin | Read more...

Succeeding in business during difficult times

The global financial crisis threatens businesses of all kinds all over the world. At the heart of this crisis is the question - 'why did it happen?'. Some commentators have suggested that a lack of corporate governance and risk management, especially on the part of major financial institutions, is to blame. Learning from mistakes of others and taking steps to recession proof your organisation during this time of uncertainty and financial unrest is paramount.

So what can you do and what can Phang Legal for you? | Read more...

Also appearing at the Justice Centre.

Recent developments and practical considerations

Discretionary trusts are commonly used for tax and asset protection purposes. They allow trustees to distribute income, and to distance the assets of the trust from potential creditors. However, a recent court case has since questioned their effectiveness for asset protection purposes.

In ASIC v Carey, the court found that a beneficiary who controlled the trust and the trustee's powers of distribution (ie, as trustee or as a director of the corporate trustee) effectively 'owned' the trust assets - even though that trust was a discretionary trust - and in that case, the trust assets were not protected from the beneficiary's creditors. | Read more...