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AussieLegal Pty Ltd Website Terms and Conditions

This Terms and Conditions (T&C) governs your use of our website. If you avail of any of the products and/or services of AussieLegal Pty Ltd, then you will be issued a separate agreement detailing the agreed terms and conditions of the product and/or service to be provided to you.

By accessing our website, you hereby agree to this T&C. Please thoroughly read and understand this T&C. We regularly update this T&C. Please always refer to the latest T&C on this page. Every time you access our website, you agree to be bound by the then current T&C.

The State of New South Wales, Australia regulates our T&C. In the event of breach or dispute with any of our T&C, NSW courts may have non-exclusive jurisdiction. Any invalid clause will become unenforceable and will not affect the whole T&C.

The AussieLegal website is intended as an informational and promotional brochure on our products and/or services. AussieLegal Pty Ltd is not a law firm and does not provide legal, financial, or any professional advice. All information on our website are in general terms, and may not cater to your specific circumstance. Any information on this website should not be taken as a substitute for any professional advice.

You agree to not use our website and its contents or to allow others to use our website and its contents for any illegal, fraudulent, defamatory, or inappropriate use. You further agree to not link our website and associate same as an endorsement of your website or your post without our prior written consent.

All references to other websites, other parties, other products or services on our website are referred to only for convenience, and are not an endorsement or approval of those other websites, other parties, other products or services. We further give no warranty as to the suitability of the contents of this website or of the contents of other linked sites to you or to your business.

Proper care and precaution were carried out in ensuring that the contents of our website are accurate. We however do not guarantee, neither do we accept any liability for the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the contents of this website or of the contents of other linked sites.

Aussielegal Pty Ltd is further not liable for any of the following:

  • any damages whatsoever you sustain as a result of your use of our website or of your use of any linked sites
  • your loss of property or income if the products and/or services you have ordered from the website do not meet your personal or business requirements
  • any third-party claims
  • for any viruses or other defects contained on this website.
 

When you communicate with us or submit an enquiry or order through our website, you agree to the collection and use of your personal information as discussed in our Privacy Policy. Please read and understand our Privacy Policy.

Once you have availed of our products and/or services, we consider all personal information as confidential information. This will be dealt with in detail in the separate engagement agreement with you. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for a more specific discussion on the collection, holding, and use of your information.

The contents on this website are copyrighted and owned by AussieLegal Pty Ltd or our licensors. You must not use or reproduce the contents of this website, including the AussieLegal logo, without our prior written consent.

BFA PLUS and Consent Orders PLUS packages

Prepare your information

The more preparation you do, the more efficient the process will be.

Agreement between the parties

We assume that both parties are in full agreement about the terms of the BFA. This includes BFAs at the start or mid relationship, and also Separation BFAs.

This scope of the service offered by AussieLegal, in conjunction with our panel of law firms, is designed to make the process as time and cost efficient as possible.

Reasonable small changes are fine and are easily within the scope of the service offered.

If the re-drafting and discussions with the advising lawyers are extensive, then additional fees may be charged by the law firms after consultation. This is very uncommon in our experience, but the law firms reserve the right in ‘difficult’ situations.

Full disclosure of assets and liabilities

Full disclosure of assets and liabilities is MANDATORY as part of the process.

The certifying lawyers WILL NOT certify a BFA or Consent Orders if there is not full financial disclosure.

Even if both parties choose to not disclose, the lawyers will not be able to assess if the BFA is fair and equitable and will not certify the agreement as the agreement is open to challenge as some time in the future.

You will be expected to provide account numbers and balances for all bank accounts, investment accounts, super accounts, plus details of all real estate and any other assets, plus details of mortgage accounts, credit card accounts and any other relevant asset or liability both in Australia and also assets and liabilities held offshore.

We recommend taking scans of the front pages of all accounts and rates notices and making these available to the lawyers and the other party to the agreement.

Fully explain what you wish to accomplish through a BFA or Consent Orders

In the questionnaire, please set out in bullet point form what you aim to accomplish. We are very experienced at interpreting instructions. We will ask you for clarification if there is a vague instruction. It is very important to have the draft agreement as complete as possible before it is sent to the advising solicitors. If in doubt. Please call AussieLegal on 1300 728 200 or email us at info@aussielegal.com.au to ask questions.

AussieLegal is not permitted to provide legal advice, but we can guide you and provide information that may assist you.

Fairness and Equity

One of the role of the certifying lawyers is to advise each party as to the fairness and equity of the proposed agreement and if each party should sign the agreement.

The certifying lawyers WILL NOT certify a BFA or Consent Orders if the agreement is not fair and equitable.

As part of the discovery process through the questionnaire, if we believe the proposed terms are not consistent with the reasonable expectations of the certifying law firms (given our experience and the feedback from the law firms in many previous files) we will bring this to your attention and discuss alternative terms.

Binding Financial Agreements PLUS

There are 3 stages in the BFA PLUS process:

  • Questionnaire and Preliminary Review: We ask you to complete the questionnaire in Word format (available at the time of purchase) including financial disclosure and instructions and return it to AussieLegal.
    • Experienced staff at AussieLegal will then conduct a preliminary review of your information and instructions to be certain that we can accommodate your requests.
    • In very rare cases, if we believe that your proposed BFA is unlikely to be accepted by our panel of advising and certifying lawyers, then AussieLegal will provide a refund of the purchase price less the amount of $200 to cover the administration fee and initial time expended (on a notional basis) and credit card fees. Please see our Refund Policy Below.
    • In all cases except those in accordance with the preceding term herein, AussieLegal then extracts the information and prepares a comprehensive BFA draft based on your questionnaire. This is emailed to you for comments and updates, if required. This part of the process is quite flexible and there is plenty of allowance for making changes and adding missing information.
  •  Review By Lawyers: When you are both happy with the draft BFA, it is forwarded to your assigned law firms for their review. They will review the document and contact each of you separately to discuss the agreement. Lawyer’s time is valuable.

 

IMPORTANT:

  • The fee charged allows for 2 hours of your lawyer’s time to review the BFA, discuss it with you, and issue the letter of advice and certificate.
  • Any additional fees will be invoiced directly by the assigned law firm only after consultation with you – there are no automatic additional fees. The parties will be responsible to pay any such additional fee to that law firm directly.
  • The additional fee is to be set by each law firm, however the amount of $350 plus GST per hour is a good indication.

 

There are a few circumstances which can delay the process and require more time by the lawyers:

  • If the parties change their minds; and / or
  • There has been non-disclosure or an inaccuracy of a particular fact, asset, resource or liability
  • If the terms agreed by the parties require significant further discussion; and / or
  • If there is some complication that arises after the discussions which requires significant re-drafting and further discussion between the lawyers; and / or
  • Where the parties change their minds after the lawyer’s certificates are issued and the certificates need to be re-issued; and / or
  • Where, in the opinion of either / or the advising lawyers, the BFA should be translated into the native language of either party, and the translator should act as an interpreter during the advisory process (NAATI certified translator & interpreter) then the additional cost of the translation and interpretation is for the account of the parties.

 

In these circumstances, the lawyers [reasonably] will ask for additional fees at the fee set out in the lawyer’s fee letter. If there are any additional fees, they will be payable directly to the law firm.

In the vast majority of cases (over 95%), the BFA PLUS process is completed and falls within the price quoted.

 

  • Certification and  Signing: When you are both happy with the final draft and the lawyers are happy, then:
    • The lawyers will send you a formal Letter of Advice summarising your discussion.
    • Each lawyer will ask each of you to sign and return a 1-page Acknowledgement confirming you have read and understand the advice.
    • The lawyers will then send each of you a 1-page Certificate. Print both certificates, attach them to a printed copy of the final draft, visit a JP and sign the agreement.
    • Scan and send a copy of the signed agreement and both certificates to each solicitor for their records.

 

 

SUPER SPLITTING

If the BFA is for separation (Binding Separation Agreement), and there are clauses agreeing to split super (transfer super from one party to the other) then the regulations require that the party whose super is to be split must formally notify the super fund.

This is called “Procedural Fairness,” and involves the law firm writing to the super fund with the necessary paperwork to allow the fund to respond formally. If this is to be done, then the law firm that undertakes the Procedural Fairness process will charge an additional fee of $200 plus GST.

 

IMPORTANT:

There is no guarantee that the solicitors will issue a certificate. If the solicitors are not comfortable with the proposed terms, and no compromise can be satisfactorily reached, then the lawyers may not issue the certificate. If this is the case, legal advice has been given and there is no possibility of a refund of any part of the service.  

Consent Orders PLUS

There are 3 stages in the Consent Orders process:

  • Questionnaire: We ask you to complete the questionnaire in Word format (available at the time of purchase) including financial disclosure and instructions, and the Application for Consent Orders form (Q1 to Q41 only where relevant) and return these to AussieLegal via email.
  • Drafting:  AussieLegal then extracts the information and prepares your Application for Consent Orders form and a draft Consent Orders based on your questionnaire. These are emailed to you for comments and updates, if required. This part of the process is quite flexible and there is plenty of allowance for making changes and adding missing information.
  • Lawyers’ Review: When you are both happy with the draft documents, they are forwarded to your respective assigned law firms. They will review the documents and contact each of you (the parties to the agreement) separately to discuss the documents.

 

Lawyer’s time is valuable. There are a few circumstances which can delay the process and require more time by the lawyers:

    • If the parties change their minds; and / or
    • If the terms agreed by the parties requires further discussion and negotiation; and / or
    • If there is some complication that arises after the discussions which requires re-drafting and further discussion between the lawyers; and / or
    • Where the parties change their minds after the lawyer’s certificates are issued and the certificated need to be re-issued; and / or
    • Where, in the opinion of either / or the advising lawyers, the documents should be translated into the native language of either party, and the translator should act as an interpreter during the advisory process (NAATI certified translator & interpreter) then the cost of the translation and interpretation is for the account of the parties.

 

 In these circumstances, the solicitors [reasonably] will ask for additional fees at an agreed hourly rate.

The lawyers will alert you to this situation, and request fees directly from the parties. In most cases, the Consent Orders PLUS process is completed and falls within the price quoted.

 

  • Certification & signing: When you are both happy with the final documents:
    • The lawyers will advise you accordingly and will send you a formal Letter of Advice summarising your discussion.
    • They will ask to sign and return a 1-page Acknowledgement confirming you have read and understood the advice.
    • The lawyers will then send each of you a 1-page Certificate.
    • The lawyers will instruct you on the formal part of the process to ensure it is signed properly.
    • The documents may then be filed electronically by either advising lawyer.

 

IMPORTANT:

There is NO GUARANTEE that an application will be accepted and stamped by the Court.

Formal legal advice and certification, as part of the process with your assigned lawyers, is designed to give the application the greatest chance of success.
In cases where the Court is not satisfied, or the Court requires additional information or clarification on a particular order, they may issue a ‘Requisition’ (a request to provide more information).

If there is a Requisition form the Court, your assigned lawyers will require additional fees to address the requests from the Court*.

Probate Assist and Letters of Administration Assist

Prior to purchasing an AussieLegal product or service, we ask you to register an account. Registration will provide you with a member page where you can access your documents and additional information.  

Process:

There are three (3) stages in the Probate Assist and Letters of Administration Assist process:

  1. Questionnaire, Will and Death Certificate: We ask you to complete the questionnaire in Word format (available at the time of purchase) and return it to AussieLegal along with a scanned copy of the Will, codicils and death certificate.
  2. Preparation of Application Documentation: AussieLegal will review the information and prepare the draft application documentation. We will email these to you for your review along with a copy of the advertising instructions (not applicable in SA and WA).
  3. Signing and Filing: When you have completed the advertising, email AussieLegal and we will update the forms and email the final draft and signing and filing instructions. The final documents may then be filed at the relevant Probate Registry.

 

Additional fees for Probate Assist and Letters of Administration Assist:

The price of the Probate Assist service allows for four (4) hours of paralegal time to prepare and administer the grant of probate application.

The price of the Letters of Administration Assist service allows for eight (8) hours of paralegal time to prepare and administer the grant of letters of administration application.

In around 95% of the thousands of applications AussieLegal has completed, the time allowed is sufficient. However, there are a few circumstances which can delay the process and require more time to complete:

  1. If the family arrangements are very complex in cases of intestacy (no Will of the deceased); and / or
  2. If the extended family of the deceased is large and it is necessary to create ‘consent’ forms for all members; and / or
  3. If the process is drawn out for an unreasonable amount of time because of delays; and / or
  4. If there is some complication that arises which requires significant re-drafting and further discussion.
 

In these circumstances, AussieLegal [reasonably] will ask for additional fees at an hourly rate of $200 +GST per hour. AussieLegal will alert you to this situation prior to incurring additional fees.

Reading the fine print can be a tedious and boring task. Terms and conditions are never short, as it details your rights and limitations as to your use of a product or service. Moreover, it specifies the permissions you are giving to the company for using their products or services. Hence, we are giving you this special voucher to thank you for your effort in ensuring you know the terms and conditions of our services.

Allow us to congratulate you for making it this far in our terms and conditions by giving you this special voucher: ALSURPRISE. Use this special voucher at checkout to get 10% OFF on your orders. However, this voucher cannot be used on top of other vouchers or for sale items. Moreover, it also cannot be used for DIYs. So, please use it wisely. You may contact our customer support team for more information.

Lastly, please leave a review on Google or on our Facebook page. Your feedback can help boost our team’s spirit. Please let us know that we are doing a great job and how we can improve our services.

Australian Consumer Law

Under Australian Consumer Law, you as a customer, are not entitled to a refund of a service or product if you simply change your mind.

For more information: https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees/cancelling-a-service 

Refund Policy

BFA PLUS / SEPARATION BFA PLUS

0-180 days

No completed questionnaire received by AussieLegal

100% refund*

 

Completed questionnaire received but no legal advice given

$1,300 refund*

0-180 days

Questionnaire received and following negative preliminary review (see Binding Financial Agreements PLUS 1b. above.

100% refund less admin fee of $295

180+ days

No completed questionnaire received by AussieLegal

100% refund**

 

Completed questionnaire received but no legal advice given

$1,300 refund**

   
 

less 5%* or 10%** charge for credit card processing and admin 

 

 

PROBATE PLUS / LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION PLUS

0-180 daysNo completed questionnaire received by AussieLegal100% refund*
 Completed questionnaire received by AussieLegalNo Refund
180+ daysNo completed questionnaire received by AussieLegal100% refund**
 Completed questionnaire received by AussieLegalNo refund
   
 less 5%* or 10%** charge for credit card processing and admin  

 

ALL D.I.Y. LEGAL KITS

No refunds will be provided at any time once the order is processed.

Time Allocation Policy

Please take note of the time allocated for each advising lawyer per lawyer-assisted or PLUS product, and the time from the sending of the first draft until the issuing of the certificates by the lawyers:

PRODUCTLAWYER’S TIMETIME LIMIT
BFA / BSA PLUS2 Hours3 Months
BCSA Plus1 Hour3 Months
Consent Orders3 Hours3 Months
Legal Will Plus1 Hour2 Months
Binding Mutual Wills Plus1 Hour2 Months
Power of Attorney Plus1 Hour2 Months
Enduring Guardianship Plus1 Hour2 Months
Testamentary Trust Plus1 Hour2 Months
Loan Agreement Plus1 Hour2 Months
Confidentiality Agreement Plus1 Hour2 Months
Works Strata By-law Plus1 Hour2 Months
Website T&Cs and Privacy Policy Plus1 Hour2 Months

 

Depending on the lawyer assisted or Plus product, each assigned lawyer will allocate one (1) to three (3) hours for preparation, independent legal advice through online resources or face-to-face, as well as written advice. Additional fees may apply if more time is required for more complex matters. Should this be the case, you will be informed immediately of potential additional fees—prior to the commencement of the lawyer’s assistance.

The time limit from the issuing of the first draft by AussieLegal to the issuing of legal advice by the advising law firm(s) shall be between two (2) and three (3) months, depending on the lawyer assisted or Plus product and the complexity of your circumstances. Additional fees may apply if the process is extended by the client(s).

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