2014 Legal Articles

With more than an 200 cows dead or left with liver and kidney damage, and no definitive answer about the cause, farmers are nervous about what to plant over coming weeks for next winter’s crop. See Ian Blackman’s comments in the October issue of NZ Dairy...

The Geyser Community Foundation exists for the purpose of ensuring charitable gifts in the Rotorua and Taupo districts are managed as originally intended. People can leave money for the benefit of the Rotorua and Taupo communities generally, or set up their own named endowment fund and...

For those of our clients who have an off-farm investment in the form of a cross-lease residential, rental or bach property, this article is for you. Often, there comes a time where you decide that you would like to add another bedroom, extend the living area...

Holding open homes, getting the right price, moving, and finding another property can all be stressful. Before you embark on that process there is one important matter that should be given some serious thought, and that is the terms of the listing authority (or agency...

A topical issue for many farmers is the common industry practice of averaging wages for employees over the season. There are many reasons why averaging of hours is preferred. It is difficult to anticipate the hours that an employee will spend working because of the seasonal...

It is becoming increasingly common for lenders (usually banks) to require third parties to give guarantees for the obligations of a borrower. Where the borrower is associated with other entities the bank wants to ensure that securities given to the bank by the other entities...

As your farming business grows and you need extra accommodation on your property for additional staff, a manager or a sharemilker, you may consider building a new home on your property. While building a new home can be an exciting time, it may also become stressful...

Jumping the fence -Growing up Sandy Van Den Heuvel never considered one day she would go to university. “It wasn’t encouraged, it wasn’t something my family had done,” she says. So, when, after two decades as a legal executive Ms Van Den Heuvel decided to embark on a...

BlackmanSpargo has revised its contract milking agreement. The new agreement contains a number of clauses which are not available under the Federated Farmers’ Contract Milking Agreement 2011. The significant advantages to the BlackmanSpargo contract milking agreement are: The agreement recognises that many contract milkers will be forming...

In December 2011, I wrote a book called “Keeping Farming in the Family – a guide to farm succession”. My motivation for committing a lot of time and effort to this venture was a compelling desire to help farming families understand how farmland in this...

A topic of continual interest and discussion is the use of the family trusts in New Zealand to undertake business transactions. Such trusts are commonly referred to as trading trusts. A likely outcome of the New Zealand Law Commission’s review of trusts are higher standards to...

The Environment With the economic downturn and many businesses still struggling to make ends meet, inevitably some businesses are still at risk of failing. In this environment, it is important for farmers to understand the risks associated with paying large deposits for goods or services. The Rationale So...