Frequently asked questions

Yes, we definitely can. We understand that you might be absurdly busy, have no easy access to transport, be laid up in hospital or be physically frail. We are happy to meet with you at a place of your choosing.

We are regularly out and about throughout the northern suburbs of Sydney and all over the Central Coast, including Hornsby, Waitara, Wahroonga, Turramurra, Pymble, West Pymble, North Ryde, Macquarie Park, Chatswood, Epping, Cheltenham, Beecroft, Pennant Hills, Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Thornleigh, Westleigh, Normanhurst, Mount Colah, Berowra, Woy Woy, Gosford, Wyong, Erina, Terrigal, Wamberal, Avoca and anywhere in the area.

We are happy to meet you at your home or work if that is more convenient for you. If you prefer to meet us in one of our meeting rooms, all our locations have lift access.

The short answer is no. We will endeavour to meet with you in person so that we can fully understand your legal issues and provide appropriate advice, but we know that isn’t always possible.

For whatever reason a face to face meeting may not be the best option for you, if it suits you better to speak by telephone or video call, please let us know. If it doesn’t suit you to talk to us at all (we get it; you’re very busy!) we can still provide limited scope legal advice in writing or by email.

Safe custody is a storage facility provided by law firms for storing your important, original legal documents such as original wills, original enduring powers of attorney, and original certificates of title. Our safe custody is a collection of important legal documents you have made in the past, that you will likely need to refer to again in the future. Safe custody is the place to leave any legal document that you cannot afford to lose.

Nothing disappoints us more than to learn after your death that you have misplaced your original will because you took it home instead of leaving it in safe custody, and you don’t even want to know how many hoops you will need to jump through if you want to sell your property but have misplaced your original certificate of title.

Any documents you leave in our safe custody are held by us on your behalf. The documents belong to you and are stored purely for your benefit. You are welcome to uplift them from us at any time (we only need about 24 hours notice), but please keep in mind that we can only release your documents to you. We cannot release your documents to someone else. With this in mind, please don’t be offended when we ask to see your photo ID; we just want to double check you are who you say you are!

If you are collecting safe custody documents in person you will be asked to sign them out. If you have changed solicitors and your new solicitor is uplifting safe custody on your instructions, your solicitor will ask you to sign a release authority instructing us to forward your safe custody to them, and your solicitor will certify a true copy of your photo ID for our records.

Yes, we usually can. At Corcoran Lawyers we operate a paperless work environment. Every document, every communication and every file note we make is meticulously scanned and saved to your electronic file and labelled for easy identification. Our paper files are used to store original documents for the duration of your matter (original contracts, transfer documents, certified copies of documents and so on).

At the end of your matter a decision is made about whether any original documents which remain on the paper file should be returned to you or stored in safe custody, and a final scan is done of any correspondence or file notes not already saved to your electronic file before the paper file is closed.

Because we keep everything electronically we can quickly and easily access your file long after it is finished. If you would like a copy of a document (or documents) from your file made available in our secure online portal or sent by encrypted email to you, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

A will is a legal document that sets out who you want to receive your assets when you die. You should make a will for two main reasons:

• Making a will is the only way you can ensure your assets will be distributed according to your wishes when you die; and
• It will be even more stressful for your family to deal with your passing if you haven’t left a will.

If you die without a will your estate will be distributed according to a predetermined formula and, if your only living relatives are more distant than cousins, your estate will pass to the government.

Preparing your own will is not really advisable. A will must conform to strict legal requirements, otherwise the courts may decide it is not valid. If this is the case your assets will be distributed according to a predetermined formula and not as you intended. Anyone who is not legally qualified risks making a mistake, creating uncertainty or losing opportunities for good estate planning if they make a will for themselves.

The precise wording of a will is a specialised and important legal task. The ordinary meaning of words is not necessarily the same as their legal meaning. Ambiguous wording is extremely common in home made wills and may result in substantial cost and delay in having the Supreme Court resolve the ambiguity.

A will is an important legal document. It is therefore advisable to have your will professionally drafted and ensure your wishes are properly recorded and carried out.

Most people realise the importance of making a will. However, a will can only be used if it can be found when required. It is important to store your original will in a safe place. It’s a good idea to tell someone close to you where your will is stored. There have been many instances where family and friends were aware that a will existed but they were unable to locate it when it was required.

When a solicitor drafts your will for you, most will give you the option of holding your original will in safe custody for you. You will receive a copy for your own records. This ensures your will will not be misplaced and is able to be easily located when required.

Your will expresses your wishes at a particular point in time. It is advisable to regularly review your will as your circumstances change so that it accurately reflects your current wishes. Situations where you may want to update your will include:

• Marriage
• Separation or divorce
• Starting a de facto relationship
• Having children or grandchildren
• Your children having remarried or divorced and having extended families
• The executor named in the will having become ill, being unable to handle the responsibility, or having died
• A beneficiary named in the will having died (when writing your will, it is wise to name substitute beneficiaries)
• Death of a spouse
• The value of legacies diminishing over time: while you may have left a sum of money that seemed significant when you last made your will, what is it worth in today’s dollars?
• Retirement, which often results in people restructuring their affairs. This is an ideal time to be proactive in your estate planning and possibly look at setting up tax effective arrangements through your will
• When you buy or sell assets: there are many examples of people bequeathing assets which they sold before they died. This resulted in some beneficiaries receiving nothing, while others received significantly more than was intended in the original will.

We recommend that you review your will every five years or whenever you have significant changes to your circumstances such as those outlined above.

While you are entitled to leave your assets to anyone you wish, in some circumstances, friends or relatives who believe they have not been sufficiently provided for are entitled to contest your will.

People who can contest your will under the Succession Act 2006 (NSW) are not restricted to your spouse and children. Claimants can include a de facto partner, any other dependants or a former spouse. The person needs to convince the court that you failed to make adequate provision for their maintenance, education or advancement in life.

An increasing number of people now have complicated family structures such as blended families and second marriages. This may increase the likelihood of your will being contested.

There are many costs and expenses involved in any real estate transaction. It is important that you are aware of all these costs so that you can budget for them. It can be disastrous if you do not prepare for all possible expenditure. Costs and expenses arise in various areas of the transaction. Some may not be obvious or may be unexpected.

This is an overview of the expenses you can generally expect in buying a property:

• Fees and charges payable for obtaining any loan (mortgage);
• Stamp duty;
• Registration fees (paid to NSW Land Registry Services);
• Search costs;
• Rates and taxes for the period that you will own the property;
• Conveyancing fees and minor costs; and
• The costs involved in moving.

There may be other expenses in specific transactions; always ask your conveyancer for details of anything which may arise in your particular purchase. Revenue NSW provides a summary of both the taxes and duties as well as the grants and concessions available.

There are many costs and expenses involved in any real estate transaction. It is important that you are aware of all these costs so that you can budget for them. It can be disastrous if you do not prepare for all possible expenditure. Costs and expenses arise in various areas of the transaction. Some may not be obvious or may be unexpected.

This is an overview of the expenses you can generally expect in selling a property:

• Loan repayments;
• Fees and charges payable to discharge any loan (mortgage);
• Sales commission and advertising costs payable to your agent;
• Search costs;
• Rates and taxes for the period that you own the property;
• Conveyancing fees and minor costs; and
• The costs involved in moving.

There may be other expenses in specific transactions; always ask your conveyancer for details of anything which may arise in your particular sale.

Any real estate transaction is a complicated process with many costs involved. One of these will be the fees paid to your solicitor. You should talk to your solicitor about all the costs in your transaction including the conveyancing fees. None of us like surprises!

Your conveyancer will:

• Protect your interests;
• Be your advocate;
• Keep you informed at every step; and
• Ensure you can exercise your rights and meet your responsibilities.

All transactions are not the same. Sometimes a transaction requires additional work that was not foreseeable at the outset. A conveyancer is entitled to charge additional fees for additional work. If seeking a quote for fees, you should always ask “What is included in this fee?” and “What services will attract an extra fee and how will that fee be calculated?”. You should also ask your conveyancer to notify you if it becomes clear additional work is required.

Corcoran Lawyers charges fixed fees for conveyancing services, and will advise you as soon as possible if anything additional will be involved. See our conveyancing prices.

It is not against the law to do your own conveyancing work. However, conveyancing work is highly technical and highly specialised. Do not attempt to do your own conveyancing unless you know precisely what to do and are certain you have the capacity to do it before you enter into the transaction. You cannot expect any assistance from the conveyancer acting for the other party. If you make an error, you may cause settlement to be delayed (causing default interest to be payable by you) or even enable the other party to terminate the contract.

If you are considering doing the conveyancing work yourself, look at the list of tasks to be undertaken by a conveyancer and tick off those that you are experienced in doing. Interestingly, very few real estate agents attempt to do their own conveyancing when buying or selling for themselves.

Please also note that conveyancing in NSW is now conducted electronically, through platforms such as PEXA, which has substantial implications for anyone attempting to act for themselves.

Not necessarily. Conveyancers and solicitors both provide specialist, professional advice and charge for their services accordingly. In most cases, the fees will reflect the complexity of the transaction; this is true whether you use a licensed conveyancer or a solicitor. The perception that solicitors are more expensive comes from the fact that the majority of conveyancers charge a fixed fee whereas many solicitors charge an hourly rate. Having said that, Corcoran Lawyers has always charged fixed fees for conveyancing.

The real difference is that solicitors generally have broader experience and are able to advise you on other matters in addition to performing straightforward conveyancing matters. While a conveyancer will have qualifications specific to conveyancing and will have a high level of expertise in this field, they are limited in the services they can provide. A conveyancer who is not also a solicitor cannot advise on matters of property law, and may not be equipped to handle any complicated legal issues that arise during the course of settlement.