News and views

New Zealand’s ageing population has created a boom for retirement villages, with record numbers being developed. For many looking to retire or slow down, retirement village living is attractive – and it’s not hard to see why. A new apartment or cottage in a secure, well-maintained environment, offering a lock-up-and-leave lifestyle, and providing resort-like facilities such as cafes, gyms, pools, bowling greens, libraries and men’s sheds can be very appealing.

Laws around residential tenancies have undergone massive change in the past few years – and it’s not letting up any time soon.

If I could choose for every single adult one New Year’s resolution, very high on my list would be getting your affairs in order.

With record-breaking real estate prices in and around the Upper Clutha and wider Queenstown Lakes District, it’s not surprising so many property owners have swarmed to peer-to-peer accommodation platforms, like Airbnb, to reap the rewards.

If you have a family trust set up a number of years ago, it’s good practice to review it to ensure it is still ‘fit for purpose’. Leading on from that is the question that is often asked of us, “Should I bring my trust to an end?”

Julia Hunt, our trainee Legal Executive, has just received her results for her final New Zealand Diploma in Legal Executive Studies exams - straight A-plusses, no less.

Somebody pinch me. Seriously, November … already? Sure enough, we’re careering headlong into that time of to-do lists rivalling Santa’s and accelerators pressed hard to the floor at work and home.

While most people are aware they need a Will, and might have given clear directions as to how they wish their business duties to be dealt with after they pass, many don’t give a second thought to how their business would fare if they were suddenly mentally incapacitated.