The Muster- Hilary Copland: Bannerman Cruickshank Pryde

Hilary Copland looks at pre-nuptial agreements and what changes have occurred around them.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
One through a party in the count Welcome back to
the muster.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hillary Copeland of Betterman Crooksham Pride the Lawyers joins us
next Alvis Prisley in the background. There, Hillary, good afternoon,
great to check once again.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Are you Andy really good? Alvis Presley.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's a sound from a long time ago, but that's
what I like about a lot of these artists, timeless.
It's a sound that's a saying which.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Has overused, but I think it's pretty relevant.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
E Yes, I was just going to say, to be
with blast from the past.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Pre nups relationship property.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
We've talked about this again, but it's something we need
to go over because is a hell of a lot involved.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yes, and I guess I it's something it always crosses
my desk. And to be brutally honest, they're becoming harder
and harder to deal with because we get a blended family,
significant assets and so that's already been that's something that

(01:09):
we're grappling with as lawyers to get the structure right.
And then there's been a recent court of a peel
case that's sort of moved the goalposts a little bit
as well, So I thought it might be timely to
just do a we refresher.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Okay, around this court case what happened.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Well, I'm probably I'm not going to get too much
into the detail, I guess because people like it's quite technical.
But there was a court of a Peel case and
it has indicated that there might be a move in
terms of how we deal with relationship property and I guess,
big picture, practically, it's sort of confirmed what I've been

(01:49):
saying to people for a while as back in the
old days, you'd have well we call it a contracting
out agreement, but you know, prenup is for what everyone
knows them as and people would do their prenup and
they would protect certain assets as their own, and back
in the old days you do it and you wouldn't

(02:09):
really revisit it now because of the significant amount of
as sets, the change, the moving goalposts with the law
more and more we're saying to people, and the bended
family aspects brings a different dynamic as well, saying to me, well, look,
you need these can't be bottom draw documents. They need

(02:32):
to be reviewed regularly and updated if you want them
to to stand the test of time. And in a
very very simple terms, without getting into all the dtail.
The Court of Appeal decisions sort of has confirmed that
that you can't just do your prene up, do your
will and forget about it. They need to be reviewed

(02:53):
and updated regularly. And that yet, now that's I feel
like a bit of a broken record, But I'm telling
people that all the time. To be honest, it makes
my job harder because they're actually quite difficult. They're getting
more and more complicated. But that's where we add, you know,
that's where we come in and give service to our
clients to help them get it right.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
You talk about this need they need to update things frequently.
What time frame were we talking, Hilary.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
I guess we would say. I guess the thing is
I always say to people with your will, you should
update at any big event in your life, if someone
even heer it, you know, if you buy more property
and hear it more property, any big event, you need
to at least review your will and as a minimum
every five years. And now I say that to people
with a contracting out agreement or a prenup as well,

(03:43):
because in that time, you know, life moves on. People
might sell a house by a different house, or buy
an investment property at change how they own things. And
again there's technical terms there that people might own it
as tenants and common and equal shares, which means they
own their share in their sole name, or they own

(04:06):
it jointly, and that has different ramifications. And sometimes when
people buy more property or you know, they carry on
with life in general, they tend to forget about the
pre nupp altogether and that can cause unintended consequences down
the track. So yeah, I guess it just comes down

(04:28):
to getting Again, I say this every time we talk,
Andy is getting good advice and timely advice so that
we can do our best to help you achieve what
you want to achieve.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
So just how lockdown are these agreements?

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Okay, an agreement can be classified as a contract, and
unfortunately contracts are broken.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Well, I guess that's where this recent case has got
lawyers a little bit. I'm not sure that concerns the
right word, but re re feasing things. Well, look, I
know I have clients where they've got really old historic

(05:07):
contracting out agreements and they could be twenty years old,
and basically this case is saying that can still be
relevant twenty years old. It is going to appeal, so
it'll be interesting what happens. But basically, yeah, the court
basically said two key things in that case. And it's

(05:29):
said there that the prenup or the contracting out agreement
is the thing, that it's the document that decides what
ends up in their state, not someone's will or stand
the property rules, and that the prenup will be enforced
when someone dies unless it's successfully challenged. So I guess

(05:52):
from a practical point of view, my advice is we
need to review those regularly, as if you've got one,
renew it when you review your will, and they should
align so that there is no as I say, no
unintended consequences at the end, and things property doesn't pass
how you wanted it to.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Hillary.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Out of ten, how many relationships relationships would you say
have pre nups in place.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
They're becoming more and more common. And part of that is,
I guess every every profession or every industry or whatever
it is, we're all getting a lot more regulated and
dotting eyes and crossing t's and where everyone's getting more
particular about their paperwork in general. And I say that
high level, but you know, you think about fun of everyone, everyone,

(06:41):
every profession has different compliance and rules and regulations, and
not that this is a must have, but it's in
a similar vein. People are more conscious and aware of
what they can have in place to help structure things.
So walk common because we're more aware and also more

(07:02):
common because there are second time round relationships and that's
probably the most common. Well too, Yeah, that's probably the
most one of the most common is second time round.
People come together and have assets and children from a
previous relationship, so they want to protect that or the
other end of the spectrum. I get young clients starting

(07:23):
out and buying their first time and it's like, right,
let's protect this and you know, because it's a big
asset to buy and let's get it structured. Right. So,
Ye're pretty common, but as I see at the start,
they're getting harder and harder to complete just because things. Yeah,

(07:45):
it's getting more complicated when you're dealing with significant assets
and as these children from a previous relationship and those
kind of factors that can complicate things as well.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah. Wise, we're a salary the tame at banamer Crookshank Pride.
The people get touch.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Check us out on our website, CP Law dot co
dot mved Or in our new building and we're hopefully
getting signag it's been a long time coming. Next week apparently,
so hopefully you were opposite New World and Gore.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Well we can see the flags out front in the
way when you're driving past.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, I'm getting sick of the flag. I'm hoping for
our signage. So watch this space.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Good things come to those you wait. Always appreciate your time, Hillary,
enjoy the day.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Awesome, Thanks.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Hillary Copeland, Venamin Crookshank Pride.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
The lawyers talking pre nup agreements certainly relevant for a
lot of people at the moment. Warren Ross is up
next for my momur and to wrap up the aller
Logan Savy out of the South and Tribune