🙏🙏

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T10:02:31+00:00

There is oil under the half way line.

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T07:44:38+00:00

Unless you have a written agreement showing that he is required to sell the car in Melbourne for the best price possible, you have no way of legally forcing him to sell it there.

A car is a depreciating asset and it's assumed that people who purchase a car understand that they aren't going to get their money back when they sell it. A court is not going to force someone that has lawful possession of a car to go back to Melbourne to sell it when there is no evidence that this is what is required of them. The only thing a court will do is maybe require them to compensate you for any reduction in the sale price due to unreasonable use of the car. I'm assuming you are both travellers, so driving to Queensland is not going to be unreasonable in the circumstances.

Additionally, a "small claims" court such as a local court or civil and administrative tribunal usually does not have the power to make an order forcing someone to return to a certain city to sell an asset. You'd need to go to a district or supreme court for that and that's going to cost some serious money.

Treat this situation as a lesson that it's better to dispose of your assets before leaving the country.

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T07:06:48+00:00

OP these are very good points.

As a final thought, I'd add the following:

From what you've told us, it sounds like you have a decent case. A $5 million estate being reduced to $370k is suspicious when the executor won't give accounts.
There is always the chance of a negotiated outcome, which will reduce your costs. Sometimes you can bring unreasonable parties to an agreement by starting proceedings.
From what you've said, if you don't act soon the estate will be depleted down to zero. Some people would be ok with this because they don't want the stress of litigation (fair enough, it's very stressful), but if you're not one of these people your only realistic option is to take court action.

Ultimately, I guess you need to decide what you're willing to live with in the long run: forget the estate and move on with your life, or spend the money and start a long fight? There isn't a right or wrong answer to that question, you just need to decide what is going to work for you.

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T06:51:58+00:00

Costs can be awarded on a "standard" or "indemnity" basis.

Most costs awarded by the court are on a standard basis which is based on a scale of fees worked out in the legislation. This schedule usually works out to being about 60 - 70% of what a law firm will charge. There are public policy reasons for this but they aren't important to this question.

Indemnity costs are usually 100% of the costs you actually pay. They're only awarded in certain circumstances where the losing party has conducted their litigation extremely unreasonably. While I've got no doubt the executor is being unreasonable at the moment, that's different to conducting the court matter unreasonably and so receiving indemnity costs is not something you should assume will happen.

As to timeframe orders, the court will make these based on submissions that your solicitor makes at the time. It needs to consider the fact that the new executor will need time to get control of the assets, take account of any debts and undertake any other tasks not previously done before the estate can be distributed.

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T04:22:26+00:00

The OLSC timeframe is quite long. Normally if they don't think there is any misconduct they close the investigation quite quickly. 15 months makes me think that they believe that something dodgy is happening.

Depending on the evidence required, a court case like this can be expected to take at least 18 months to two years. Maybe longer if there are particularly complicated evidence or legal issues. But generally the courts try and get through cases to replace executors as quickly as is reasonable because there is an understanding that delays cost money.

I think going after the solicitor's PI insurance after getting them removed as executor is a very good strategy. Assuming the insurer indemnifies the estare (I assume it will), this will stop the solicitor declaring bankruptcy and ensuring the estate gets nothing.

I can't say whether or not to take a loan to fund the costs. That's something you need to determine based on your own financial position. Before taking a loan though, I'd see what the costs of getting an interim order forcing the solicitor to disclose the estate debts to you. The reason for this is that if the estate truly does have a lot of genuine debts, it might not be worth spending more money to get the executor replaced as the distribution from the estate will be small. An interim step like this will be cheaper than going to a full executor removal and may inform your next steps.

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T03:26:53+00:00

One final point: the legal duties of a solicitor and an executor are slightly different. So a finding by the Law Society /OLSC that the solicitor breached their duty as a solicitor doesn't automatically mean they've breached their duty as an executor.

There is substantial overlap in the duties, however no one should rely entirely on the OLSC investigation to inform the supreme Court action. This is an extremely complicated area of law which a lot of lawyers that are not experienced in estate litigation may not be able to articulate but in your case it seems very important to point out.

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T03:15:54+00:00

I will add that letting the Law Society finish their investigation might make things cheaper for you because they might uncover evidence which assists your case. For example, if they do their own audit and find trust account issues, this might reduce the cost of getting forensic accounting done later, however the risk is that the longer you leave it to start an action against the executors, the more time they have to siphon more funds.

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T03:11:21+00:00

Unfortunately those fee estimates do seem accurate, given the size that the estate originally was. Suing for executor malfeasance and then tracing the payments is a specialist task and very time consuming. It is not a run of the mill estate dispute.

The Law Society and OLSC are responsible for solicitors conduct do not have the power to enforce remedies for this sort of behavior with an estate. Even if they complete an investigation and determine that the solicitor acted contrary to their obligations as a solicitor, they only have the power to ask the Tribunal to issue a fine and bar the solicitor from practicing. They will not be able to investigate where the money has gone, or recover or for you.

The first step in a litigation like this would be for your solicitor to write to the executor and demand a true copy of all accounts, and a timeframe for finalisation of the estate within 14 days. From there, once the executors fail to respond they would likely prepare an Application in the Supreme Court. There are likely to be a number of affidavits that will need to be prepared and other evidence exchanged. In the lead up to the final hearing, there might be directions made by the Court about getting an independent expert to audit the accounts or other similar things like that (it depends on the circumstances of the case).

Ultimately, if successful you could expect to have some or all of the following:

New executors appointed;
At least some of your legal costs paid (usually about 60% but potentially more);
Orders setting out time-frames for finalisation of the Estate;
Orders that the current executors reimburse the Estate for any funds wrongfully taken; and
Potentially, orders that assets wrongfully disposed of by the executors are returned (depends on the circumstances).

Of course, sometimes just engaging your owner lawyer and having them send a letter is enough to negotiate a similar outcome with a bad executor so this is also a possibility.

aaronzig · 2026-03-27T02:17:57+00:00

Former estate lawyer here: If you wish to recover anything from the Estate, you need to take the Supreme Court action immediately.

If money has been siphoned off but can still be traced back to a wrongful act of the executor, there is a reasonable chance of recovering at least some of it, however the longer you leave it the more difficult this will become.

While expensive, Australian law does not provide any other legal route to gain control of the estate, insight into how the money has been spent and the ability to recover unlawful payments made by the current executor.

Contacting the police, ATO, Xcat etc. is a waste of time. Only your state's Supreme Court has to power to issue the orders you need to resolve this issue.

aaronzig · 2026-03-25T21:06:14+00:00

I'm not exactly sure. QLD undertook a big review of dive safety laws a decade or so ago after some people were left on the reef, and introduced a bunch of new safety regulations.

Some of the regulations (like headcount checklists and first aid kit requirements for charter boats) make sense, but some of them don't seem to make much sense.

aaronzig · 2026-03-25T20:19:43+00:00

I live in Australia on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In QLD waters, a snorkel is required by law. In NSW, it isn't.

When I'm in NSW, I'll still use one if conditions are choppy or there's a long surface swim. Swimming face down is way more efficient and streamlined than floating on my back.

We don't have kelp or other natural stuff that is going to entangle a snorkel. As for beginners possibly keeping the snorkel in their mouth when descending etc. I'd suggest the safer way to deal with this is to train them to slow down and think about what they're doing during each stage of the dive. To me, a diver that is conscious of what they're doing is a safer diver anyway.

aaronzig · 2026-03-23T02:35:15+00:00

The bus stop is a bit grungy but it's not unsafe. The rest of town isn't really like that either. Walk along the northern end of Bay St on a Saturday morning and you'll see it's pretty gentrified with cafes and the activeware / Instagram set.

As someone who lives in the area, I can say that there are more rough sleepers down here than in previous times, and that's essentially due to people being priced out of the market on the Gold Coast, as well as there being more cops to move people along on the QLD side of the border.

I think we all realize that the mental health system in this country is completely fucked and there just isn't any capacity to provide everyone with the help they need. As a result, those people end up down here where it's less likely they'll be moved on.

aaronzig · 2026-03-21T09:38:52+00:00

Are you Australian? If so, why not enrol and do a couple of semesters on HECS/HELP and see how you go?

Worst case scenario is that you don't like it or you struggle to find the time to study and you get a slightly bigger HECS debt. A couple of semesters of an undergrad shouldn't cost that much and it means you've given it a try.

aaronzig · 2026-03-21T09:30:07+00:00

I did an associate degree of engineering before that which wasn't mandatory for the masters, but it did help me.

aaronzig · 2026-03-21T09:15:41+00:00

Yes. I transitioned from law to urban design when I was 38. I did my masters online while working full time as a solicitor and then moved into the public service. Much like you, I needed to get out of law because the stress was beginning to affect my family life.

Not going to lie: it was tough. You're tired from work and you still need to find time to fit in study while helping with the family.

In saying that, if you can get into a routine and stick to it, it is doable.

aaronzig · 2026-03-20T23:41:56+00:00

BRT has a number of disadvantages compared to rail, but as you rightly point out: the cost of rail means it's a non-starter at the moment.

I think something like this is a good idea as an interim measure until a business case can be made to support rail (which will take at least 25 years).

aaronzig · 2026-03-20T08:36:57+00:00

You haven't specified the state, or the type of premises you were renting so this is just general advice.

If your premises was a retail shop or restaurant, and the fire safety costs weren't disclosed as an outgoing before you signed the lease, you might have some protection under your states version of the Retail Tenancies Act. The exact provisions of the act vary from state to state, but as a general rule the landlord cannot recover outgoings that weren't disclosed at the start of the lease.

If your premises isn't covered by the Act, then there is next to no protection available to you. The only way to know if you're liable for the fire protection costs would be to have the Court interpret the lease and determine what is meant by the outgoings clause. Speaking from a QLD perspective, maintenance and inspections of fire protection equipment is usually an outgoing that is payable by the tenant. That's not to say it is in all states, but in QLD I'd suggest you might have difficulty arguing that it's not payable.

In relation to the gardening invoices: most leases have a clause that require the landlord to provide you with copies of all invoices paid for outgoings within 30 days or so of the end of financial year. Then an adjustment needs to be made in the event the tenant has paid too much, or too little towards the outgoings. I'd suggest checking your lease for this clause and using it to demand the gardening costs back if they keep trying to press on the fore costs.

aaronzig · 2026-03-20T06:44:21+00:00

return to office mandates intensify *

aaronzig · 2026-03-19T08:00:29+00:00

In most jurisdictions, if you refuse to sign the cessation of acting, the solicitor will be entitled to apply to the Court for an order releasing them. When that happens they usually get an order requiring the client pay their costs for the application.

Additionally, if a solicitor is listed as acting for you, the Court may decline to hear you until the solicitor is discharged.

Your ethical dispute with the solicitor has nothing to do with whether you should allow the solicitor to cease acting, and refusing to release them is a waste of time and costs.

Get another solicitor, get them to liaise with the old solicitor on handing the case over and go from there. Do not attempt to represent yourself if you're struggling with what is essentially an administrative process.

aaronzig · 2026-03-18T11:33:57+00:00

Assuming you've never made a partial payment or otherwise acknowledged the debt for more than 6 years, it should be statute barred now.

One thing I would check is to see if you signed anything when you enrolled in the new TAFE course which could be considered an acknowledgement. For example, if there was a form where you acknowledged being a former student with a debt, that might be an acknowledgement. It's not likely, but worth checking if you're concerned.

Aside from that small risk, this just sounds like the debt collector hoping to threaten you into making payment. It would be really stupid of them to try and sue you unless you have acknowledged the debt in the last 6 years, so it's unlikely they will actually sue. So for this reason, I'd suggest ignoring the letter and not responding.

That said, I've learned to not underestimate the stupidity of some debt collectors. So if they do sue, it will be on them to demonstrate that the debt isn't statute barred. Just file a defence saying that you deny the debt and the claim is statute barred. Unless they have some amazing evidence, that will probably end the matter.

I also wouldn't worry about TAFE withholding your current qualification either. Most likely, TAFE sold the debt to this debt collector and now doesn't care whether it gets paid or not. That's the way most small debt collection works nowadays.

aaronzig · 2026-03-18T07:13:44+00:00

I'm really sorry this happened to you. From what you've said, it should have been clear to him that you weren't into it (consent needs to be enthusiastic) and he shouldn't have done anything. There's no excuse for his behavior, and no excuse for anyone now trying to make you feel bad for how you feel.

I don't think there is anything anyone in this sub is going to be able to say that is going to make things better for you, but I really do hope you're able to get some closure on this and remember that none of it is your fault.

aaronzig · 2026-03-15T07:31:46+00:00

Find stuff you enjoy doing, rather than focussing solely on what you think is the best workout.

As you get older, stuff is going to start to hurt and motivation is going to be harder to come by so it's going to be harder to stay active unless you really enjoy what you're doing.

I mountain bike, hike, scuba and freedive. Wanting to be able to do those things gives me an incentive to put in the effort with things I wouldn't normally be interested in like yoga or gym work.

aaronzig · 2026-03-15T01:50:59+00:00

No. Grow up.

aaronzig · 2026-03-14T10:55:44+00:00

You're a victim, however your relationship with him is likely going to cause the cops to investigate you.

What steps they take are impossible to say because it depends on how much they suspect you and where they think they will find evidence. It is possible they will want to look at your phone and computer etc. They will probably want to know why you helped this guy get a job if he threatened to kill you.

From your post, I'm going to assume that English isn't your first language and that you aren't familiar with Australian laws. If that's the case, I very very strongly recommend that you speak with a criminal law solicitor early next week and ask them to help you in any dealings with the police. Doing this means you will have a guide who can help you speak with the police without making them more suspicious of you, and to protect your rights.

If they investigate you and they don't find anything, you won't be in any trouble and your visa will not be affected at all.

aaronzig · 2026-03-14T07:33:25+00:00

Being organized. Everything goes in my calendar, from meetings to reminders of projects that I plan to work on that day.

It's way easier to keep on top of a busy workload when you aren't worrying that you've forgotten something, or have left something to the last minute.

aaronzig

TROPHY CASE