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The Successor Director Solution – Multi Company plus upgrade Constitution

About Product

The LightYear Docs Successor Director Solution provides for a constitution update as well as binding resolutions to appoint a Successor Director in the event of one of these circumstances occurring.

Provided under Strategist membership.

► The master document has been signed off by Abbott & Mourly and is congruent with Australian law.

General Information

The continuity of a business or investment will depend entirely on what happens to a sole director and sole shareholder of a company.  Equally a person or a family’s investment in a trust or company may be jeopardised where there is no representation on the Board of the corporate trustee or company.

A Successor Director may be inserted as a director in the event of a director due to divorce, is incapacitated, dies or is otherwise unable to carry out their duties as a director.

Benefits

  • Provides for seamless transfer of directorship in the event a current director dies or cannot carry out their duties
  • Applies to not only single director companies but to multi-director companies
  • Ensures that there is a continuation of business
  • Provides asset protection for a family’s wealth
  • Simple and easy to implement and execute
  • This solution enables multi-companies including SMSF trustee companies, discretionary trustee companies, bare trustee companies, unit trust companies, bucket companies and standard business companies.
  • The ASIC guidance on single director problems is included as part of the strategy pack

Frequently Asked Legal Questions

Why use the LightYear Docs Successor Director Solution?

The LightYear Docs Successor Director ensures continuity of business.

ASIC Guidelines on Successor Directors

Where the sole director is also the sole shareholder, however, the risk of uncertainty is much greater. Section 201F of the Corporations Act 2001 does provide that, in the event of the death of a single member/director of a proprietary company, the executor or other personal representative appointed to administer the deceased’s estate may appoint a new director to the company. The director has all the powers, rights and duties of the deceased director and can keep the company running until shares are transferred to beneficiaries who may then appoint new directors if they wish.

What is the suggested advisory services fee for my clients when I advise on this solution?

It will depend on how many companies are effected and whether a change in company constitution is required as well as a set of minutes in relation to the Successor Director.  The expected services fee is $750 - $1,500 per company.

How long does this document take to assemble?

Depending on the complexity of the data, this document should take approximately 15-30 secs to assemble. If you experience timing outside of this please contact Support via the Surge app, alternatively please read this article for troubleshooting tips https://info.lightyeardocs.com.au/supportcentre/troubleshooting-longer-assembly-times-timeouts .

Is this document a legal document?

All master documents have been signed off by Abbott & Mourly lawyers. Tony Anamourlis of Abbott & Mourly advises that “at no time, due to inbuilt legal protection and security measures can a user change or amend a document on the LightYear Docs platform that has been signed off by a practicing solicitor. To do so would result in the user drafting a document of a legal nature and engaging in the provision of legal services. In addition, it would be a breach of copyright. In our opinion when completing the form fields through the LightYear Docs platform, users and their employees are merely carrying out an administrative task which is not the provision of legal advice.”

However in some complex areas such as the insertion of a varied range of client instructions into a Will or other such documents the user must be mindful of the extent to which a document is being drafted by the user rather than merely the administrative task of completing a form where the relevant fields are inserted into the reviewed and signed legal document provided by Abbott & Mourly.

The above advice is born out of numerous cases dating back to Re Sanderson, Ex parte Law Institute of Victoria [1927] VLR 394, 397 where the Court held:

“if a person does a thing usually done by a solicitor, and does it in such a way as to lead to the reasonable inference that he is a solicitor – if he combines professing to be a solicitor with action usually taken by a solicitor – I think he then does act as a solicitor.”

Likewise in ACCC v Murray (2002) 121 FCR 428, 448 where Murray was building a franchise business that involved the legal writing and drafting of Wills from scratch based on the client’s personal circumstances.  The Court held that this process was legal work.

Is the document easy to read?

All LightYear Docs products are written in plain English and assessed for readability. If at any time you come across any errors, please contact support@lightyeardocs.com.au.

Are the LightYear Docs documents reviewed regularly?

All LightYear Docs documents form part of the LightYear Docs internal review process. We review all documents at least annually or when required to do so due to changes in legislation. Further details of this process and a review schedule is include on this website.

What lawyers sign off on the LightYear Docs documents?

All LightYear documents are prepared and signed off by Abbott & Mourly from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.