Phan Campbell & Associates

Separating a relationship is hard. Separating a jointly owned business at the same time is harder, because two areas of law collide.

The relationship runs through family law. The business runs through commercial and corporate law. Together they raise questions most people never think to ask. Who runs the business during the split. How it is valued. What the shareholder or partnership agreement already decides.

The exposure where personal and commercial meet. This closes our August series on the risks you do not see until they arrive.

Most bad debts are decided before the work even begins, by the terms you did or did not put in place.

When you let a customer pay later, you have handed them a loan. If they fall over, you are a creditor waiting at the back of the line. Get a signed credit application with the right legal entity, check it can pay, ask the directors to guarantee the debt, and register your interest on the PPSR.

The one exposure this month you control completely. Set the terms before the goods leave, not after the invoice is late.

Most tenants read the rent, the term and the start date, then sign. The clauses underneath are where the risk actually sits.

Outgoings can add thousands a year on top of the rent. Make good can mean returning the space to bare shell when you leave. A personal guarantee puts your own assets behind the lease. An option to renew is only as strong as the special conditions attached to it.

The exposure you signed for without reading. A lease review now costs a fraction of a dispute later.

The ATO does not need to audit you to find a gap in your property records. It can see it from data it already holds.

It receives information from state and territory revenue offices, land title registries, financial institutions, property managers and short stay platforms, then matches it against your return. Rental income gets checked against bond records going back to 2005. Capital gains against the sale. GST on new builds.

The exposure someone else can already see before you do. Good records are your answer when the question arrives.

Most tenants read the rent, the term and the start date, then sign. The clauses underneath are where the risk actually sits.

Outgoings can add thousands a year on top of the rent. Make good can mean returning the space to bare shell when you leave. A personal guarantee puts your own assets behind the lease. An option to renew is only as strong as the special conditions attached to it.

The exposure you signed for without reading. A lease review now costs a fraction of a dispute later.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

The fence has stood in the same place for years. That does not make the land behind it yours. Boundaries on the ground and boundaries on the title do not always match.

The gap almost always surfaces mid transaction, when a survey tells a different story. An encroaching structure, a driveway over the line, an easement nobody mentioned. Each can stall a deal, and each is fixable, more easily the earlier you start.

The exposure hiding in what you already own. Check the boundary before it checks you.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

If you did construction work and never got paid, the law changed in your favour this year.

From 15 April 2026 the window to make a payment claim doubled from three months to six. Retention money and bank guarantees are now claimable through the same fast process. Disputed variations, delay costs and latent conditions, once locked out, can go into a claim.

Another exposure, this time one that just moved your way. Chase it while the window is open.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.