QUESTION 1 ( all questions are from law - conveyancing)
Following a routine investigation of a licensed conveyancer’s practice by an officer of the Office of Fair Trading in October 2016, the following findings are reported to the Compliance Division.
1. The trust accounts for the practice have not been written up since July 2016.
2. No bank reconciliations or trial balances for the trust account had been prepared since June 2014.
3. No ‘statement of accounts’ had been sent to clients at the end of three conveyances.
4. The licensee holds a ledger account in his own name.
5. The licensee has deposited $500 to his office bank when paid on account of (i.e.in anticipation of) costs and disbursements in the matters of Johnson purchase.
6. The investigation showed a debit of $1000 in a trust ledger in the name of James Kennedy.
7. There was a journal transfer of $2000 to the licensee’s own account from a sale matter for Smith but no costs disclosure had been given or an itemized bill rendered in the matter.
8. There was a journal transfer from trust to office in the Davis purchase matter but nothing recorded in the ledger or in the cash book.
9. No audit certificate had been lodged with Fair Trading by 30 October.
As the Director of the Compliance Division of the Office of Fair Trading you review the investigating officer’s findings and make some notes on each of the 9 reported findings setting out whether taking any further disciplinary action can be justified. You are to refer to the relevant sections or clauses of the legislation and to any cases to support your view.
QUESTION 3
Part A.
You are a licensed conveyancer and have completed the Power of Attorney course as part of your studies. You are acting for Karen Ann Drew of 36 Epping Road Marsfield 2121, on the sale of an investment unit at 10/17 Duffy Street St Peters. Karen advises she will be absent overseas when the exchange and settlement take place and she wants you to prepare a power of attorney appointing her husband Alan Thomas Drew and her daughter Susan Mary Martin to act jointly for the purpose of signing the transfer and to pay your all inclusive fees of $3000 from the balance of purchase money. Both proposed attorneys live with Karen at the Marsfield address. She thinks the power of attorney should be limited to this sale only. She gives you no further instructions. You make an appointment to see Karen next week to finalise the contract for sale and sign the power of attorney.
Draft the power of attorney on the standard form you can access as an interactive document on iLearn under the Essential Course Materials tab, then click on ‘Power of Attorney From’ under Guides. Make notes of any further instructions you need to take from Karen next week to complete the power of attorney.
Part B
Karen telephones before her appointment and she tells you she has changed her mind and wants the power of attorney to be an enduring one and not limited only to the sale. She also has a few issues she wants you to explain to her and you note these down as follows:
1. Can you prepare and complete an enduring power of attorney for her and her husband at the same time?
2. What is meant by “ademption” in relation to a Power of Attorney (What is it and how does the Power of Attorney legislation affect the concept)?
3. Can she appoint her other son Robert Alan Drew as an attorney as he will be 18 in three months time?
4. Her husband has had a minor stroke and has some lapses of concentration will this have any effect on his ability to act as an attorney?
5. Her son Robert is in some minor financial difficulties at the moment, does it matter if he is made bankrupt?