Lockdown Procedures

The impending lockdown is absolutely essential to suppress or, hopefully, eliminate the presence of Covid-19 in our community.  Whilst many of us will not be looking forward to the lockdown period and its impact on our financial situation, we should emerge with much better case numbers, the associated lower loss of life and greater certainty about our future.

 

Our office will be closed after 5.30 pm on Wednesday, 5th August but the entire team will be working from home.  We remain ready and willing to provide you with all our normal services and products in the normal timeframe.  This newsletter is aimed at helping you to understand some of the changes which will apply during the lockdown period.


TELEPHONES AND QUESTIONS

Our telephones will not be manned during the lockdown period.  However we are all working from home and will be able to assist you with any enquiry you have.  To ensure your enquiry is dealt with as efficiently as possible, would you please send your enquiry by email to the person who seems best able to answer your query by referring to the list at the end of this newsletter.  If you’re unsure, please send an email to castle@castlecorp.com.au.


MAIL AND COURIERS
 

Items you send to us by post and by courier will be delivered to a staff member.  From there, the items you have sent us will be dealt with by one of our team.
 
We would ask that, to ensure prompt delivery, you use email or couriers.  The postal system will be heavily loaded and delays should be expected.


PAPER-BASED PRODUCTS
 

If you wish to order a standard or premium product, that product will be created for you and its electronic version will be posted on your dashboard.  When we return from the lockdown, the paper version will then be produced and couriered to you.


SETTLOR CHANGES – STAMPING OF TRUST DEEDS 
 
Settlor changes
 

During this time, we cannot act as the settlor for your clients’ discretionary trusts.  This is simply because the trust deeds are not being produced on paper and we don’t have two people working at the same premises (one being the settlor, the other being the settlor’s witness).  Accordingly, please discuss this with your clients and arrange for someone else to act as settlor.  Please note that a person who acts as settlor can never become a beneficiary of a discretionary trust so it would be wise to avoid asking extended family members to act in this role.

 
Stamping of trust deeds
 

If you have hard copies of the trust deeds, they can be sent to us for stamping, by courier (preferred) or by mail.  Alternatively, if you have access to a scanned copy of the trust deed, these can be stamped provided:-

 

  • the full trust deed is sent – not just the execution page;  and
  • the trust deed has been signed using Docusign, Adobesign or ink

 

The electronic version of the stamp duty certificate will be emailed to you, or to your client, in accordance with your instructions.


EMAIL LIST FOR QUESTIONS 


Here are the most common enquiries and the email address to be used for them:-
 
General enquiries to our general email address – castle@castlecorp.com.au
 
  • Enquiries about ordering anything from Castle Corporate
  • Availability of a company name
  • Formation of standard companies, trusts and super funds
  • Common seal – order or enquiry
  • Reprints
  • Progress of formation work
 
Enquiries for Marg Black  – mblack@castlecorp.com.au
 
  • Stamping of trust deeds
  • Business names, changes to company names, deregistrations
  • Company searches
 
Enquiries for Lina Georgiou – lgeorgiou@castlecorp.com.au
 
  • Account enquiries
  • Making a payment
 
Enquiries for David Hamley – dhamley@castlelegal.com.au
 
  • Formation of companies, trusts and super funds with unusual elements
  • Supply of a shelf company
  • Significant changes to a company
  • Associations and other not-for-profit enquiries including ACNC and DGR enquiries and applications
  • Bare trusts, super fund borrowings, related party loans
 
Enquiries for Jayne Shaw-Smith – jshawsmith@castlelegal.com.au
 
  • Enquiries about ordering anything from Castle Legal
  • Changes to trust deeds (new provisions, change of trustee, appointor, beneficiary, etc)
  • Changes to super funds – change of members, trustee, deed, winding up
  • Mortgages over real property
 
Enquiries for Lori Gunn – lgunn@castlecorp.com.au
 
  • General changes to a company
  • General changes to unitholders of a unit trust
  • Foreign company services
 
Enquiries for Jenny Hamley – jhamley@castlecorp.com.au
 
  • Agreements, loans, managed investment schemes, special deeds
  • Super fund pension kits
  • Anything else which does not fall into any other category


Finally….

We have experienced a lockdown before and we have all survived.  We can do it again and, if we all observe the rules and restrictions, our community should be virtually rid of Covid-19.  So this is an important step in looking after our community, our friends, our family and ourselves.
 
We look forward to the resumption of normality when it is safe to “come out”.  Until then, we wish you all the best and trust that you will look after yourselves and those in your circle who you know to be vulnerable and lacking the resilience that you have.


From Castle Corporate Pty Ltd and Castle Legal Pty Ltd

Partnering with you to get it right.