Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Deeds and agreements: Is there a difference?

Sharmistha Bose, Product Marketing Specialist

In true Cleardocs style, I’d like to take the opportunity to introduce myself as the new Product Marketing Specialist that joined the company back in May.

A little bit about myself, I am a true-blue Taurean of Indian descent. I enjoy meeting new people, exploring new places and like any other Gen Y I simply cannot function without my phone.

I must cheekily admit that I barely made it into the Gen Y category and even though we cop a bit of flak I’m happy to be in it - simply because it makes me sound younger than I am! True to my roots, I love spicy food. No food is ever too hot for me and if you like spicy food as much as I do then I know we’ll get along like a house on fire.

As the newest recruit of Thomson Reuters Cleardocs, I’ve spent a large part of my first few months getting to know the wide range of legal documents Cleardocs has to offer.

Coming from a digital advertising and marketing background, learning about legal products and its nuances has been quite challenging, but at the same time interesting and thought-provoking.

From SMSFs to Company Registrations, my product training has been filled with curious questions. One of those questions was revolved around what the difference between a deed and an agreement was – especially because I saw them as fundamentally having the same function. And how can you tell whether a client requires a deed or an agreement?

I later found that the helpline too have had similar questions asked by cusomers. On further investigating, I found a very useful article that Maddocks wrote for Cleardocs called
Understanding the differences between an agreement and a deed: lessons from 400 George Street (QLD) Pty Ltd v BG International Ltd.

The case confirmed that, in general, deeds and agreements are distinct in two principal ways:
  1. for a document to be considered a deed, it needs to fulfill certain protocols; and
  2. even if the document doesn’t require parties to pay one another or provide goods or services, parties to a deed can still enforce it against one another, unlike an agreement.
For further information, you can read the full article here.

If you require legal assistance to decide which option is best for your business or your client, please contact our helpdesk on 1300 307 343 and we can arrange a referral to Maddocks for a quote.




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