Terms of Engagement

Kia ora (Hi / Welcome / Be well),

Hello

Welcome to Clean Break Limited. Thank you for wanting to work with us.

You need to know what you can expect from us and what we expect from you. You need to agree to these terms before we will work with you.

Our values

Here at Clean Break, we hold our team and our clients to our values. These are:

1. We help never hurt;
2. We excel and improve; and
3. We find the joy.

If you feel like we aren’t living up to these values, we expect you to tell us as soon as possible.

While we expect to do most of the heavy lifting, we will ask you to do better if you aren’t supporting our values. If our team is being negatively affected by working with you, we will look to end this relationship.

You agree…

This relationship is built on trust. You agree to answer us honestly and with full information.

If you lie to us, or we discover you hold property that you did not disclose to us in our initial meeting, you agree that, in Clean Break’s discretion, we may:

• increase your fixed fee by up to 150% or
• give you notice of our intention to stop acting for you.

The work we will do

We will help you resolve your relationship property, with the aim of achieving a binding relationship property agreement or (in some rare cases) a final court order. We will do this work well and in accordance with your instructions and our own obligations (moral, professional and legal).

The work we will not do

While we expect to be your steady rock during this process, we are not therapists or your best mate. We encourage you to engage with paid or unpaid supports. You are going through a lot – but Clean Break can only help you with the legal stuff.

But we can’t do all the legal stuff – just relationship property. We will not be able to help you with any conveyancing (the actual legal transfer of property), commercial, valuation or taxation advice. You will almost certainly need assistance with some or all this stuff (or other stuff). We will refer you to an expert at the right time.

Ultimately – you need a team around you supporting you – Clean Break is just one piece of the puzzle. We encourage you to use your team, and of course, we always encourage you to have one of your teammates join in on our conversations and meetings if that will help you.

Our work isn’t free

We will charge you for the work we do, at the amount you have agreed to pay us. You will pay us within 7 days of any invoice. If you don’t, we will take further steps – up to and including stopping work for you, firing you and enforcing your debt through legal processes.

We are happy to discuss any aspect of our fees and charges with you at any time.

Sometimes, we will ask you to put money into another lawyer’s trust account as “security” for our fees so we know we will get paid. You agree to do this if and as we ask you.

Our packages and fixed prices

We are proud of our fixed price packages as they give your transparency and certainty of your legal fees. You acknowledge that your package(s) only include the benefits expressly stated by us. By selecting a package, you agree the stated fee will be fair and reasonable even if you do not use all of the benefits of your package.

Additional support on top of the benefits of your package will incur additional costs. This is set out in our add-on menu. You agree that those add-on fees are fair and reasonable and you agree to pay them for the additional support.

Please note that any work associated with the Family Court or alternative dispute resolution processes (including collaborative law and mediation) is expressly excluded from the packages. We can provide separate pricing for this at the relevant time if necessary.

Our hourly rates

If we are assisting you on traditional hourly rates, you agree that:

• we will record our time (rounded up to six minute units) at the agreed rate and charge this to you;
• our fees on hourly rates may be adjusted (upwards or downwards) to ensure the fee is fair and reasonable to take into account matters such as the complexity, urgency, value and importance of the our work. Full details of the relevant fee factors are set out in Rule 9 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008 (Rules).
• we will invoice you for our work as-we-go, up to as often as fortnightly.

You may request an estimate of our fee for undertaking our work for you at any time. If possible we will provide you with an estimate (which may be a range between a minimum and a maximum amount or for a particular task or step). An estimate is not a quote. Any significant assumptions included in the estimate will be stated and you must tell us if those assumptions are wrong or change.

Direct instructions

This is quite a technical area, but Clean Break are barristers, not solicitors (it’s confusing as both are lawyers). Historically, barristers like Clean Break could not work directly with clients. Instead, a client would engage a solicitor, who would then engage the barrister (like Sarah / Clean Break).

Time has moved on, and the New Zealand Law Society has given Clean Break approval to work directly with clients unless:

• Your property matters are complex; or
• We consider it will be in your best interests or in the interests of justice for an instructing solicitor to be retained.

If we discover you need to engage a solicitor, we will talk to you about this and find a solicitor who is going to make your life easier – not harder. You will be responsible for the fees of the solicitor, as those fees are not included in Clean Break’s fees.

You acknowledge that if we request you engage a solicitor, and you refuse, Clean Break will give you reasonable notice that we will no longer be able to help you.

Contacting us

To keep fees as low as possible for you, we recommend booking your calls and meetings with us through our online calendar system. If you call us without a time scheduled, this will incur an additional charge of $100.

If you get stuck and can’t find a link to our calendar (it is on our email signatures), email us and we will send you the links again. We won’t charge this as it is important you feel able to contact us when you need to.

If you are uncomfortable using our online platforms, please let us know so other arrangements can be made (and an additional fee may be payable).

Who we have duties to

We act for you, not for the person who pays our bills or anyone else who is supporting you through this process. You can rely on our advice, but if anyone else wants to use it, they need to get our written agreement first.

Do you have overseas property?

We are only qualified to give advice on New Zealand law. Best practice is for you to engage a lawyer in all countries you have property in. If we assist you with overseas property, we do so on the basis that we do not accept any responsibility in relation to your legal position in the other country (or countries).

Your secrets are safe

We are proud of our fun Privacy Policy, which covers our obligations generally and to you as our client about how we handle your information.

However, in short, we want you to trust us with your private information and we will honour your trust unless we are forced to break it. This is very important to us.

Will we make someone feel icky?

We can’t work with you if we have worked for your ex before or someone on your Clean Break team knows them well.

We try our very best to identify this type of potential conflict before we start working with you. We aren’t perfect though and from time-to-time things slip through the cracks (especially when people change their names!).

If a conflict of interest arises after we start working with you, we will inform you as soon as possible and work with you to find a solution so no one needs to feel icky.

We will record our conversations

To keep your costs as low as possible, we record all our conversations with you (whether on the phone, via videocall or in person). This increases the attention we can give to you while we are talking (as otherwise we would need to take notes) and means we don’t need to record what we talked about manually after our meeting for our file. If you are uncomfortable with being recorded, please let us know as we can make other arrangements (and an additional fee will apply).

We don’t like paper

We work electronically and try hard to keep our printing and postage to a minimum. You agree to also work electronically. If you give us a paper document, or if we receive a paper document on your behalf, you authorise Clean Break to destroy it after making an electronic copy.

We keep electronic records. These are held in servers located in and outside New Zealand. We do not own these servers. We don’t accept responsibility and won’t be liable for damage or loss caused by third parties, provided we took reasonable diligence in selecting our service contractors.

We will retain your files for at least six years after our work with you has ended. We may then destroy the files. If you want us to keep your records longer, let us know before the six-year mark is up.

If you uplift your file from us, we may retain a copy of it for our own records in accordance with this clause.

Lawyers Fidelity Fund

Clean Break will not hold any of your funds. As such, the New Zealand Law Society’s Fidelity Fund will not be available to you.

Do you need to sue us?

We hope you will never need to look at this clause. We hold insurance that exceeds the minimum standard specified by the Law Society.

You agree that in the (unlikely) event that Clean Break’s actions (or inactions) cause you to suffer loss or Clean Break is liable to you in some other way, our aggregate liability to you (whether in contract, tort, equity or otherwise) is, to the extent permitted by law, limited to the greater of:

• the amount payable under our insurance, where the liability is covered by Clean Break’s insurance; or
• five times the fees you paid Clean Break, up to a maximum of $200,000.

This maximum applies to any liability that may arise in any way.
These terms of engagement and any other agreement we have with you are governed by New Zealand law and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts.

Let’s all be mindful of scammers

Scammers are everywhere– and while we invest in our cyber security – they keep getting smarter.

We do not accept any liability for any damage or loss caused in connection with our communications with you being interfered or intercepted with. Stay alert, and if something doesn’t look or sound right – call us to check.

Ending this agreement

We (for good cause) or you (for no cause) may fire you/us at any time by giving a reasonable period of notice. You will pay our fees for work done and for other charges incurred up to the time of termination. If you are on a fixed fee package, and we have done work towards a milestone that we haven’t yet billed you for – you will need to pay for this.

The enforceability of this agreement is not affected by termination.

Feedback & Complaints

If you have any feedback (positive or negative) about our services, please contact Sarah Moon. Sarah owns Clean Break and has overall responsibility for our services to you. We value client feedback and appreciate comments on all aspects of our service – including how we can improve it for you or others.

If you have a complaint, in the first instance you should refer this to Sarah Moon. Depending on the nature of the complaint, Clean Break may refer it to an independent barrister for an opinion on whether your complaint has merit. We will inform you if we do this.

If you are not satisfied with how we are handling things, you may also contact the complaints service run by the New Zealand Law Society (www.lawsociety.org.nz or 0800 261 801).

Plus the stuff all lawyers have to say…

Clean Break must always:

• Act competently, in a timely way, and in accordance with instructions received and arrangements made.
• Protect and promote your interests and act for you free from compromising influences or loyalties.
• Discuss with you your objectives and how they should best be achieved.
• Provide you with information about the work to be done, who will do it and the way the services will be provided.
• Charge you a fee that is fair and reasonable and let you know how and when you will be billed.
• Give you clear information and advice.
• Protect your privacy and ensure appropriate confidentiality.
• Treat you fairly, respectfully and without discrimination.
• Keep you informed about the work being done and advise you when it is completed.
• Let you know how to make a complaint and deal with any complaint promptly and fairly.

The obligations Clean Break (as a law firm and lawyers) owe to clients are described in the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers. Those obligations are subject to other overriding duties, including duties to the courts and to the justice system.

If you have any questions about our ethical obligations, please talk to us, or visit www.lawsociety.org.nz or call the Law Society on 0800 261 801.

Effective from 24 February 2025