Independent Legal Advice
Understand exactly what you’re signing — guarantor certificates and SMSF loan advice your lender will accept.
Why You’re Asked to Get Independent Legal Advice
When you agree to guarantee someone’s loan, or sign into a Self-Managed Super Fund borrowing arrangement, you take on serious legal obligations — often backed by your own home or personal assets.
Because the stakes are so high, lenders will not let you sign until an independent lawyer has explained the arrangement to you and certified that you understood it and signed freely. Done properly, that advice protects you far more than it protects the bank — it’s your one guaranteed chance to find out exactly what you’re agreeing to, in plain English, from someone acting in your interests.
At Corporate Legal, we read the loan, guarantee and SMSF documents, explain what you’re promising and what could go wrong, answer your questions without judgement, and — once you’re comfortable — provide the signed certificate your lender needs. We act for you, independent of the lender.
When You Need Independent Legal Advice
Guaranteeing a Loan or Mortgage
Promising to repay someone else’s loan if they can’t — usually secured against your own property. Lenders require you to have independent advice first.
Family & Parental Guarantees
Helping a child or family member into a home with a family guarantee. Generous — and a real risk to your own home if it isn’t understood.
Company Director Guarantees
Personally guaranteeing business or equipment finance turns a company debt into a personal one, secured against your assets.
Spouses & Co-Owners Signing
Where one partner borrows and the other is asked to sign, the non-borrowing partner is entitled to their own independent advice.
SMSF & LRBA Borrowing
When your Self-Managed Super Fund borrows under a Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangement, members and guarantors must get certified advice before settlement.
Related-Party & Member Loans
Where a member, relative or related entity lends into an SMSF, the loan must be properly documented on arm’s-length terms.
Who We Advise
More detail for particular situations: SMSF ILA · SMSF refinance ILA · SMSF commercial property ILA · Company and trust borrower ILA · Private lender ILA · ILA for conveyancers
Family & Personal Guarantors
Parents and family members backing a loan with a guarantee — often secured against the family home. We make sure you understand what you’re backing, for how long, and how you can be released.
Directors, Spouses & Co-Owners
Directors guaranteeing business finance, and partners or co-owners asked to sign as guarantor or consenting party — each entitled to their own separate, independent advice.
SMSF Members, Guarantors & Related Parties
Members and guarantors of an SMSF loan, and related parties lending into the fund. Because we also do SMSF conveyancing, we understand the whole structure — not just the page you’re signing.
The Risks Independent Advice Protects Against
Losing the Property You Put Up as Security
If the borrower defaults and the debt isn’t paid, the lender can enforce against the property you mortgaged — including the family home.
Liability for More Than the Original Loan
An unlimited or “all monies” guarantee can extend to interest, fees, legal costs — and sometimes the borrower’s future borrowings.
No Warning Before a Demand
Some guarantees don’t require the lender to notify you of arrears. Debt can build for months before you find out.
A Defective Certificate Stopping Settlement
Absent, wrong-form or non-independent certificates mean the lender won’t advance funds — and your finance or SMSF settlement stalls.
Advice That Isn’t Independent of the Lender
Using the lender’s own lawyer defeats the purpose and can be rejected. We act for you, independent of the lender.
Signing Under Pressure or Too Late
Independent advice, given privately and early, is your chance to pause, understand, and decide freely — without holding up settlement.
How Our Independent Legal Advice Works
Send Us the Documents
Email us the loan offer, guarantee, mortgage and — for SMSF — the LRBA and bare trust documents. Don’t have them all yet? Send what you have and we’ll tell you what’s missing.
Book Your Appointment
A prompt consultation — in person, by phone or by video, whichever your lender accepts. The advice is usually completed within 24 to 48 hours of receiving the documents.
Plain-English Advice Session
We take you through the arrangement privately: what you’re signing, what’s at risk, how you can be released, and any clauses worth a second look. Ask as many questions as you need.
Sign & Certify
Once you’re comfortable to proceed, you sign in front of us and we complete your lender’s certificate of independent legal advice.
Certificate to Your Lender
We return the signed certificate to you and, if you’d like, to your broker or lender — so your finance and settlement proceed without delay.
Certificates Every Lender Will Accept
Need the certificate itself, on a deadline? Certificate of Independent Legal Advice
Every major bank, and most non-bank, SMSF and private lenders, require a certificate of independent legal advice in a specific form. We complete the lender’s own certificate correctly, witness your signature properly, and make sure nothing bounces back to hold up settlement — for guarantor, SMSF and related-party matters alike.
Why Choose Corporate Legal
Independent of the Lender
We act for you and explain the arrangement in your interests — so your advice is genuinely your own.
Lawyers, Not Just Witnesses
Your documents are explained by a qualified property lawyer who understands the consequences, not just someone ticking a box.
Guarantor & SMSF Specialists
Guarantees, LRBAs, bare trusts and related-party loans — handled by lawyers who do this regularly.
Fixed-Fee Pricing
A clear, upfront fee with no hourly surprises, so you know exactly what you’re paying.
Fast & Flexible
Appointments in person or online, with the advice usually completed within 24 to 48 hours of receiving the documents.
Trusted by Lenders
Certificates completed correctly for the major banks and SMSF financiers, so they’re accepted first time.
Independent Legal Advice FAQs
What makes legal advice independent?
Independent means the lawyer advising you does not act for the lender and does not act for the borrower. It also means the advice is given to you on your own, without the borrower in the room, so that nothing you ask is filtered through the person who wants you to sign. A lawyer who already acts for the borrower cannot give you independent advice on the same transaction, and a lender will not accept a certificate from one who does.
What am I actually agreeing to when I sign a guarantee?
Usually more than the loan in front of you. Most bank guarantees are drafted as all monies guarantees, which means they cover not only the current facility but future advances, interest, default interest, fees and the lender’s enforcement costs. The number you have in mind when you sign is often the smallest number the document allows for. Reading what the guarantee actually covers, rather than what the loan is today, is the single most useful thing an advice session does.
Could I lose my home?
If your guarantee is supported by a mortgage over your property, then yes, the lender can enforce against that property if the borrower defaults. If the guarantee is unsecured, the lender cannot take your home directly, but it can sue you for the debt and enforce any judgment, which in a serious case can include bankruptcy. Whether your guarantee is secured, and over what, is one of the first things to establish.
Can I limit how much I guarantee?
Sometimes. A guarantee can be capped at a stated amount, limited to a specific facility rather than all monies, or limited in recourse so the lender can look only to one nominated property and not to you personally. Whether a lender agrees to any of these is a commercial question and depends on the strength of the borrower. The point worth knowing is that the first draft you are handed is rarely the only version available.
How does a guarantee end?
Generally only when the lender releases you in writing. Paying out the loan you had in mind does not automatically end an all monies guarantee, because the document can continue to secure whatever comes next. People are often surprised years later to find a guarantee given for one facility is still on foot and still securing a replacement one. If you want it to end at a defined point, that has to be negotiated into the document before you sign.
I am a company director and the bank will not lend without my guarantee. Do I have a choice?
Commercially, often not much of one. Lenders routinely require directors to guarantee company borrowing, and refusing usually means the facility does not proceed. That does not make the advice pointless. The purpose is to make sure you understand what you are exposed to, whether the exposure is capped, what personal assets are reachable, and what happens if the company’s position changes. Those are things you can plan around. The decision whether to sign remains yours.
What happens if I decide not to sign?
The transaction may not go ahead. That is a commercial consequence rather than a legal one, and it is not our decision to make for you. Our role is to make sure that if you do sign, you do it knowing what it means, and that if you do not, it is because you weighed it rather than because nobody explained it. A lawyer who cannot properly advise you, or who forms the view you do not understand what you are signing, should decline to certify, and that is a protection rather than an obstacle.
How long does it take and what does it cost?
An independent legal advice certificate is $800 + GST, which is a fixed fee quoted before we start and applies whether the guarantee relates to an SMSF borrowing or an ordinary family, director or co-borrower guarantee. Most appointments are completed within a few days of receiving the documents, and urgent matters can usually be accommodated where the lender has provided everything we need. The appointment itself is typically 30 to 45 minutes, in person or by video, and the certificate is issued to your lender straight afterwards.
Independent legal advice is often one part of a larger transaction. If you’re also buying, our residential and commercial conveyancing teams can handle the whole purchase; if it’s an SMSF matter, we set up the bare trust and custodian and manage the SMSF conveyancing too.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my lender insist I get independent legal advice?
Because a guarantee or an SMSF loan puts your own assets at risk, lenders require proof that you understood the arrangement and signed freely. Independent advice makes it far harder to challenge later — and gives you a genuine chance to understand what you’re committing to before it’s binding.
Can the lender’s lawyer just advise me too?
No. The advice must come from a lawyer acting for you and independent of the lender, who explains the arrangement to you privately. Lenders will reject advice that isn’t genuinely separate.
Who in an SMSF deal needs to get advice?
Usually every member and every personal guarantor of the loan, though it depends on the lender. We confirm exactly who your lender requires before your appointment.
How quickly can I get an appointment and certificate?
Usually within 24 to 48 hours of receiving the complete documents. Send us the documents and we’ll arrange a time — in person, phone or video where your lender allows.
Does getting advice mean I have to go ahead?
Not at all. Our job is to make sure you understand the risks. If you decide not to proceed, that’s entirely your choice — and better made now than after you’ve signed.
What does it cost?
We charge a clear fixed fee for the advice and certificate, quoted upfront before your appointment, so there are no surprises.
Get genuinely independent advice before you sign
Fixed-fee, plain-English guarantor and SMSF loan advice, with certificates your lender will accept — fast.
Book a Consultation