Personal Guarantees: Don't Give Them

Personal Guarantees: Don’t Give Them

Joe Kafrouni

17 Oct 2014

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min read

Avoid giving personal guarantees as security for payment where-ever possible. A personal guarantee can commit all of your personal assets to the payment of a debt if it is not paid as agreed and many personal guarantees can last as long as it takes for the debt to be repaid.

Think that any debt you secure with a personal guarantee will be repaid in full and on time?

We urge you to think again and consider the following;

Company U buys supplies from Supplier V. Supplier V states that they will no longer supply Company U unless a company director signs a personal guarantee for payment. The agreement contains the following clause in the fine print:

To secure payment to you of any amounts outstanding I charge all of my property both real and personal with the amount of my indebtedness until discharged

When the Company U director who signed this sold his house, Supplier V claimed that he had to pay the outstanding Company U account out of the proceeds of sale (based on Clark v Raymor [1982] Qd R 479).

Reader’s Tip

If you give personal guarantees that are not limited in amount and time, you could jeopardise your own and even your dependants’ financial future. However, we recognise that it may not be practical for a business to never give guarantees. If you are in a position where a personal guarantee is your only option, make sure it is limited to an amount you can afford and to a time frame you are comfortable with. We can advise you on how to achieve this.

Joe Kafrouni
Legal Practitioner Director
Kafrouni Lawyers

Disclaimer

The information provided by Kafrouni Lawyers is intended to provide general information and is not legal advice or a substitute for it. Business people should always consult their own legal advisors to discuss their particular circumstances. Kafrouni Lawyers makes no warranties or representations regarding the information and exclude any liability which may arise as a result of the use of this information. This information is the copyright of Kafrouni Lawyers.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation.

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