Running the gauntlet and signing conveyancing transactions in secret

ESTRANGED couples, terrified clients, abusive behaviour and a client meeting in a carport: conveyancers are no stranger to handling property transactions where domestic violence is involved. 

Victorian conveyancer Marie Keane recalls the time a transaction meeting had to take place in a client’s carport rather than home, because of family violence fears.

“We were appointed by the court to do the conveyancing, and acting for both the former husband and the wife,” says Marie, an Australian Institute of Conveyancers Victoria regional committee member.

“She was terrified he was going to be at my office if she came here, because he was also my client, so I agreed to meet her at her house. But she wouldn’t let me in because she thought he could follow.

“We did the signing of the documents in the carport.”

A family violence support agency had also arranged for the woman to hand over items to her former partner, “but of course there was no way she was going to go there”.

“For some reason, I ended up going and handing over the items, which is well outside the scope of our job, just because she was so traumatised,” Marie says.

When dealing with estranged couples with a history of family violence, it’s essential for conveyancers to ensure their matters are kept separate and private, she adds.

“We’ll put notes on our system to be aware it is a domestic violence situation, where you have to send separate letters. If they’re staying in the marital home, they obviously know where they live, but sometimes they don’t, as they’re living elsewhere in fear.

“We cannot share any confidential information about where that person could be living and it’s our responsibility to take that very seriously.”

Controlling behaviour can continue to be a factor during transactions, in which one party refuses to sign documents in a bid to maintain control or they insist their name be listed first in the documents, Marie says.

Other times, she has referred clients to family violence support services.

“Some people are embarrassed, some are ashamed. For somebody like me who has never had to be personally confronted with family violence, it’s very eye opening and sad,” she says.

AIC Victorian president Shakila Maclean agrees there is room for greater awareness of family violence in the conveyancing sector.

“If you’re alerted to it, it might inform how you handle interaction between the parties. There might be a situation where someone does not want him or her to know where they’re moving to, and that might be where as a conveyancer you’ve got to handle the privacy carefully,” she explains.

“It’s one of those things you can’t have too much awareness or education on.”