Law firm left $3m debts
A FAMILY law firm that collapsed this year left behind debts of more than $3 million, including $101,000 for a Porsche Cayenne luxury car.
In March, Wiltshire Family Law, headed up by director Andrew Wiltshire, went into voluntary liquidation after being unable to pay its debts.
Domenic Calabretta, of Mackay Goodwin, was appointed liquidator.
The law firm had been touted as a “leading force” in the industry and in 2018 moved to expanded premises on Bundall Road.
According to a document filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission by Mr Calabretta in March and signed off by Mr Wiltshire, the firm had a long list of creditors.
They included landlord David Cherry (owed $61,000), radio station 102.9 Hot Tomato (owed $35,000) and Robina-based accountants WMS Solutions (owed $25,000).
The largest creditor is Sydney-based Quick Fee, which is a professional fee-funding firm for accountants and lawyers.
It is owed $383,000 according to the document.
There is also a further $101,000 owed to PowerTorque Finance for the Porsche Cayenne and $102,000 owed to Westpac for a Toyota LandCruiser Sahara vehicle. Both vehicles have been seized by the financiers.
The total debt was estimated to be $3.2 million in a separate report from Mr Calabretta to creditors in March. Employees were owed just shy of $700,000, secured creditors $1.9 million and unsecured creditors $794,000.
Staff that were laid off can get help for unpaid wages, annual leave, long service leave, and redundancy pay through the Federal Entitlements Guarantee.
However, this does not include superannuation owed to the 12 staff and estimated to be $89,000.
Neither Mr Calabretta nor Mr Wiltshire responded to phone calls by the Gold Coast Bulletin.
In 2018 Wiltshire Family Law moved from Bundall to a 700sq m office building at 192 Ashmore Road, Bundall, after signing a 10-year lease and more than doubling its office space in the process.
Mr Wiltshire said at the time that the business had outgrown its former premises as it had experienced “significant growth”.
“We needed to ensure our new office premises would not only accommodate our current requirements, but also make provision for future growth,” Mr Wiltshire said at the time.
“This certainly cements our commitment to maintaining our position as a leading force in family law in Queensland.”
The practice at one stage had 25 staff, including lawyers that were specialists in the areas of divorce and property settlement.
The building at 192 Ashmore Road in Bundall has since been released by Mr Cherry to Medusa Health Care.