Kannangara Thomson

We have helped thousands of Cantabrians navigate their way through buying and selling their home. Our professional advice and fixed legal fees gives homeowners peace of mind.

Buying or selling a home (or doing both at the same time) can be stressful. Having a partner in law offering straightforward legal advice is one less thing to worry about. At Kannangara Thomson, we support homeowners across Canterbury to make their move to a new home.

Our legal team makes the experience as smooth as possible, offering timely advice that will see you through the sale and purchase of property and into your new home with ease. We like to take this one step further, and offer a fixed fee without compromising on service. Our transparent pricing and guaranteed fee provide certainty at what can be a stressful time.

Our team specialising in immigration law is regarded as one of the best in Christchurch and has been providing clients with practical and cost-effective immigration solutions for nearly a decade.

We act for private clients who come from many different countries including China, Korea, Japan, India, UK, USA, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. We also provide corporate immigration services to our company clients needing to obtain work visas for their overseas workers.

We understand the importance of immigration matters for our clients and how they can impact directly on our clients’ lives and aspirations. It is important that you obtain timely and correct legal advice. Our team is dedicated to providing you with the expertise and knowledge to safely guide you through the process and towards the goal of becoming a New Zealand resident.

We offer comprehensive legal services relating to all types of visa applications. In the last 15 years, we have successfully carried out specialised services such as Section61 applications, appeals to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, formal complaints against Immigration New Zealand (INZ). We also prepare responses to potentially prejudicial information raised by INZ to prevent your application from being declined.

Whether you are buying or selling a business or licensing or franchising, our teams knowledge of business and business practice stands our clients in good stead.

Building a business takes time and commitment. When it comes time to sell, you want to ensure you are achieving the best price for the work you have put in and that everything has been considered. Similarly, if purchasing a new business or franchising a business, attention to detail is important.

Our commercial team takes pride in being across the details as well as the big picture, ensuring that our client’s best interests are catered to, and that any agreement entered into is robust, forward thinking and future focused.

We are adept at preparing and reviewing complex sale and purchase agreements and franchise and licensing agreements. We ensure that you are protected and that both parties have an understanding of their roles and obligations. We apply due diligence across all aspects of a transaction including liaising with your accountant on GST and tax, reviewing lease arrangements, managing finance documentation and guiding you on employment law.

Managing the complexities of human relationships and rights and obligations under the law can be complex and involving. We help you navigate these potentially choppy seas.

Well versed in employment law, we support organisations, business owners and employees in a wide range of legal matters relating to employment law.

From personal grievance claims, mediation and representation at disciplinary hearings to negotiation, collective bargaining and employment agreements, our thorough understanding of employment law ensures you are supported.

We work alongside business owners, providing advice on health and safety requirements, restructuring, redundancies and remuneration. We help put in place structures and procedures which are focused on future-proofing your business and business relationships.

Having a plan to provide for your family is one of the most important things you can do to give both you, and your loved ones, peace of mind.

It is important to write a will and then to update it regularly. We recommend reviewing your will every five years, or earlier if your personal circumstances change – your relationship status changes, your family grows, or you receive an inheritance.

Whether you are making your first will, or updating your existing will, our team ensures your will is valid, represents your wishes and protect your assets. It provides instructions on who will oversee your estate, who looks after your children and how your belongings are to be distributed. Without a will the Crown specifies how your belongings will be distributed without taking into account your intentions.

Meanwhile, a living will is a document that sets out to your family and medical staff in advance how you would like to be treated if you are incapacitated and unable to manage your affairs.

In both cases, preparing a will and a living will is one of the most important things you can do to safeguard your own wishes and to protect and provide for the people you love.