A smooth transition

Retired couple Mary and Ross Karl spent most of their lives running their dairy farm in Ohaupo. When the time came to move into a retirement village earlier this year, they called on Gallie Miles’ Shelley Greer once again, who has been assisting them with their various legal needs for the past ten years.

Now in their 70’s, Ross and Mary Karl have been married for 51 years. A dairy farmer, Ross started work on the family farm in Ohaupo after leaving school. By the age of 21 he went sharemilking and bought the farm in partnership with primary school teacher Mary, at the age of 26.

“We farmed together for about 50 years before selling the farm to our son, who is the fifth generation to own this land,” says Mary.

“We lived in the Ohaupo area until March this year, when we moved into a retirement village in Te Awamutu.”

Mary and Ross started working with Gallie Miles about 10 years and have been with the firm ever since.

“About 10 years ago we were looking to change our lawyer and met Val Mackay from Gallie Miles. After Val retired Shelley took over her clients and from the very first meeting, we knew she was the right person for our needs,” she says.

“She ably assisted us with the administration of our Trusts and more recently with the Occupation Right Agreement for Highfield Village. Shelley has also helped us restructure our assets and fine tune our succession plan, advising us on the best structure moving forwards and how to draft new Wills.”

Mary says Shelley has been excellent to work with.

“She is a very good communicator and promptly responds to our requests. Each part of our legal journey has been handled efficiently, particularly making the complicated process of winding up our two Trusts easy for us to understand. She has also given us both personal and professional ideas that makes us feel we are ‘in tune’ with her thinking,” she says. 

“The winding up of our Trusts had been on our minds for a number of years, and for reasons related to our changing circumstances. Moving into a retirement village meant the process to simplify our affairs was necessary and has been a welcome relief to us both.”

“Shelley’s legal knowledge is excellent, and we have been fortunate to have her as our legal advisor. She has made everything plain sailing for us, and we are confident she will continue to do the best for us.”

“We would have no hesitation in recommending Gallie Miles, and in particular, Shelley Greer to any other prospective clients.”

Shelley adds that it has been a pleasure working with Mary and Ross, helping them to transition into their current situation.

“Ross and Mary have been an absolute delight to work with and I am pleased we’ve been able to help them settle into their retirement with all their legal affairs in order,” says Shelley.