For over 75 years, we’ve protected the interests and rights of South Australian families, individuals, businesses and communities. When experience matters, we’re here to help you, too. Please get in touch with our team if you have more questions.
Johnston Withers Lawyers provides legal services in various areas such as personal injury claims, employment law, family law, property and conveyancing, wills and estates, commercial law, and criminal law. See our services page for more information.
In South Australia, lawyers will generally only charge by reference to a legal scale of costs. Most lawyers will charge by the hour, so the total legal fees in any matter will depend on how much work is required to resolve the claim.
Most experienced lawyers, such as Johnston Withers, will provide estimates of the fees they will charge prior to the matter commencing, and will offer fees on personal injury claims on a ‘No Win No Fee’, basis. Our No Win No Fee model is simple: We believe everyone deserves justice if they've suffered a loss. If we decide to take on your case, our personal injury lawyers won’t charge you legal fees unless you receive a lump sum benefit, regardless of how long the claim takes. You won’t need to pay any upfront legal fees, and we won’t seek any of our costs from you if your personal injury compensation claim isn’t successful. That’s how confident we are in our injury claims lawyers’ skills and experience.
*No Win No Fee is offered for most personal injury claims. Read the full T&Cs here.
Our South Australian law firm operates in multiple locations across the state, including Adelaide, Murray Bridge, Clare, Salisbury, Roxby Downs, Port Augusta, and Whyalla.
Yes. At Johnston Withers Lawyers we specialise in assisting clients with personal injury claims. We offer an obligation-free initial consultation with our team of caring, compassionate regional and Adelaide-based personal injury lawyers and offer No Win No Fee on most cases. This means you won’t need to pay any upfront legal fees, and we won’t seek any of our costs from you if your case is unsuccessful.
You can file a personal injury claim for various incidents, including:
Motor vehicle accidents
Accidents at work
Medical negligence
Exposure to industrial hazards, such as asbestos
Super TPD claims
Sporting accidents
Contact a personal injury solicitor as soon as possible to discuss your case and ensure you meet the required deadlines to file your claim.
Not sure how to make a CTP claim? You can lodge your claim directly on the South Australian CTP Insurance Regulator website, or with the help of our expert car accident lawyers. Alternatively, you can print and complete the form on the website and provide it to the relevant insurer (AAMI, Allianz, QBE and SGIC).
The insurer that manages your claim depends on the registration of the vehicle that caused the accident. Enter the vehicle’s registration number into the EzyReg website to find out which insurer to claim from.
Need help lodging your CTP insurance claim or finding out which insurer you should claim from? Our team of expert motor vehicle accident lawyers in Adelaide and regional South Australia are here to help.
Our car accident lawyers will always provide an upfront fee estimate and, in most cases, work on a No Win No Fee model. This means that if we decide to take on your case, our No Win No Fee car accident lawyers won’t charge you unless we win your car accident compensation claim, regardless of how long the claim takes.
You won’t need to pay any upfront legal fees, and we'll happily not charge our costs if we don't win your case.
If you do win, our car accident lawyers’ fees will be charged by the hour, and will be in reference to a legal scale of costs. This means the total legal fees will depend on the work that’s needed to resolve the claim.
If the insurer accepts that the driver responsible for the accident is negligent and the damages you receive exceed a certain amount, the insurer is obliged to contribute to the legal fees you incur from your car accident lawyer.
In some cases, the insurer’s contribution may cover up to 70% of the legal fees. The balance is then paid from the lump sum car accident compensation you receive.
Anyone who has suffered a physical or psychological injury in a car accident may be entitled to car accident compensation irrespective of their injuries. Common examples of compensable injuries resulting from motor vehicle accidents include:
Whiplash
Soft tissue injuries
Broken or fractured bones
Psychological injuries (such as nervous shock and depression)
Brain injuries
Burns and scarring
You must lodge a car accident claim within six months of the accident in South Australia with the relevant CTP insurer. You may be able to lodge your claim after this time but the insurer will seek an explanation for the delay.
You have three years from the date you were injured to resolve the claim with the insurer. If it is not resolved within this timeframe, you are required to issue proceedings in the Court (your car accident solicitor can help with this).
Most CTP insurance claims are resolved within 12-24 months of the accident.
However, this timeframe depends on the nature and severity of your injuries – your injuries have to stabilise before doctors will provide an assessment of your permanent impairment.
This assessment usually happens 12-18 months after the accident and is required for your claim.
Claims can take longer for injuries that take an extended period of time to stabilise, or matters that might be contested through the Court. No matter how long the claim takes, Johnston Withers’ car accident lawyers will not charge you any legal fees until your claim resolves.
From the date of your injury until the date your claim is resolved, the insurer is obliged to consider paying for all ‘reasonable’ medical expenses as part of your car accident compensation.
Usually, this applies to the cost of any medical or rehabilitative treatments you’ve been referred for by your GP or specialist, including surgery, physiotherapy, Pilates and hydrotherapy.
To make sure you’re not left out of pocket, it’s important to ask your GP for appropriate referrals and for a treatment plan to be provided to the insurer. The insurer will then consider pre-approving the funding for your treatment.
Once treatment is pre-approved, your health provider can send their invoices with your claim number directly to the insurer for payment.
If you’re unable to work because of your injuries, the insurer must pay 80% of your after-tax income (after the first week). It’s very important that you provide the insurer with medical evidence such as sickness certificates confirming your incapacity to work.
Generally, the insurer will pay all of your lost income as part of the lump sum settlement you receive when your claim is resolved.
However, if you can establish that you’re suffering financial hardship due to loss of income, the insurer may consider paying this amount during the course of the claim. This is usually an involved process and our team of experienced car accident lawyers can assist with these applications.
No. It’s very rare for matters to proceed to a trial. In almost all cases, the claimant and the insurer resolve the claim with payment of a lump sum, sometimes with the help of car accident lawyers. It may be that proceedings are issued in court and the matter settles during the court process, but cases don’t need to be issued in the Court in order for them to settle.
In some instances, you can get car accident compensation as a lump sum. Once your injuries are considered to be medically stabilised, the insurer or your car accident lawyers can arrange for a medico-legal assessment to determine if you have any permanent impairment. The insurer will consider a lump sum settlement based on this assessment.
You must be assessed above a particular threshold to be entitled to make a claim for a lump sum payment for pain, suffering, and future economic loss. Whether you’re above the threshold depends on the nature and extent of your injuries in addition to whether they are likely to reduce your future earning capacity.
You may also be entitled to a lump sum payment to redeem the costs of the assistance provided by your immediate family, future medical treatment, and future care or assistance.
We strongly recommend that claimants seek legal advice immediately from experienced car accident lawyers if their insurer offers them a lump sum settlement. The team of regional and Adelaide motor vehicle accident lawyers at Johnston Withers provides initial cost-free assessments of settlement offers to assist claimants in understanding their rights.
The insurer will pay your car accident compensation. The ‘at fault’ driver may be charged by the South Australian Police for a driving offence and be required to pay a fine or incur another penalty.
Generally, the driver who caused your injuries won’t pay any of the damages unless they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident. In this case, the insurer may seek to recover the compensation it pays to you from the driver at a later date.
If another party also contributed to the accident, you may be eligible for car accident compensation even if you’re partially at fault. In these cases, liability (and the amount of compensation you will receive) is proportioned to the extent to which you contributed to the accident. Get in touch with our car accident solicitors if you have any queries about your liability.
Yes. It’s always important to prepare a will if you have any assets in your name. Your will allows you to distribute not only assets of value but also important sentimental items. In many cases, your superannuation benefits, including a sizable death benefit, may be paid into your estate. It’s important not only to prepare a will but get expert advice about estate planning from lawyers specialising in wills.
A wills and estates lawyer will be able to prepare a legally valid will for you that properly sets out your wishes. The document will also be properly executed before the lawyer and another witness. A specialised wills and estate lawyer can also help you understand the way in which your assets pass upon your death, including giving advice on how joint assets, assets under a family trust, superannuation and so on are dealt with on your death.
Yes, but it’s highly recommended that you speak to a wills lawyer in Adelaide or regional South Australia to make sure it’s valid and contains all the necessary information. It’s also important that you obtain advice from a solicitor for wills as to what happens to your assets upon your death.
Yes. Any lawyer can prepare a will, however it’s important to consult a lawyer specialising in wills. Our team of estate and wills lawyers in Adelaide, Salisbury and regional SA are properly trained to:
Provide you with advice on how your assets are dealt with on your death
Prepare a legally valid will that reflects your wishes
Make sure the will is properly executed
Provide you with advice about any potential challenge to your will, and discuss how best to minimise that risk
There are a number of factors that can affect whether or not a will is legally valid. The signing of the will can affect whether or not the will is valid. For example, if the will is not signed in front of two adult witnesses who are present at the same time, that may invalidate your will.
Factors such as mental incapacity of the testator can also render what appears to be a valid will invalid, if it can be established that the testator didn’t properly understand the nature of what they were doing. Undue influence or fraud can also invalidate a will. Having an Adelaide wills lawyer prepare your will can significantly reduce if not eliminate the chance of your will being declared invalid.
In SA, there is a strict time limitation for contested wills and estates, which must be adhered to under the Inheritance (Family Provision Act 1972). An application must be made to the court and served on the executor within 6 months of a Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration being issued.
The strict time limitation can be extended but it is at the discretion of the court and should not be relied upon. If you miss the applicable time limitation, you may be stopped from taking any further action by the court, particularly in circumstances where the estate has been fully distributed.
Disputing wills, or resolving contested wills and estates, can take months or even years if the Court intervenes in the dispute. An application to the Court cannot be lodged until Probate or Letters of Administration are granted in the estate. Depending on the complexity of the estate, it can take anywhere between 2-12 months to obtain a grant, even with the help of specialist lawyers for contesting a will.
The court process (again depending on the complexity) can be drawn out, and if the matter proceeds to trial it could be several months before the matter is ready to be set for a trial.
The question of who pays to contest a will is slightly complex. Unless an executor has acted improperly, their legal fees are covered by the estate.
Generally speaking, if your claim is successful, the estate may well pay your legal costs, but there are circumstances where you might have to pay your own legal costs (regardless of whether you’re successful or unsuccessful).
If you are unsuccessful, you might also be ordered to pay the other side’s legal costs in addition to your own, so it’s vitally important to get proper advice from an inheritance lawyer regarding the prospects of success and risks associated with the cost of proceeding.
In certain circumstances, our probate and contested will lawyers will agree to defer payment of our fees until the conclusion of litigation.
Contesting the will of a step parent can be complicated. Under the Inheritance Family Provision Act, a step child only has a standing to bring a claim if they were maintained wholly or partly by the deceased, or were legally entitled to be maintained wholly or partly by the deceased immediately prior to their death.
A biological child of the deceased person is eligible to bring a claim under the Inheritance Family Provision Act regardless of whether that child is born in the marriage or not.
Yes, if they’ve been included in the will. However, if a child is adopted, they will no longer be eligible to make a claim against their biological parent’s estate. Our expert lawyers for contesting a will can explain why.
Under Section 9 of the Adoption Act 1988 (SA), an adopted child of the deceased person is treated as a natural born child of the deceased person. An adopted child is therefore not eligible to claim against their biological parent but can claim against the parent that adopted them using a will contest lawyer.
For an intestate estate (i.e. when the deceased died without a will) the legislation in force at the time will direct how the estate is to be divided amongst beneficiaries. Provided you’re an eligible claimant and can establish the provision left is insufficient, then you can bring a claim against the estate for further provision using specialist will contest lawyers.
TPD stands for Total and Permanent Disability, and the industry generally uses it to describe a lump sum payment that may be available to you following a severe injury or illness that prevents you from undertaking your usual employment.
If you’ve been unable to work because of an injury or illness (usually for a period of three to six months) and, based on the advice of your treating medical practitioners, you’re unlikely to return to any work within your education, training and experience, you may be entitled to make a Total and Permanent Disability Superannuation claim.
TPD insurance will generally provide a lump sum payment to cover you financially for your inability to work.
Most superannuation funds offer their members default or automatic TPD benefits. Benefits from TPD insurance in super can range from a few thousand dollars up to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the fund and the premiums paid. Members can choose to apply to their fund to increase their cover or to take out cover if not automatically offered.
Every superannuation fund is different, but most have at least some level of total and permanent disability cover. When it comes to accessing the benefit, the level of cover and your entitlements are different between policies. Your superannuation fund’s product disclosure statement (PDS) should have all the details available about the level of cover your insurance for TPD offers; you can access this by contacting your super fund.
It is in your best interests to seek legal advice on your TPD benefits as early as possible, as it may be that you have more cover than you anticipated as your fund has a difficult definition to meet.
When experience matters, our TPD lawyers are here to help with total and permanent disability superannuation claims and to help you to access the benefits you need to get on with your life.
Benefits from TPD insurance in super can range from a few thousand dollars up to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the fund. Members can choose to apply to their fund to increase their cover or to take out cover if not automatically offered.
Absolutely – that’s what our TPD lawyers are here for. If you’re suffering from an illness or injury that’s preventing you from working, our expert team can contact your super fund on your behalf to investigate your TPD eligibility, and help you cut through the mumbo jumbo.
There are a number of forms and processes that need to be undertaken as part of making a TPD claim to be lodged with a fund. Once the claim is lodged, it can take a prolonged period of time (six to 12 months) before the insurer makes a determination on the claim.
This can be a very stressful process and many clients prefer to have TPD lawyers assist them with navigating the paperwork and liaising with the insurer on their behalf to access their TPD insurance in their super.
If you’re able to return to work after your injury or illness, your fund may offer income protection benefits. These are usually a monthly benefit and the amount is generally based on a percentage of your income. The definitions, benefit limits and payment periods vary significantly between funds.
Some superannuation funds have weekly or monthly payments if you can’t perform your normal work duties for a temporary period of time. These are sometimes called salary continuance or income protection payments.
Typically, payments can be up to 75% of your wage plus super and may be able to be paid for up to two years. You may even have benefits payable to age 65. It’s not uncommon for payments to go through a qualifying period of one to three months, meaning it can take a while before your payments actually start.
These payments may cease if your employment is terminated, if you’re paid out a TPD benefit, or if you receive a common law lump sum payment of compensation. Our income protection lawyers can help you navigate these challenging circumstances.
Johnston Withers workplace lawyers provide a wide range of services including advice and representation on unfair dismissal, employment contracts, disciplinary proceedings, investigations of allegations, independent contracting, underpayment of wages, employee entitlements, redundancies, discrimination, bullying and harassment, adverse action, work health and safety, and issues concerning public sector employers.
We provide comprehensive advice and representation for drafting, reviewing, and negotiating employment contracts to protect your rights and interests.
If you believe you have been underpaid, Johnston Withers workplace lawyers can help you understand your entitlements, calculate the amount owed, and represent you in claims to recover unpaid wages.
Yes, our lawyers can assist in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating employment contracts to ensure they are fair and compliant with current laws. We also help resolve disputes related to contract terms.
We provide support and representation for victims of workplace bullying and harassment, helping them file complaints, seek remedies, and ensure a safe work environment.
You can contact us through our website or by visiting one of our office locations. Our team of experienced lawyers is ready to listen, advise, and support you with your workplace-related legal matters.
Workers' compensation lawyers can provide you with advice on your entitlements under the relevant workers’ compensation legislation. In South Australia, this is the 2014 Return to Work Act (SA).
This scheme contains many time limitations for when certain entitlements are available to you as an injured worker. The scheme also dictates when applications and claims have to be made. For example, a future surgery application needs to be made before the end of the expiry of medical expense entitlement period.
A workers’ compensation lawyer will not only provide you with advice about your entitlements, but will actively assist you in lodging relevant claims and applications to ensure that your entitlements are maximised, and applications are made within the time limitation periods.
Workers' compensation lawyers will also represent you in the South Australian Employment Tribunal if the relevant compensating authority or insurer makes a decision about your claim that you wish to dispute. They will help you obtain evidence by way of witness statements and specific medical evidence to support your claims and disputes.
Injured workers with an accepted physical work compensation injury are entitled to an assessment for lump-sum compensation. This is a once-and-for-all assessment. Our workers’ comp lawyers in Adelaide and regional SA can assist in this complex assessment process from start to finish, and ensure that any lump-sum compensation entitlements are maximised.
There are many steps to a works compensation claim, including;
Lodging the claim.
The determination of the claim process.
Applications for medical treatment, including surgery if required.
Disputes in respect of determinations. For example, average weekly earnings disputes, rejection of medical expenses, rejection of initial claim or rejection of consequential injuries.
Permanent impairment assessment to determine lump-sum compensation.
You can, and should, seek legal advice for each stage of the process, including from the outset to assist with lodging your claim from workers’ comp lawyers.
If a determination on your claim is made by the compensating authority or issuer, you have 28 days from receipt of the determination to issue a dispute in the SA Employment Tribunal. If you receive a determination that you don’t agree with or, if you have any concerns about it, seek legal advice from workers' compensation (previously WorkCover) lawyers as soon as possible and certainly within the 28 days.
You can maximise your workers’ compensation entitlements by:
Reporting your injury to your employer, and any doctors or specialists treating you (like psychologists, physiotherapists and chiropractors) as soon as possible.
Lodge a claim for compensation as soon as possible following the injury. The steps to lodge a claim can be found on the Return to Work SA website. Or, you can contact our team of work injury lawyers in Adelaide and regional SA so that we can provide advice on lodging your claim.
If you experience new symptoms or injuries related to your initial injury or treatment (such as medication induced side effects), it’s important to notify your treating specialists as soon as possible. You should also notify your workers’ compensation lawyers so that the relevant additional claims can be made.
Keep records of the time that you have been unable to work due to your injuries.
Record any and all out of pocket medical expenses, including travel to and from medical appointments.
Obtain legal advice from specialised WorkCover lawyers.
In order to satisfy the criteria for a successful claim for psychological injury you must:
Have a diagnosable psychiatric condition (you can’t claim compensation for emotional distress).
Employment must be the significant contributing cause of your diagnosable psychiatric condition.
The psychiatric condition must not be caused by a reasonable administrative action taken in a reasonable manner by your employer.
It’s critical to seek medical advice and treatment for any psychiatric injury so that medical professionals can establish the diagnosis and cause of your psychiatric condition.