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ARTICLE · 14 JULY 2015

Same same but different: assignment vs novation

Marque Lawyers
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In any agreement, whether you're after an assignment or a novation, you should set out all the arrangements in writing.

AustraliaCorporate/Commercial Law
Enjel Phoon (Formerly With Marque Lawyers)
Enjel Phoon (Formerly With Marque Lawyers)
Jennifer Tetstall (Formerly With Marque Lawyers)
Jennifer Tetstall (Formerly With Marque Lawyers)
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Just kidding, they are not the same at all – just like One Direction isn't the same after Zaynleft. But we digress. One of these two gems lets you transfer rights (but hang on to obligations) and the other lets you walk away from the relationship without rights or obligations. Confused? Read on.

What's the deal with assignments?

If you want to keep performing your obligations under the agreement but give some of your rights to a third party, you're talking about an assignment.

Say you want to allow your parent company to collect payments from one of your customers while you continue performing services for that customer. You'd use an assignment deed to assign these rights to your parent company.

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