At its best, a dispute resolution is a joint venture between a person and his/her lawyers, requiring their participation as early and completely as possible. Honesty and transparency between the two are mandatory, not only from the client to his/her lawyer but also from the lawyer to his/her client.
The client’s honesty and transparency can help the lawyer, among others, in preparing for an exit-plan for a worse-case scenario. If a client conceals a fact, it can be difficult for the lawyer to refute the opponent’s arguments. Sometimes a small fact can harm a whole case, particularly if it is too late for the lawyer to prepare a defense. By knowing the client’s weakness in advance, a lawyer can prepare himself to address any argument. In addition to that, a small fact that might be unnecessary to the client, can be useful for the lawyer.
Meanwhile, the lawyer’s honesty and transparency can help the client be more realistic in pursuing his/her goal. For instance, the lawyer can advise the client when a case is too weak to be presented, or when it is better to offer/accept a settlement rather than prolong the dispute.
While transferring of legal title to real property (including but not limited to mortgage, etc.) is the duties of a PPAT (land conveyancer) in Indonesia, lawyers also play a role in property conveyancing since there are a lot of legal and administrative work to do before we can exchange contracts and complete, namely to make sure that the legal transaction runs smoothly by conducting legal due diligence.
When it comes to property transactions, the utmost care is required on the part of the buyer so as not to fall victim to risk or fraud. It is advisable that buyers carry out pre-purchase legal due diligence on any potential property transaction. This process takes a great deal of time and money to complete, but thorough due diligence minimizes risk that may be related to the property for both the buyer and the seller, and saves them from trouble in the future.
Legal due diligence will provide answers to most of the questions that may arise regarding important issues, primarily in connection with the legitimate owner of the property, building permits, plans concerning the location of the property (the availability of and options for key utilities and infrastructure at the building lot, including but not limited to electricity, water, sewer, communication lines, road access, etc.).
The principle behind ADR procedures is settling disputes as painlessly as possible by involving the parties in dispute to reach a resolution that satisfies everyone. This requires good communication, and good communication requires some degree of trust, meaning that the creative use of ADR will not work if the parties do not make a good-faith commitment to ADR, particularly once a decision/solution has been agreed upon.
Basically, in Indonesia, as stated in the Arbitration and ADR Law, there are a few types of ADR, such as consultation, negotiation, mediation, conciliation, and arbitration. Negotiation is somewhat similar to Pre-Dispute Resolution. Other types, except for mediation and arbitration, are not widely known.
Many people avoid resorting to a court of law in settling their dispute, not only because litigation is time-consuming and they prefer to use their energy for productive things, but also because they want to maintain their reputation and relationship with their opponent. If you have a problem with a person who has good integrity and willingness to seek a win-win solution just like you, and that you think of having someone in the middle to mediate and guide you through the process, this method can be suitable for both of you.
Arbitration is a method of resolving disputes outside the courts. It resembles civil trials, but takes place privately. In general, in addition to being much less formal than litigation, this method of dispute resolution requires much less time. Oftentimes, disputing parties have had a clause in their agreement setting forth their commitment to seek arbitration in the event of disputes arising from their business. However, such decision may also be made once a conflict has occurred.
There has been a significant increase in the use of arbitration over the past few years due to its being able to maintain the disputing parties’ confidentiality aside from the above advantages of arbitration. The parties may also choose their panel of arbitrators. The panel may consist of not only an arbitrator with legal background, but also those who are knowledgeable in the relevant field, for instance an expert in information technology to settle an IT dispute.
In Indonesia, a general civil dispute can be brought before a district court which is a court of general jurisdiction. A general civil dispute means any dispute arising from a joint venture, partnership, or any agreement except for intellectual property disputes, bankruptcy, employment disputes, and tax disputes which should be heard and decided by other types of courts of law.
Two common types of civil actions in Indonesia are an unlawful act lawsuit and a breach of contract lawsuit. These two types of civil actions cannot be filed together in one lawsuit to avoid a civil action from becoming vague. Not all disputes arising from an agreement can be categorized as a breach of contract. This basic principle of civil law should be properly applied to ensure that the civil action filed meets the requirements to be examined and decided by a panel of Judges.
Industrial relation disputes can be categorized into four, namely rights disputes, interest disputes, employment relationship termination disputes, and disputes between employees/labor unions.
Unlike in general civil actions, in an industrial relation action, any party wishing to file an industrial relation lawsuit will be required to first of all go through certain processes before they can proceed with filing their lawsuit to an industrial relation court. They are required to engage in bipartite and tripartite discussions involving a local government agency in charge of handling labor affairs. Anything missed in taking these two steps could result in the lawsuit getting rejected by the court.
A tax dispute is a dispute arising in the field of taxation between a taxpayer and an authorized government administration as a result of the issuance of a decision that is subject to an appeal or lawsuit filed with the tax court based on taxation laws. In Indonesia, the government administrations that may be involved in tax disputes are the local government administration, in this case the municipal or provincial revenue authority, and the central government tax administering body, namely the Ministry of Finance through the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DGCE).
All tax disputes except for criminal tax offenses fall under the jurisdiction of tax courts. In 2019, more than 65 percent of the tax court verdicts were in favor of taxpayers. Seventy-two percent (72%) of the decisions were fully approved while the rest were partially approved.
The categories of the products of assessment issued by the directorate General of Taxes which may be subject to a tax dispute with a taxpayer include a tax collection notification, a tax assessment notification (and tax withholding receipt), and other tax notifications (i.e., notification to individuals).
