Terms, refunds and privacy
The short version
You are buying a licence to read a Kitchen Table Law program on this site, and to download copies of it that are personalised to you, for one matter for at least a three year period — long enough for almost any matter from the first steps to the closing of the file. Update notices run the whole way. Each program is released in groups; each group is billed when it opens, and it opens on the earlier of its calendar date or the day you tell us you have reached the milestone. If you want a refund, ask — you will get one quickly, and the licence ends. Your email and mobile are used to log you in, deliver your downloads and send update notices, and for nothing else unless you ask. One program covers one matter; a second matter on your account is a second program at a reduced price. The guides are information, not advice about your situation.
Everything below says the same thing at greater length.
1. Who we are
Kitchen Table Law is a business name and trade mark of Mediation Institute Pty Ltd (ABN 43 166 175 962) (“we”, “us”). Our address for notices is Post Office Box 16 Loch Sport Vic 3851. You can reach us at [email protected].
2. What you are buying
2.1 A program is a guide (for example No Will? — Victoria edition), its document pack, update notices, and access to the Kitchen Table Law panel’s fixed-price help. It is delivered on this website, in release groups, and as downloads generated for you.
2.2 Your purchase is a licence, not a sale of goods. It lets you, personally, read the program on this site and download personalised copies of it for your own use in the one matter you name when you buy, for three years from your first payment (or such longer period as we choose to allow).
2.3 One program, one matter. When you buy, you tell us which matter the program is for — for an estate, the name of the person who has died — and that name appears on your account and your copies. If you find yourself administering a second matter you buy a second program for it; because you already know the method, a second matter on your account is priced at $39 an instalment rather than $79.
2.4 A Theme is a bundle of related programs on the same terms. A Library licence for professionals is sold separately on invoice and has its own terms (section 12).
3. Release groups, milestones and instalments
3.1 Each program is divided into release groups. The groups, the chapters in each, and the instalment for each are set out on the program’s page before you buy. For No Will? there are three groups and three instalments of $79 each.
3.2 Group 1 opens when your first instalment is paid. Each later group opens on the earlier of (a) its calendar date, shown on your My Kitchen Table page, and (b) the day you tell us you have reached that group’s milestone (for example, “the grant has arrived”).
3.3 Each later instalment is billed when — and only when — its group opens, to the card you paid with. We ask your bank to verify you when you first pay, and we may ask you to confirm a later instalment yourself if your bank requires it. A group does not open until its instalment is paid.
3.4 The red boxes — the parts of every chapter that tell you when to stop and get advice — are readable from the day you sign up, whether or not their group has opened.
3.5 You can stop between groups at any time. Nothing further is billed, and everything you have paid for stays readable for the rest of your licence — reading is never taken away from a group you have paid for.
4. Refunds
4.1 If you want a refund, ask, and you will get one promptly and without argument. Email [email protected] or reply to any message from us.
4.2 A refund ends the licence: access to the program closes when the refund is issued. Copies you have already downloaded were personalised to you when they were made and remain so.
4.3 Because each instalment matches a group you received the same day, a refund is ordinarily of the most recent instalment. If you think more is fair, say so — we will listen.
4.4 Nothing in these terms limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded. Where we are permitted to limit our liability, it is limited to re-supplying the program or refunding what you paid for it.
5. Your copies are personalised — please read this
5.1 Every page we generate for you — on screen and in every download — carries your name and licence number. Each download also carries a small code (a QR code and a short reference) that identifies that copy. The code contains no personal details; scanning it shows only the edition, the group and whether the pages are still current.
5.2 Each download also carries marks that are not visible: your account’s email address and mobile number are recorded in the file’s properties, and the copy’s reference is woven into the text in a way that survives copying and pasting. The layout of each copy differs very slightly from every other.
5.3 We keep a record of every login, every link we send you, every download and every copy generated, with the time and the internet address used. This is as much your protection as ours: it is how we show that you received what you paid for.
5.4 The purpose of all this is simple. You are welcome to print your program, punch it and put it in a binder — the guide tells you to. You are not licensed to give copies to other people, and if a copy surfaces where it should not be, these marks tell us whose it was.
6. What you may and may not do
6.1 You may read the program on this site, download it, print it, and use it in your own matter. You may show it to a professional you engage to help you.
6.2 You may not share your login, lend your account, or give, sell, post or otherwise distribute copies of the program or the document pack to anyone else. You may not remove or alter the personalisation marks.
6.3 If you do, we may close your account without refund, and we may take whatever further steps the law allows.
7. Information, not advice
7.1 The programs are general legal information written for a general reader. They explain the law as it stood on the date shown in each guide, applied to an example family. They do not know your facts.
7.2 Nothing in a program is legal advice about your situation, and buying one does not make you a client of Mediation Institute Pty Ltd, of Kitchen Table Law, or of any member of the panel. Where a guide says to get advice — the red boxes — please do.
7.3 We work hard to keep the programs accurate and current, and we issue update notices for the life of your licence. We do not guarantee that a program is complete or error-free, and we are not responsible for decisions you make in reliance on it beyond what the Australian Consumer Law requires.
8. Updates
8.1 When a figure, fee or rule in your program changes, we update the program and tell you by email or SMS to log in and re-download the affected pages. Update notices run for the three years of your licence.
8.2 The verify page for any copy (the QR code) tells you whether that copy is still current.
9. Help by the task, and the panel
9.1 The Kitchen Table Law panel is a list of independent lawyers and mediators who have completed our training for the program you are using and who offer fixed-price tasks to our customers. When you engage one, your agreement is with them, not with us, and their professional obligations to you are their own.
9.2 Disclosure: panel members pay Kitchen Table Law a referral fee of $100 for each matter referred. It does not change the price you pay them. It is one of the ways the programs stay cheap.
9.3 We choose panel members carefully but we do not supervise their work and are not responsible for it.
10. Your account
10.1 To buy a program you give us your name, an email address and an Australian mobile number, and we verify both before your account opens. You log in with a link sent to your email or a code sent to your mobile; there is no password.
10.2 Keep both channels working. If you lose one — a new number, a closed mailbox — email us and we will verify a replacement with you, by phone if necessary.
10.3 You must be at least 18 and be buying the program for your own use or on behalf of a person you are lawfully assisting.
11. Privacy collection notice
This section is the notice required by Australian Privacy Principle 5. Mediation Institute Pty Ltd is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
11.1 What we collect. Your name, email address, mobile number and state or territory; the program you buy and your payment history (we do not see or store your card number — Stripe does); every login, link, download and copy we make for you, with the time and internet address; and anything you tell us when you contact us.
11.2 Why. To open and run your account, deliver your program, bill the instalments you have agreed to, send you update notices, personalise your copies, keep the record described in section 5, answer your questions, and handle any refund or dispute. We collect the mobile number because it is one of the two channels we deliver through and because it lets us confirm that the person paying is the person receiving.
11.3 Who else sees it. Our service providers, only as far as each needs to do its job: Stripe (payments), Twilio (SMS), Resend (email), Cloudflare (website security), and our website which is on a server physically located in Australia run by our company. Panel members see only what you choose to give them when you engage them. Otherwise we do not disclose your personal information unless the law requires it. Some of our service providers process data outside Australia.
11.4 Marketing. We do not use your email or mobile for marketing unless you separately opt in. Update notices about the program you bought are not marketing.
11.5 How long. We keep your account and delivery records for seven years after your licence ends, because they are our evidence of what was delivered and paid. Copies we generated for you are kept for the same period.
11.6 Access, correction and complaints. You can ask to see or correct the personal information we hold about you by emailing [email protected]. If you have a complaint about how we have handled your information, tell us first and we will respond within 30 days; if you are not satisfied you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au).
11.7 Our full privacy policy is at https://www.mediationinstitute.edu.au/privacy-policy-information/.
12. Professionals: KTL CPD and the Library licence
12.1 A KTL CPD course is sold to an individual practitioner for their own professional development. The workbook downloads are personalised to the practitioner in the same way as a consumer program (section 5). Completing a course is a condition of applying to join the panel; it does not guarantee acceptance.
12.2 A Library licence is sold to a firm or practice on invoice, per named practitioner (“seat”), for twelve months. Seats may be reassigned on notice to us. Library terms, including price, are set out in the licence agreement with the firm; where they differ from these terms, the licence agreement prevails.
12.3 CPD claimability is assessed by each practitioner against their own regulator’s rules. Our courses are not accredited by the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia; WA practitioners should check with the Board before relying on them for CPD. We describe how each course is structured; we do not warrant how any regulator will treat it.
13. General
13.1 We may change these terms for future purchases. The terms that apply to your purchase are the ones in force when you paid your first instalment; we will not change them against you during your licence.
13.2 Our dealings with you are governed by the law of Victoria, and the courts and tribunals of Victoria have jurisdiction.
13.3 If you have a complaint about us, tell us. We answer courteously and quickly, we refund readily, and we defend ourselves where we have to. Threats — of reviews, chargebacks or otherwise — get the same courteous answer as everyone else.
Terms current at 1 September 2026. Version 0.3 — incorporating Paul Kenna Law’s amendments of 9 September 2026 (12.3 WA wording neutralised at his direction).