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Guest Character Profiles > Tim Collins Ben Anderson

Tim Collins 2001-2005, 2007-2010, 2013, 2015, 2016
Children: Courtney
Occupation: Lawyer, Interim Mayor

When Toadie Rebecchi began working for the legal company Stewart, Whitehead and Moore while studying for his law degree, he came across Tim Collins. Tim was a typical ruthless lawyer, out to make as much money as he could, regardless of who he stepped on along the way. However, when Toadie found out that an insurance company, Reinholt, with which some of his neighbours were clients, was about to go bust, he was faced with the dilemma of breaking Tim’s confidence or warning his friends before they lost a lot of money. Realising that this could make Joe Scully bankrupt, he told his neighbour and faced the consequences. Toadie was quickly warned that by double-crossing Stewart, Whitehead and Moore, he wouldn’t be able to find work as a lawyer anywhere in the city.

Tim kept in contact with the residents of Ramsay Street, acting as best man at his cousin, Marc Lambert’s, wedding to Stephanie Scully and, later that year, as Susan Kennedy’s lawyer when she planned to divorce Karl. Later, when Tim left Stewart, Whitehead and Moore, he asked Toadie to join him at his new firm. Although he had no office, and spent much of his time working out of The Coffee Shop, Toadie agreed to join Tim Collins & Associates. Despite the huge differences in their working styles, and particularly, their ethics, Tim and Toadie made a good team. When it seemed that elderly Rose Belker was being conned by her son-in-law, Toadie agreed to help her, despite Tim’s concerns that the woman had no money and would be unable to pay her fees. Tim was soon left feeling embarrassed when, after exposing her cruel son-in-law, Rose offered the boys their money, plus some extra for being so helpful. They were joined at the law firm in 2003 by Sindi Watts as their secretary, but she quit after only a few weeks and was replaced by David Bishop. A few months later, they lost their premises and were forced to share a unit at Lassiter’s with Karl’s medical practice.

After spending a great deal of time in Sydney, and leaving Toadie to do a lot of the day-to-day running of the law practice, Tim became involved in another case involving the residents of Ramsay Street. After Susan Kennedy sacked her lawyer during her divorce from Karl, she decided that she would hire the most ruthless man she knew – Tim. He was only too glad to accept the case and began to convince Susan that she had to fight for what was rightfully hers, especially as Karl’s new girlfriend Izzy would be busy trying to get her hands on it. When mediation between the two parties failed, the case went to court. However, Tim was suddenly called to Sydney, following important developments in another case, and so old family friend Toadie was called in to take over as Susan’s representation.

A few months later, Tim and his girlfriend, Molly Milevic, had a night out with Toadie and his new woman, Genevieve Doyle. Although Molly had a wonderful time, enjoying Eva’s stories about her teaching and wrestling, Tim was less impressed. He told Toadie that she didn’t present the correct image for the partner of a lawyer and that he should think about dumping her. However, the following day, at the grand re-opening of the Lassiter’s complex, Eva was hired to sing at The Scarlet Bar and she managed to wow the crowds, including Tim. He was forced to apologise for his earlier remarks, realising that he shouldn’t have judged that particular book by its cover.

Over the months that followed, Tim was increasingly absent, tending to cases at the Sydney office and leaving Toadie and new article clerk Rosetta Cammeniti to run things in Melbourne. In mid-2007, Tim returned to take charge of his Melbourne office, pointing out to Toadie and Rosie that, between them, they billed less hours than one of his Sydney lawyers. Unimpressed to find Toadie in court on a drink driving charge, and Rosie battling her own personal problems, Tim gave them an ultimatum - he explained that he was freezing both of their salaries for a month and, whoever billed the most hours in that time would get both pay packets, while the loser would be out of a job. While Rosie quickly threw herself into the challenge, Toadie struggled to keep up, particularly as his older brother, Stonie turned up and quickly clashed with Tim. When local man Ian Morecombe tripped and hurt his ankle outside a small deli, Tim encouraged him to sue the business for every penny they had, despite Toadie's concerns that they would be taking away someone's livelihood. As Tim got Ian to sign some forms, he realised that his Swiss pen, a gift from his father worth over $1000, was missing, and immediately accused Stonie, who'd been hanging around the office, of theft. Even Toadie started to doubt his brother, so when Tim later found it in his briefcase, Stonie was expecting a couple of apologies but only got one, from his sibling, before being thrown out of the office again.

Over the days that followed, it became clear that Tim had no intention of keeping Toadie on, seeing Rosie as a far better prospect. He explained to Rosie that he could picture her in their city office, with the corner suite, within no time, if she stuck with him. Rosie was flattered by this, but said that she couldn't betray Toadie like that, and would rather win the job on her own merits. However, when her husband Frazer later mistakenly thought that he'd caught Toadie smoking pot and throwing the butts into their garden, when in fact it was Stonie with the addiction, he phoned Rosie and told her that her loyalty to Toadie was misplaced, and that she should accept Tim's offer to advance her career. But it wasn't long before Frazer realised his mistake, as he caught Stonie throwing his butts over the fence, and let Rosie know. She quickly changed her tune, even altering the billed hours so that she and Toadie were equal, and he'd have no choice but to keep them both on. When an over-worked Toadie then suffered a panic attack and was hospitalised, Tim's lack of compassion, not to mention catching him napping and listening to his iPod when he was supposed to be working, made Rosie realise that perhaps he wasn't worth all the effort. The incident had a similar effect on Toadie, as they both came to the conclusion that they'd be better off working for themselves than busting a gut for a worm like Tim, and announced that they were opening their own law firm, Rebecchi Cammeniti, and since Tim's lease was up soon and they were friends with the owners of Lassiter's, it looked likely that they'd be taking over his premises too.

Forced to run the Erinsborough office on his own, Tim was frustrated by Toadie constantly popping in and out to measure for new furniture, but soon saw an opportunity to get his own back when he met new client Kirsten Gannon. Kirsten was preparing to fight for custody of her young son, Mickey but had little funds and Tim was about to show her the door when he realised that Mickey's father was Ned Parker, a good friend of Toadie's, he realised who would be representing Kirsten's opposition and saw the chance to beat Rebecchi Cammeniti with their first case. When he found out that Ned had forgotten about Mickey's birthday, Tim encouraged Kirsten and Mickey not to say anything, letting Mickey think that his dad must have a big surprise planned. He then attempted to win over Lassiter's managers Elle Robinson and Oliver Barnes only for them to tell him of a massive rent increase, before admitting that they actually had no intention of letting his stay and would need him to vacate the offices within 48 hours. Even more anxious for Kirsten to win the custody battle, Tim then encouraged her to use the short temper of Janae, Ned's girlfriend, to her advantage. After meeting Janae in the General Store, Kirsten easily managed to wind her up, making digs about her relationship with Ned and her criminal family, and Janae threw a glass of water over her. With an assessment with the family court psychologist due the next day, Janae's stunt looked like ruining Ned's chances of winning temporary custody, and Tim was happy to turn down a request from Toadie - and Diana Murray, a top barrister who was temporarily filling in for Rosie - to delay the psychological assessment.

After her morning meeting with Paula Beeman, the psychologist, Kirsten met with Tim and thanked him for his help, believing that it had gone well and she would be recommended for custody. As they chatted, Kirsten misread the signals and tried to kiss Tim and, as he rejected her, she ran off, embarrassed. Later that day, Diana phoned Tim and called him to Rebecchi Cammeniti, where he was informed that, after learning that Paula was going to recommend Ned for custody, Kirsten had snatched Mickey and run off. Tim agreed to phone her and try to talk some sense into her, but Kirsten had already decided that the whole thing was hopeless and that she and Mickey would have to get as far from Erinsborough as possible. After realising that Kirsten had vanished with Mickey, Toadie and Diana called upon Tim to help track her down, and he quietly admitted that his reaction to the kiss might have contributed to her snatching her son. He quickly called Kirsten, but she refused to change her mind about leaving, and it was down to Ned to find his son, just as Kirsten was about to take him away on a bus to Brisbane.

Tim then turned the lives of more Erinsborough residents upside-down when he turned up at the funeral of Alan Napier to deliver news to his grandson, Oliver, that his adoptive brother, Sebastian was contesting his rights to ownership of their late parents' hotel empire. After Oliver had won control of the Barnes empire, it had emerged that he was adopted, and Sebastian had decided that he wanted it back, and, with Tim acting as his lawyer, he managed to get Oliver's assets frozen. Oliver decided to try and sell everything before Sebastian could get his hands on it, but Diana and Toadie warned him that it wouldn't be possible, as those assets were already part of the legal action. Unfortunately, Oliver's real mother, Rebecca Napier, who had just started work at the law firm, sent the wrong documents to Tim, who found out about Oliver's plan to sell up, leaving him in a precarious legal position and Rebecca with no choice but to resign. A few days later, Oliver arranged to meet with Tim, who explained that Sebastian was willing to offer him $100,000 as a settlement, if he just walked away from the business. Oliver accepted, but later made it clear to Toadie that he wasn't going to let it end there.

Sebastian continued to use Tim to do his bidding when he sent the lawyer to Lassiter's to speak to Elle, and explained that, in order to cut costs, one of the three hotel managers would have to be fired, leaving Elle to sack either Oliver or Paul. Realising that the pair made an excellent team, with Oliver providing the heart and Paul the business sense, Elle met with Tim and proposed some other plans to cut spending around the hotel, but Tim said that all Sebastian wanted was to lose a manager, leaving Elle to realise that the proposal was a personal attempt on Sebastian's part to get revenge. After thinking things over and discussing it with Rebecca, Elle then shocked everyone by calling a board meeting and offering her resignation.

A few months later, as 26 Ramsay Street went to auction, the Parker family - who were renting the house and hoped to buy it - were shocked when Tim turned up for an inspection. After taking a quick look around, he announced that it was just what he was looking for, but he had no plans to live in the house, rather he was going to knock it down and use the land to build three townhouses. The Parkers weren't to be deterred and, having put off most other prospective buyers, it was down to Steve Parker, Tim and Rosie's sister, Carmella who hoped to buy it with her partner Marco Silvani. As the bids rose steadily, it looked like Tim was going to win the day, until Steve stepped back into the race at the last minute, buying the house for $600,000 - $80,000 over his limit.

Later that year, Paul called Tim in to help him reclaim control of his money, which Elle had conned him out of, and Tim quickly realised that, since Paul had been suffering from a brain tumour and hallucinations at the time, it would be easy to overrule the documents he'd signed. With his money back in his own bank account, Paul soon found himself a new business interest and took over the Erinsborough News.

When Toadie wrote a play about his failed relationship with Steph, her jealous boyfriend Greg Michaels contacted Tim and arranged for Toadie to be sued for defamation. Steph, however, was furious and ripped up the papers. The following week, Tim was called upon to represent Paul Robinson, who was charged with a hit and run accident that had caused the death of his half-sister, Jill Ramsay. Though Tim tried his best to help, but Paul soon realised that, as he was innocent and needed real help, as opposed to Tim's tactics of getting guilty people off on technicalities, he should go to Toadie instead. The following week, believing her dad to guilty, as he'd skipped bail and disappeared, Elle contacted a delighted Tim and asked him to help her win back her father's assets. Though Tim wasn't sure she'd succeed, he was more than happy to help.

Six weeks later, Tim was hired by the hospital, who had denied the Kennedy family the right to try IVF, with mum Susan planning to be a surrogate for daughter Libby. Hospital CEO Brian Rode took Tim along to a meeting with Libby, her husband Dan and their lawyer, Toadie. Tim knew that it would take very little to wind Toadie up, and the plan worked, with Toadie losing his temper and the mediation meeting ending prematurely, with little hope left for Libby and Dan. However, when a mother and daughter protest then started at the hospital over Libby's treatment, and photos were taken of Brian threatening new teenage mum Bridget Parker, the hospital backed down and agreed to the IVF treatment. Some weeks later, Bridget was dead following a car accident and her grieving husband Declan was determined that mechanic Steph would pay, as she had serviced the car. He hired Tim, who insisted that he'd be able to win the case and force Steph to sell up and leave, but Declan later realised that he couldn't afford the legal fees, so Tim agreed to a no-win-no-fee case. Soon after, however, it was revealed that Steph had not been responsible for the accident, as the Parker car had been sabotaged by Johnno Brewer, who was owed money by mechanic Lucas to pay off gambling debts. After Brewer was caught, it looked like Paul had turned on his stepson Declan when he hired Tim to represent him, but Paul later revealed his true plan, calling Tim and telling him to make sure that Brewer ended up in prison for a very long time.

The following year, Steph was in prison after running down and killing Ringo Brown on her motorbike. Desperate to get her daughter released, Lyn hired Tim, but soon realised that she couldn't afford his fees, even considering burning down her own home for the insurance money before realising that there was nothing she could do for her daughter.

Tim also remained on retainer with Paul, and in 2013 his services were urgently required when there was a gas explosion at Toadie's wedding at Lassiter's. Ramsay Street residents Rhys Lawson and Priya Kapoor were both killed in the accident, and Priya's lawyer husband Ajay began a class action suit against the hotel with Rhys's mum Elaine, promising that he'd take every penny of Paul's money. Things only got worse for Paul as he realised that the insurance policy didn't cover the last-minute marquee erected in the car park for the wedding reception, and Tim advised Paul that his best hope was to try to persuade Elaine to take a smaller settlement. Although Elaine accepted the settlement, Lassiter's was off the hook a few weeks later, when it was discovered that the company making the gas bottles was to blame.

A couple of months later, Tim was called upon once again by Paul, this time to represent Mason Turner, the boyfriend of Paul's niece Kate. Mason had been charged with attempting to rob Lassiter's hotel but Kate was standing by her man, and it was causing tension between her and Paul. In an attempt to show Kate that he still cared, Paul agreed to hire Tim and pay the legal expenses. Both Mason and Kate were delighted, but Paul later met up with Tim and told him that he wanted Mason to go to jail, for at least 15 years, and he expected Tim to lose the case. As the date of the hearing got closer, Mason's family and friends became concerned that the case wasn't as strong as it should be - with both Toadie and Mason's father Matt beginning to have their doubts. As Tim and Paul tried to claim that the positive character statements from both Paul and Lassiter's receptionist Caroline weren't ready yet, then Toadie began to realise that Caroline hadn't even met Tim and was intending to give her statement in court instead, he made Mason see that Tim wasn't the right choice. At the last minute, Mason dumped Tim as his lawyer, ruining Paul's plan, and got a three-year good behaviour bond.

Later that year, Paul decided that he wanted to manage the music career of aspiring singer-songwriter Georgia Brooks, and had Tim draw up a contract. After some personal differences, Paul, who now owned all of Georgia's material, decided to sue her when she performed one of the songs in public without his permission - but after Paul's good friend Jack Lassiter died, he changed his mind and told Tim to cancel the case against Georgia. He then told Tim that he was looking to do more for the community, and the first step in his plan was to try and find out if he could have his criminal record expunged.

Over a year later, Paul's plan to help the community had come to fruition and he was now the Mayor of Erinsborough. But he was still his scheming old self, and when Ezra Hanley, the manager of the Lassiter's in Perth, became aggressive with Terese Willis in her hotel room, Paul made sure that Ezra was sacked. Paul was feeling guilty, having arranged for Ezra, an old friend and former colleague of Terese, to come to Erinsborough, hoping that the pair would hook up and she'd leave her husband Brad, who Paul had never felt was good enough for her. With Terese and Brad blaming Paul for what had happened, things only got worse when Ezra launched an unfair dismissal suit against the Lassiter's corporation. Paul hoped to get one over on Ezra by arranging a mediation with Tim Collins, pretending that he and Tim had never met before. Ezra quickly saw through this and failed to be intimidated by any of Paul's threats, so Paul arranged for him to be beaten up by Gary Canning. Ezra was left suitably scared and returned home to Perth, dropping the lawsuit. Unfortunately, when he hired Gary, Paul hadn't realised that he was related to Sheila, the manager of The Waterhole, as well as several other locals, and the net closed in on both of them. Sheila suffered a heart attack when she found out the truth, and a guilty Gary went to the police and confessed everything. Tim accompanied Paul to the station for questioning, and they almost managed to talk their way out of it, until Paul mentioned that Gary had been paid 'a couple of grand' for the job. As the police hadn't mentioned the amount, it was enough for Paul to be charged, and it looked like he was going to prison, with even Tim unsure of how they could get out of this one. However, Paul quickly found a way, paying Gary's bail and arranging to meet with him, he offered him a substantial payout, in return for him retracting his statement and leaving town.

Later in the year, Paul was in a relationship with Gary's sister Naomi, who found herself facing an unexpected legal battle when Toadie was badly injured during an event Naomi had organised to launch Erinsborough's new childcare centre. Toadie had attempted to leap onto the bouncy castle when it came loose and started to fly away, mistakenly believing that his daughter Nell was on it, and had been left seriously injured, potentially paralysed. As it looked like Naomi had broken the terms of the lease by having the castle moved, Paul was concerned that the Rebecchis would sue, though she was confident that they wouldn't. However, Paul still got Tim to go and see Sonya, claiming that it was just to offer his sympathies as one of Toadie's former colleagues, but he asked a few questions to see if they were planning to take legal actions. As he reported back to Paul, Naomi caught him and was furious that her boyfriend had gone against her wishes, but later Tim caught up with Naomi at Harold's Store, and told her that she should listen to Paul - although she was confident now that the Rebecchis wouldn't take legal action, they might change their minds once the medical bills start to roll in.

As 2016 approached, Tim's loyalty to Paul was being repaid with a place on the local council, but Tim then showed his true colours when the police started investigating Paul's involvement in the a new housing development named Freestyle. It seemed that Paul had bribed ex-councillor Sue Parker to push the planning applications through, giving her a house in return, and it looked like he wasn't going to be able to wriggle his way out of this one - and with Tim aware of the trouble Paul was in, he made a quick getaway before the police questioning began.

The following year, in his new role as councillor, Tim was approached by Sonya and Aaron, demanding answers about the planned closure of the Erinsborough Community Centre. He listened to their concerned, insisting that he'd put them to the council, but when they next saw him, they were alarmed to realise that he'd just been voted in as Erinsborough's new interim Mayor, and Paul was equally horrified as Tim explained that he intended to whip the town into shape - and that the community centre would be one of the first things to go. When a disgusted Sonya then saw a council worker removing the 'love locks' from the bridge over Lassiter's Lake - something that her son Callum had introduced one Valentine's Day - she staged a sit-in protest, chaining herself to the bridge. The plan appeared to have worked when Sonya received a call to say that the locks would stay, but the celebrations were short-lived, when the council then closed off the bridge completely. Already sick of Tim's behaviour, Sonya decided that he couldn't be allowed to stay on as Mayor, and so she decided to run against him. Sonya's campaign quickly ran into problems when Piper Willis saw Tim have a quiet conversation with Waterhole barmaid Courtney, then giving her a hug. Thinking that he must be having an affair, she posted the footage on her blog, only to learn that Courtney was actually Tim's daughter - and they only avoided legal action when Courtney talked Tim out of it.

The following week, as Erinsborough prepared to vote for their Mayor, Tim and Sonya went head-to-head in a debate, and Tim quickly tried to ruin Sonya's character when she arrived late after dropping daughter Nell at daycare, then brought up her past addiction problems - suggesting that her #ImYou campaign should be renamed #ImAnUxJunkie. Courtney was shocked by her dad's behaviour and sprayed #ImScum across the windscreen of his car, but was forced to come forward when Sonya almost got the blame for the vandalism. However, Sonya was convinced that Tim had done enough to ruin her chances, and was almost relieved that she didn't have that responsibility on her shoulders, when word came in that she'd won the vote and was Erinsborough's new Mayor.

Trivia Notes
• Tim and Marc Lambert are cousins. Tim was Marc's best man at his wedding to Steph Scully
• Tim was given a solid gold, Swiss-made pen worth $1000 by his father when he reached his first 100 hour billing week
• It has been mentioned that Tim has been married at least twice, though neither of his wives have ever appeared or been mentioned by name