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Choosing A Family Lawyer

The shock of divorce is tough; finding a qualified lawyer or solicitor is crucial to help deal with all the challenges you’ll face on the way. Thanks to the emotional strain of separation, it’s difficult to deal with matters like child custody, splitting property and dividing assets. Having the right representation will make dealing with these much easier. But the question at the front of people’s minds is; how do I choose a family lawyer?

  • Google. A Lot.

In this day and age anyone can find anything on the internet. Going to a legal authority such as the Queensland Law Society will help you narrow down your search.

If you know someone who’s gone through a similar experience, it’s good to ask them for advice. They might even recommend the solicitor who represented them. Word of mouth is just as good as a five-star review, but both combined together are signs of a great practice.

When you’re searching the web, check a lawyer’s qualifications. Lawyers have to learn new things constantly so that they’re up to date with the latest legal developments in their speciality. They should also have recognition from a state legal society and bar association.

  • They make you feel comfortable

The family lawyer will be representing you during one of the toughest times in your life. When you sit down with them, it’s important to feel at ease. Entering a meeting and feeling your guard go up with no signs of going down isn’t a good place to start. There’s no shame in saying the solicitor you met with isn’t right for you. Sometimes people want to work with someone their own age or their own gender.

  • They tell it like it is

Your lawyer is on your side but that doesn’t mean they’re supposed to agree with everything you say. Family lawyers act in the best interests of who they represent and they’ll try to fulfil wishes to the best of their ability. Sometimes though, some desires just aren’t achievable and a good lawyer will actively work towards a compromise.

A good family lawyer also communicates with their client regularly in terms of fees and settlements. In the legal area there’s no need to put people through any more stress that they can otherwise avoid.  

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Child Inclusive Mediation: Facts and Stats

The emotional stress of divorce is felt through any family, especially to the youngest and most sensitive members. The children. The child inclusive mediation method was developed in response to research about the effect parental conflict during separation has on children. The primary goal of this method, according to Professor Lawrie Moloney, is to re-establish and maintain a secure emotional base for children post separation (Moloney 2012:3)

What’s the child inclusive mediation method?

Dr Jennifer McIntosh, a clinical child psychologist, describes some of the fundamental elements of the CI process as follows (McIntosh 2007:5):

  • The session with the children must be supportive and appropriate as to the dispute and separation
  • Decision making shouldn’t be a burden the children carry
  • A therapeutic element is needed to help children with coping, providing information and validating their experiences
  • Assisting parents to hear and reflect upon the children’s experiences to better understand the children’s needs

Child inclusive mediation “ups the ante” by directly involving the children. This way the parents truly understand how their child feels and what they want. Expert advice is still considered in the proceedings as they’d meet with the children to gauge their state of mind during the separation.

The ultimate goal of any mediation involving young people is to reduce conflict and to prohibit agendas or “tactics” one parent may use over another to gain primary custody.

Does this method work?

In a 2006 study, 79% of the combined child-inclusive and child-focused mediation participants reported flattening out of their conflict. Other statistics from the study showed:

  • 82% of CI cases felt this method had improved the way their dispute was handled
  • 61% of children reported better outcomes for the family

In mediation, a clichéd image is the mother having primary custody awarded to her. However, there is an interesting result from the 2006 study. There was less acrimony, greater fulfilment with resolutions and a stronger sense of agreement among fathers in the year after the mediation (McIntosh and Long 2006:122). Fathers also had a greater perception of fairness from the child inclusive process (McIntosh and Long 2006:124)

For mothers there was a greater sense of preservation in the bond with their children. The benefits for the children included a perceived “closeness” with their father’s. They also reported being happier with agreements 1 year after the mediation (McIntosh and Long 2006:122).

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Christmas, Parenting Orders and Family Law

It’s that time of year again and things can become a little tense as holiday, Christmas Day and New Year plans for separated families are negotiated or implemented.

Separation is never easy; and special occasions like Christmas can often be very difficult, highlighting the reality of the changed living arrangements post separation. This can be the case for parents who have “custody of children” as well as for the parents who have arrangements traditionally thought of as “access”, “contact” or “spends time and communicates”.

The important thing to remember in any post separation parenting situation is negotiations occur “in the shadow of the law”.

This means both disputing parents ought to consider how the law might apply to their circumstances when they are engaging in negotiations.

The law empowers judges to exercise “discretion” to make parenting orders, and the process by which this occurs is complex.

However, two very important propositions bear heavily in the mind of a judge being called upon to make a parenting order. These are:

  1. Children have rights; while parents have responsibilities;
  2. Parenting arrangements ought to be in the best interests of the children.

From a practical perspective the best thing for both parents to do is remain “child focused”. This means try to consider what arrangements will place the best interests of the children, ahead of their own interests or feelings.

In my experience as a Brisbane Family Lawyer, some of the things that may be relevant for you to think about, or ask yourself, in making parenting arrangements at Christmas:

  • Making Christmas time a happy childhood memory. One of the most important issues for children’s mental health is to not be exposed to disputes between their parents. Studies have shown witnessing family violence generates similar response in children as having violence directed towards them; and some writers argue “exposing a child to domestic violence is a form of abuse in itself, regardless of whether the child is the target of such violence or not.”
  • Would the children be excited to see both of their parents, grandparents and other people who are important to them on Christmas Day? Is splitting Christmas Day in half what the children would likely prefer? Or would they be happier not to travel on Christmas Day; instead spending Christmas with one parent one year, and with the other the next;
  • If one parent has issues affecting the children’s safety, such as drug or alcohol problems, is there someone trusted who might supervise the time?
  • Will you let them take some of the gifts to the other parents home? Sometimes an item can represent a connection to the home they are not in;
  • Can they give a gift to the other parent?
  • Have you made planned holiday activities and outings, and taken time off work etc.

These are adult issues and it’s not a good idea to question your children directly as to what they want. Hopefully you know your children well enough to have an instinctive knowledge of what parenting arrangements they would prefer.

One of the most child focused post separation steps you can take for your children is to be “business like” in your dealings with the other parent, even in difficult circumstances, or when Court proceedings have commenced.

If you are dealing with a difficult or litigious ex-partner in a parenting matter, conducting yourself in a manner consistent with the above will be important evidence that you are child focused.

Judges make Orders they think will promote children’s rights and best interests. In my experience it is usually very obvious to the Judge whether one party (or both) is not behaving in a child focused way. If it’s not obvious immediately, it will usually become obvious as the litigation proceeds.

If you need the assistance of the Court to spend time with your children at Christmas, remember this is traditionally a busy period, and it is a good idea to get advice as earlier in the year. Rule 5.01A Family Law Rules 2004 provides the application must be filed before 4.00 pm on the second Friday in November of the application year if it relates to Parenting Orders during the Christmas School holiday period.

Ref: Flood and Fergus 2008 referred to in Morgan A and Chadwick H (2009) “Key Issues in Domestic Violence” Australian Institute in Criminology, Summary Paper No 7, at 8.

 

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Parenting – Can I get equal time? Or shared care week about time?

Since the 2006 Howard Government amendments to the Family Law Act 1975 the idea of equal time or shared care has gained greater prominence. This has occurred as a result of introducing two sections, the effect of which places the concept of equal time or shared care, at the forefront of the Judge’s reasoning.

In addition to these amendments, inaccurate media reporting has in my view contributed to a higher awareness among litigants as to the availability of equal time and shared care, and more application or consent orders for equal time or shared care.

Family Law Act 1975 – 2006 Amendments
There are two sections that primarily serve to promote the idea of equal time and shared care. They are:

1. Section 61DA – this section introduced a rebuttable presumption that equal shared parental responsibility is in the best interests of a child.

Parental responsibility is the responsibility for making long term decisions for a child, not “equal time” or “shared care”.
This may be open ended but the Family Law Act 1975 definition in section 4 provides some examples of these decisions, including education, health, religion and culture, name and location of the child’s residence that would make it significantly more difficult for a parent to spend time.

As stated above, the presumption is rebuttable (by evidence that equal shared parental responsibility is not in the best interests of a child); and won’t apply where there are reasonable grounds to believe a parent (or person living with a parent) has engaged in abuse or family violence.

Where the presumption does apply, a further section is relevant to the question of equal time or shared care. This section is:

2. Section 65DAA – this section provides for a 3 tiered pathway to be considered by the judge in making a parenting order. The steps are:

a. To consider an order for equal time; and if not reasonably practicable or in the best interests of a child;
b. To consider an order for substantial and significant time; and if not reasonably practicable or in the best interests of a child;
c. To consider what order is in the best interests of a child.

Thus the first consideration is for equal time or shared care but consideration to make this order is subject to it being in the child’s best interests (Section 60CC(2) and (3) contains the best interest factors); and for it to be reasonably practicable for such an arrangement to occur.

The requirement for “reasonably practicability” is important and covers both what is physically practicable and emotionally practicable for a child.

Prior to the above amendments there was little in the way of guidance from the court with respect to equal time or shared care because for many people co-parenting in an equal time or shared care arrangement it had been arrived at by agreement (and thus no judicial determination was warranted).

An example however of a decision prior to the amendments which I consider offers comprehensive guidance on the best interests and reasonably practicability of equal time and shared care is Federal Magistrate Ryan (at the time) in T and N [2001] FMCAfam 222. In this decision Her Honour set out the indicia of factors to be examined by a court where a person seeks equal time or shared care as follows:

  • The parties’ capacity to communicate on matters relevant to the child’s welfare.
  • The physical proximity of the two households. Are the homes sufficiently proximate that the child can maintain their friendships in both homes?
  • The prior history of caring for the child. Have the parties demonstrated that they can implement a 50-50 living arrangement without undermining the child’s adjustment?
  • Whether the parties agree or disagree on matters relevant to the child’s day to day life. For example, methods of discipline, attitudes to homework, health and dental care, diet and sleeping pattern.
  • Where they disagree on these matters the likelihood that they would be able to reach a reasonable compromise.
  •  Do they share similar ambitions for the child? For example, religious adherence, cultural identity and extra-curricular activities.
  • Can they address on a continuing basis the practical considerations that arise when a child lives in 2 homes? If the child leaves necessary school work or equipment at the other home will the parents readily rectify the problem?
  •  Whether or not the parties respect the other party as a parent.
  • The child’s wishes and the factors that influence those wishes.
  • Where siblings live.

My view is if you’re considering seeking equal time or shared care, regard should be given to the above in formulating your proposal. Every case is different however and advice from a Brisbane Family Lawyer will assist you to determine what your best case is.

Family law advice

If you have any queries in relation to separation, divorce, de facto relationships, property settlement or child support payments, my firm Hooper Mill Family Lawyers can assist you with practical advice. We are Brisbane Family Lawyers servicing all areas.

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How to tell IF you have actually separated and WHEN, most people don’t know!

Separation between de facto partners and married couples

The date of separation is an important one in the context of family law and for de facto relationship law.

The separation date is relevant to issues such as when divorce can be sought, when limitation period might expire, contributions for property settlement and other issues.

What is separation?

I assume most people would think they know whether they are separated or not however surprisingly it is often an issue. This is particularly the case when there is a reason to make it an issue such as when one party alleges a limitation period has expired.

In legal terms a “separation” is more than a physical separation. It involves the breakdown of the consortium vitae which is a fancy Latin way of saying “marital relationship”.

What was said of marital relationship in the case of In the Marriage of Todd No 2 has often been repeated by courts as being correct:

“What comprises the marital relationship for each couple will vary. Marriage involves many elements some or all of which may be present in a particular marriage – elements such as dwelling under the same roof, sexual intercourse, mutual society and protection, recognition of the existence of the marriage by both spouses in public and private relationships, and the nurture and support of the children of the marriage.”

Thus the notion of separation occurs when there is a breakdown of the above marital relationship, in a de facto relationship, or marriage.

This means people can be living apart and not separated; or living together and be separated, i.e. “separated under one roof”.

The practicalities of separation

To determine the separation date, three other conditions are necessary. These are:

  1. One or both people in the marriage or de facto relationship form an intention to separate;
  2. The person forming the intention to separate acts on the intention – because marital relationships vary for each couple, this can usually be determined by examining the relationship before and after the alleged separation date. Casual acts of sexual intercourse after separation don’t necessarily mean you’re back together but it could form part of the evidence to support a resumption of the marital relationship;
  3. Communication of the intention to separate – This was mentioned in the case of Todd No 2 referred to above however it was subsequently recognised in In the Marriage of Falk. This condition requires that communication be direct or indirect by words or conduct.

I suppose you could say considering the above breaking up by email or text is the smart thing to do if you want to be clear about the separation date.

Perhaps it’s better etiquette to have the “it’s not me – it’s you” conversation (did I get that right?); and follow up with a gentle email or text message to confirm the date.

Why is the separation date important?

The main reason why separation date is important is in relation to divorce, the breakdown of a de facto relationship, and limitation periods.

The Family Law Act 1975 replaced the fault based grounds for divorce that existed previously with the one ground, that is, “irretrievable breakdown of the marital relationship”.

This ground for divorce is established by a continuous period of separation of not less than 12 months. Thus separation is necessarily established to obtain divorce.

After divorce has been granted a limitation period for property settlement in marriage operates 12 months after the date of divorce. This means if you get divorced you may not be able to seek property settlement without the permission of the court.

In de facto relationships the limitation period is 2 years after the end of the de facto relationship (date of separation).

Sometime the court will treat contributions people have made to property after separation differently in assessing property settlement. There have been a number of cases in which people have had windfalls such as Gold Lotto wins or inheritance at about the date of separation, or shortly after, that makes the date of separation an issue.

In the context of child support and child support calculator

Section 25 of the Child Support Assessment Act 1989 provides one of the conditions to obtain child support is that the applicant is not living with the other parent as his or her partner on a genuine domestic basis.

Section 9 provides “separation” means “circumstances in which the parties to a marriage are, under the Family Law Act 1975 taken to have separated”. Thus the principles are the same and the date separation occurs is relevant.

The child support calculator or child support estimator link is available in an earlier blog post for anyone wanting to obtain an indication of child support payments payable.

Family law advice

If you have any queries in relation to separation, divorce, de facto relationships, property settlement or child support payments, my firm Hooper Mill Family Lawyers can assist you with practical advice. We are Brisbane Family Lawyers servicing all areas.

 

 

 

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Custody of Children during the Christmas Holiday period – Brisbane Family Law Specialists

In the period leading up to Christmas our office routinely receives enquiries from people about “child custody”, “custody rights”, “family law custody” or “child custody laws”.

While these terms haven’t been used in the family law context since 1995[i], and given we are almost 20 years down the track; they’ve remained in the minds of some people presented with parenting issues.

There’s been a change in terminology in family law due to a shift in the context in which the court examines a parenting dispute.-In approaching the exercise of making a parenting order, the court comes from a perspective that while children have rights; parents have responsibilities.

Terms that suggest ownership or right such as “child custody rights” i.e. my right to child custody, are not relevant to the modern Family Court. Further, parents who think in these terms may be inadvertently doing a disservice to the presentation of their case.

So how should I approach Family Law child custody? And what if I don’t want to go to Court?

Whether or not you want, or need, to go to Court the best outcomes for your children (and most likely for you) will be achieved by “child-focused thinking”.

This means framing your proposal for the separated co-parenting arrangements according to the following types of considerations:

  • Is the proposal “businesslike”? Have you been able to put aside your animosity towards the ex partner when considering the proposal?
  • Has the proposal been considered in terms of what is practical for the children?
  • Is the proposal likely to be enjoyable for them?
  • Does the proposal make concessions as to what benefits they receive in the other household?
  • What are your motivations in making the proposal? i.e. are you looking to advance the children best interests?

Some of the rights children have are to enjoy spending time regularly with both parents, (consistent with what is necessary to keep them safe from harm), have meaningful relationships with both parents and extended family, receive adequate and proper parenting etc.

In my experience not many parents consulting a Brisbane family lawyer would disagree children should not have these rights or that children are “property” such as is suggested by thinking in terms of custody laws.

What about this Christmas – I don’t have parenting orders or a parenting agreement in place?

Some ex partners are difficult (believe me I know).

The best you can do is control what you’re doing. This is an area of law where two wrongs don’t make a right.

Remember you need to be child focused; and you should act “responsibly” for your children. Here are some tips for Christmas holidays negotiations:

  • Try and use email for your communications. While face to face may be best to repair a relationship, not so here. Remember your email may end up annexed to an affidavit so behave in a businesslike and child focused manner when communicating your proposal;
  • As part of being child focused think about your proposal. Cover the above points.
  • Avoid being reactive. He or she may say something stupid, insulting, threatening or abusive. Don’t react – you have it in writing;
  • During the festive season don’t drink text or email. At Christmas many people have a few drinks and emotions are running high with separation and absent children at a family time of year. Again, the focus needs to be the children and not your own pain. Things will work out long terms if you stay calm;
  • Look after yourself. Don’t overdo it and set those resolutions in place for the New Year. I often say to my clients “it’s a marathon not a sprint” which is particularly relevant when dealing with a difficult ex partner.

I hope anyone taking the time to read this has found it helpful and informative. Have a merry Christmas in 2014; and a Happy New Year in 2015.

Peter Hooper – Hooper Mill Family Lawyers

 

[i] The Family Law Reform Act 1995 (Cth) replaced part VII of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“FLA”) and changed the terminology when dealing with children’s matters from “guardianship”, “custody” and “access” to “specific issues”, “residence” and “contact”.

The Family Law Act 1975 has most recently been amended by the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 (Cth) which commenced operation on 1 July 2006. This amending Act changes the terms “residence” and “contact” to become “living with”, “spending time” and “communicating with”.

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New Case Note – Grandparents’ Rights – Maldera & Orbel

See Peter Hooper’s latest case note on the decision of MALDERA & ORBEL [2014] Fam CAFC 135; which defines the role of the objects and principles of the Family Law Act when deciding a parenting matter.

https://hooperandmillfamilylawyers.com.au/resources/case-watch-list/

Peter Hooper accredited family law specialist is a Brisbane Family Lawyer and Director of Hooper Mill Family Lawyers, a family law firm in Brisbane practicing exclusively in Family and Relationship Law.

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Child Support Calculator

By Peter Hooper, Brisbane Family Lawyer

Most people are familiar with the idea that when parents separate “non-residential” parents may have to pay child support.

What most people don’t know however is how much child support they may be eligible to receive or liable to pay?

Well…keep reading because I can show you exactly how to work this out for yourself, quickly and easily…

The Child Support system

Child support in Australia is determined by an administrative assessment. For those of you young enough to remember, it started with Bob Hawke announcing in the late 1980’s that “By 1990 no Australian child will live in poverty”.

Effectively the legislation took the responsibility for determining how much child support should be paid away from the courts; and created a formula to be administered by the Child Support Agency (now Department of Human Resources).

Child support calculator – the child support formula

What makes up the child support formula then?

The following sets out how child support is calculated using the basic formula in the legislation:

  1. Each parents taxable income minus a “self-support” amount;
  2. Add both parents incomes together (minus self-support) to arrive at the “combined child support income”;
  3. Divide each parent’s individual child support income by the combined child support income to get an income percentage for each parent
  4. We work out each parent’s care percentage of the child using the care and cost table. The care costs table is set out below.
  5. Then work out each parents cost percentage using the same table, and subtract the cost percentage from the income percentage for each parent to arrive at the child support percentage.
  6. If the result is a positive percentage, child support is payable.
  7. If there is a positive percentage then the Department will work out the costs for each child based on the parents’ combined child support income using the cost of children The costs depend on the age and number of the children and are set out below.
  8. The final amount payable is then calculated by multiplying the positive child support percentage by the costs of the child. This final figure is the child support amount the paying parent needs to transfer to the other parent.

Do you need to be a family law lawyer to work this out?

No you don’t.

All you need to do to estimate the child support you are eligible or liable for is CLICK HERE

The link is to the Department of Human resources child support estimator. The estimator will work out the basic formula for you however there can be circumstances where the basic formula won’t apply and a change of assessment is necessary.

 

Peter Hooper is an accredited specialist family lawyer in Brisbane.

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Tips to reduce family law solicitor legal costs

Peter Hooper accredited family law specialist is a Brisbane Family Lawyer and Director of Hooper Mill Family Lawyers, a family law firm in Brisbane practicing exclusively in Family and Relationship Law.

Most family lawyers in Brisbane, and across the country, time cost. Therefore it stands to reason that if you’re able to assist your lawyer to reduce their time, you will save money on fees.

One of the areas where a lot can be done to assist your lawyer in reducing time is with affidavits required to be filed in family law matters in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and Family Court of Australia.

What is an affidavit? It is a sworn statement of the evidence you will rely upon at a hearing in family law cases. In most family law matters your evidence in chief, that is the facts supporting your case, is communicated in a affidavit format.

The affidavit is your story told by you and therefore if you know some of the rules about producing an affidavit, and produce a good draft yourself in a Word format, you can help reduce your costs. Here are some tips:

What are the requirements? – The rules for each jurisdiction set out the requirements and are summarised below. You can find the Rules by clicking the links below or by visiting the relevant Court websites:

  • Rule 15.08 Family Law Rules 2004 “FLR” and rule 15.25 Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001 “FCCR” (Div 15.4 FCCR) provide for the use of the printed forms. Again the forms are available in a Word format on the Court Website or on our website via the following link: Hooper Mill Family Lawyers forms.
  • The forms have places for the names of the parties, official court section to be completed and the statement at the end to be completed by the qualified witness i.e. JP/Commissioner for Declarations or solicitor;
  • Rule 15.09 FLR – the affidavit should be:

o      Confined to the facts in dispute relevant to the issues in the case;

o      Confined to admissible evidence;

o      Consecutively numbered paragraphs;

o      Sworn in the presence of the qualified witness;

o      Signed on each page;

o      Filed in court;

o      Any alterations should be initially by person swearing and witness;

o—Use words for the month in a date i.e. 30 May 2014 and figures for

number i.e. $20 for twenty dollars.

o      Annexures – need to be attached and referenced etc.

  • Rule 24.01 FLR the affidavit should:

o      Written legibly – preferably types in a 12 point font;

o      Be on A4 sized paper;

o      Have left and right margins so it can be read when bound but no more than a 2.5cm margin;

o      Be at 1.5cm line spacing.

The affidavit is your story but tell your story in chronological order i.e. start at the beginning and work towards the most recent relevant circumstances.

Don’t be afraid to use headings. Sometimes if the story needs to be broken up over several different topics, heading will allow you to group your topics into relevant areas. Headings can also assist you to organise your thoughts to cover everything you need to, and most importantly make your affidavit easier to read.

Make sure the affidavit is simple, clear and brief. Don’t use 40 words to say what you can in 4.

Affidavits are sworn documents that must be truthful. You may have to include something you think is bad for your case, make an apology, or make a positive acknowledgement of the other party. Being truthful is more important to your case than any other aspect and often more “points” can be scored with the judge by being truthful than contradicting what you perceive to be a fact in favour of the other party.

Complying with the rules will make your affidavit easier for the Judge to read; which means the facts you want the Judge to be aware of will be more easily understood.

Please remember it is not your job to form conclusion that is the Judge’s job. A good affidavit only sets out the “relevant factual matters”. Judges have a lot to consider and generally do not look favourably upon reading large volumes of unnecessary material.

Try and avoid emotive language and adverbs. This type of language tends to try and lead the Judge towards a conclusion. Adverbs are words that tell as more about a verb. For example John “simply” turned and walked away; or John “literally” slammed the door. Statements containing adverbs may lead the Judge to conclude a lack of credit or tendency to exaggerate.

Hopefully you have found this helpful but please note there are many other considerations to putting together a persuasive and effective affidavit. This blog is not intended to cover every circumstance and before filing your material; I recommend that you attend upon an accredited specialist family lawyer in Brisbane for advice.

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What is the best way to approach property settlement issues after the breakdown of a relationship?

Separation almost never places anyone in a more favourable economic position.

The effect of separation is usually results in assets needing to be divided or sold, the family is living in and maintaining two households, incomes are now kept separate and so on.

On top of this most people understand that they will need a family lawyer; and that family law services are by their nature expensive.

So what is the answer?

The good news is if you can control your emotions and manage to keep the brakes on your amygdala (the stress and anxiety emotions part of your brain), a lot can be done to reduce the cost of separating.

Here are five tips:

  1. Reconciliation Counselling – To use some clichés, perhaps you don’t need to throw the baby out with the bath water. And prevention is better than cure. There are plenty of good counsellors out there who can assist. If the relationship can be saved that is arguably the best outcome for everyone;
  2. Stay calm – Easier said than done. Separation is an emotional process and people handle things differently. If you are struggling get help from your GP and/or a counsellor ASAP. A lot of people who don’t handle separation well can engage in destructive and self-destructive behaviours which cause breakdowns in communication and can cause the settlement process, or resolution process, to be drawn out and much more expensive;
  3. Get Good Advice – I’ve spent a lot of years working as a family lawyer in Brisbane, doing my law degree, specialist accreditation in family law and my Masters degree in family law. Family Law is not something you can Google and figure out in an afternoon. Before you and your spouse/partner start to negotiate with each other, find out from an expert in family law what the range of outcomes are. That way you have some idea what the parameters of your negotiation should be;
  4. Negotiate with each other in a business-like manner, in writing – You’ve both had advice now you can get down to brass tacks. If you’ve followed point 2 above, communication should be possible and you’ll save a fortune in not needing family lawyers bounce letters back and forth. Here I find email is best because it is in writing (which encourages people to behave) and date stamped. Please note generally settlement discussions are “without prejudice” and section 131 of the Commonwealth Evidence Act 1995 applies. This means generally settlement negotiations cannot be used in evidence in the family law property proceeding. The key here is to limit your “without prejudice” settlement communications to negotiations; and don’t mention other wider issues in the same correspondence. Please note however if the matter doesn’t settle, and reasonable offers have been rejected, after the trial the judge can consider the offers in deciding whether to make a costs order against a party.
  5. Go back to your family law lawyer – After you’ve reached an agreement, the agreement needs to be formally recorded in order to achieve a final resolution. You’ll already know this however because you will have gotten the advice first at step 3 above. The party’s family lawyers will be able to advise you what method of recording the agreement is best for you.

Sometimes when communications break down some help is required. Using your Brisbane family lawyer places a degree of separation between you and your spouse/partner if relations are strained. Mediation is also a very useful process to help people reach an agreement.

Remember, the cost of separation is not always financial. The emotional cost must also be considered and in my experience most people can only really start to heal their emotional side after their family law issues have been resolved.

Peter Hooper – Hooper family Lawyers in Brisbane

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