Family Law

Everybody needs a little help sometime…

We understand breakdown of a marriage or de facto relationship between you and your spouse or partner can be stressful, not only you are ending a relationship with someone that you loved, but also you will have to consider and make decision on many practical issues surrounding your marital or de facto relationship upon separation. Examples of the common issues are:

  • Financial and property settlement;
  • Parenting arrangement;
  • Spousal maintenance;
  • Child support and custody issues.

Depending on the complexity of the family circumstances between you and your spouse and his or her attitude towards the proposed arrangements, your matter can be as simple as filing a divorce application and seeking a consent order from the Court to deal with the above issues, to a lengthy complicated and emotionally draining family law matter.

Issues related to children of de facto relationship and financial matters are dealt with and determined by the Court in the same way as married couples.

Whether you have reached an agreement with your spouse or partner, or that you are still in the process of negotiating and compromising, you should always seek professional legal advice about your rights and responsibilities before making any decision.

Our experienced and knowledgeable family lawyers are dedicated to deliver our services to our clients with professionalism and compassion.

The starting point for filing a divorce application is that you and your spouse must be separated for at least 12 months before filing the application, and that the marriage has been so broken down irretrievably that there is no reasonable likelihood of resuming the marital relationship between you and your spouse.

You and your spouse must also be married for at least 2 years, calculated from the date of marriage to the date of the divorce application. If you and your spouse have not been married for 2 years, you must either attend counselling with a family counsellor before applying for divorce, or seek permission from Court to apply for divorce without having to attend the counselling.

If there is a child under the age of 18 at the time of divorce, the Court will only grant a divorce if proper arrangement has been made for the child. You will only have to attend the Court hearing if there is a child under the age of 18 and you are making a sole divorce application. If you and your spouse have made a joint divorce application, both of you will not be required to attend the Court hearing even if there is a child under the age of 18.

Our commitment to you:

  • We understand it is one of the most stressful time of your life when things did not work well in your marriage and it is a difficult decision to separate and end the relationship you had with your spouse. At our initial consultation, we will sit down with you in a private meeting room to obtain thorough understanding about you and your family circumstances and discuss about your intended arrangement after the divorce;
  • We understand that you may have a lot of questions and concerns about the legal procedures for your divorce application and what is going to happen after the divorce is granted. Our family lawyers can provide you with detailed advice and guidance with our knowledge and skill, so that you can become fully apprehended of your rights and responsibilities after the end of marriage and the upcoming legal procedures that we are going through together with you;
  • We aim to resolve any disputes that you have (such as in relation to settlement of your matrimonial home and other properties, maintenance and child support) in an amicable way – that means, we appreciate any opportunities opened for negotiation, mediation and conciliation with your spouse and his or her legal representative, so that your divorce matter can be settled in a fair and cost effective manner.

Please contact us to see how our experienced team can assist you.

Your financial and children dispute in a broken down de facto relationship, whether same or opposite sex, may be dealt with by the Court as if you were married couples on application, if:

 

  • You and your partner were living together as a couple on a genuine domestic basis, satisfying the definition of “de facto relationship” under section 4AA of the Family Law Act; and
  • That relationship has broken down (after 1 March 2009); and
  • You have met at least one of the following criteria:
    • The de facto relationship lasted for at least 2 years, or
    • There is a child in the de facto relationship, or
    • The de facto relationship is registered under the NSW Relationships Register, or
    • Significant contributions have been made by one of the parties, such that there will be material prejudice and injustice if the dispute has not been determined by the Court; and
  • You are geographically connected to the state of NSW.

It is best advisable that you should obtain proper legal advice before commencing to file an application as de facto relationship.

Please do not hesitate to speak to one of our family lawyers for further information regarding any concerns about a broken down de facto relationship.

The Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia have the power to make orders about future arrangements between you and your spouse or partner by:

  • Consent – that is you and your spouse have agreed on how future arrangements be dealt with after divorce or separation; or
  • Determination after a trial.

There is no set formula of how the Court will determine your disputes. The Court will look at the financial status of both parties, including your assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and other interests that you may have, financial and non financial contributions made by both parties to the relationship, along with other surrounding circumstances, such as best interest for the child, health and other future needs, to determine how your matter should be settled for a fair result.

After the Court has made an order, each party will be bound by the order and must do and act according to the order made.

Following persistent calls to provide equality for LGBT couples, Australia finally made its move in 2017 by amending the Commonwealth Marriage Act 1961 to allow same sex marriage and ever since then, just like heterosexual couples, LGBT couples face the same family law issues such as divorce, property settlement, spousal maintenance, child custody and support.

Now that all states and territories in Australia have passed legislation recognising non birth mothers in same sex relationships as the legal parents of children conceived from artificial conception procedures during the course of their relationship and have amended the Adoption Act to allow same sex couples to adopt children across Australia, LGBT couples enjoy more equalised rights however, at the same time, may have to deal with a more complicated situation at times of divorce and separation than the traditional heterosexual couples in some circumstances, due to the relatively new legislative amendments and inadequate case law studies in this respect.

 Our LGBT friendly lawyers are willing to stand in your shoes when handling your matter and we are passionate and determined to assist you to attain rights and justice that you deserve.

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