Family Law

Our practice areas include:

• Separation and Divorce
• Child Support matters and Child support agreements
• Child Custody – Parenting Arrangements, Shared Custody, Custody Disputes
• Domestic Violence Matters
• Property disputes and settlements
• Relocation of Children
• Financial Agreements: pre nuptial and post nuptial binding agreements
• Alternative Dispute Resolution – Mediation, Collaborative law
• Spousal Maintenance
• De Facto Relationships: Property and Financial Settlements
• Special medical procedure applications
• Surrogacy agreements and ART
• International Family Law matters
• Same-Sex Relationships
• Court representation in family law matters
• Adoptions
• Succession/estate planning and family law

Before you can apply to the Federal Circuit Court for a divorce, you need to be separated for a year. For example, if you separated on 3 April 2017, you cannot make application until 4 April 2018.

To begin the process, an Application for Divorce must be filed with the Federal Circuit Court. The application can be made jointly or solely and a filing fee must be paid to the Court at the time of the filing of the documents. Your lawyer can prepare the application on your behalf, or you can lodge the application online.

For more information please see:
So you want to get divorced! 12 Things you need to know and A Simple guide to divorce.

In the vast majority of cases former spouses settle outstanding matters such as property and children matters between themselves. The process to formalise an agreement reached between parties is relatively simple and inexpensive. Going to court is expensive and has, in a small number of cases, ended up costing tens of thousands of dollars when the outcome achieved does not justify it.

Many clients will have already reached an agreement to settle all outstanding matters with their former spouse by the time they see their lawyer. Our task then is to formalise that agreement legally. At elringtons we consider that an essential part of our role is to advise clients whether the agreement reached is appropriate or not. Read More … …..

The family law system encourages parties to discuss and negotiate parenting arrangements and property settlements without resorting to taking the matter to court. Family Dispute Resolution (“FDR”), is the legal term for services that help people going through separation to resolve their family disputes. It is a form of mediation. FDR can be useful for many areas of family law including issues relating to property, children, child support, and spousal maintenance. Read More ….

Parents involved in a family law dispute about a child are required to attempt to resolve the dispute via counselling /mediation. This is a compulsory requirement. Parties are encouraged to enter into an agreement in writing about the future care of their children, a “parenting plan”.

A parenting plan may cover numerous topics including

1. The parent with whom a child is to live;
2. the face to face time and telephone contact and other form of communication that a child is to spend with the other parent;
3. the allocation of parental responsibility for a child;
4. the process to be used for resolving disputes about the terms or operation of the plan;
5. any aspect of the care, welfare or development of the child or any other aspect of parental responsibility for a child;
6. the child support that a parent will pay the other parent. Read More….

A parenting order is a set of orders made by a court about parenting arrangements for a child. A court can make a parenting order based on an agreement between the parties (consent orders) or after a court hearing or trial. When a parenting order is made, each person affected by the order must follow it.
A parenting plan is not legally enforceable. A court must, however, look at your most recent parenting plan if you apply later for parenting orders that are different from the plan. Your parenting plan must have been signed and dated for the court to consider it.

When there are existing court orders about the care of children such order may only be varied by a Court, after a formal application has been made. This is true irrespective of whether the Orders were made by consent or following a defended Court hearing.If a person wishes to vary existing children’s orders, he or she may formally ask the Court to review it. Read More ….

In the initial contact between a prospective client and a family lawyer, we at elringtons provide estimates of costs which we then confirm in writing. Family law matters have clear stages or “Court events” and we confirm in writing the total estimate of costs for each estimate. We advise our clients very early in the negotiations process of a family law matter to make a reasonable offer of settlement in writing regarding all outstanding matters in dispute.
Throughout the life of their case, we invite our clients to communicate with us frequently about the up to date work in progress to ensure that the client is at all times making informed decisions including about the costs related to their case. Read More….