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Thanks to Michael for sharing his article with us! Guest Post from Michael Miller MLC Advice Canberra Decision making when you’re going through a divorce. Financial planning is in many ways quite simple, it’s just about decision making. So I spend just as much time reading material from the field...

Financial Agreements – De Facto versus Marriage The Full Court of the Family Court has delivered a new judgement regarding whether you can have a binding financial agreement (aka a pre nup) that covers both de facto relationship breakdown and marriage breakdown. Background Several years ago the Family Law Act...

The future has finally arrived. Yes it is different than we all thought. But don’t worry, your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one. Doc Emmett Brown – 21.10.2015. Wise words from a wise man, to...

A couple of weeks ago I posted about trying to make sense of the fluctuating Court fees (see blog post below entitled The cost of divorce…what’s the deal with the fluctuating Court fees). When I last posted the Court fees had been hiked up; then dropped down; and then hiked...

I’m a family lawyer and to be honest I have a hard time understanding what is going on with the cost of divorce and changes to the Court fees. So I can’t imagine how the general population is meant to understand it. In the lead up to the new financial...

As a family lawyer one of the most common questions that I get asked by my clients is what their obligations are when their child or children do not want to spend time with the other parent when the parents have separated. This is particularly concerning for parents when there...

It has been a very exciting start to the new year for me. Not just because it is summer (well, sort of summer), but, because after five great years at another law firm, I have now started working at Farrar Gesini Dunn in Melbourne. Here is a little bit of...

Elisa Turco from our office was recently interviewed by Kidspot and published in the Sydney Morning Herald. Separation or divorce doesn’t have to mean the end of a magical Christmas Day for your children. Keep things civil and stress-free this Christmas with our handy step-by-step guide.

If there’s one thing I learned as a family lawyer its this – every separation is different.  This applies both to what the end result of the separation looks like (ie. what do we both end up with at the end) and what the process of the separation looks like...

My colleagues will be surprised I’m writing about Gough Whitlam but as politicians go he’s pretty universally appreciated and one reason for that is the Family Law Act. 

Mediation is where a neutral third person assists people to reach agreement over an issue in dispute. The aims and procedures used by mediators vary. At its core mediation should be; consent based; voluntary; confidential. There are two main styles of mediation. They are ‘case settlement’ mediation and ‘interest based’...

1. It’s not about the law – it’s about the people. Most of the day is spent dealing with people; clients, colleagues, the other side, experts and judges. Of course you have to know the law, but it’s how you handle the people that makes the difference between a good...