What is a Case Assessment Conference? A Case Assessment Conference is a conference that is conducted by a Family Consultant for parenting matters. Usually, parties are ordered to attend a Case Assessment Conference at their first return hearing. When will i go to a case assessment conference? What is a Family Consultant? A Family Consultant …
Supervised contact in the Family Court The Family Court has the power to, and frequently does, order parents to have supervised contact with children when they are not otherwise spending time with them. The Balancing Act A driving factor behind this approach is the constant balancing act the Court is required to perform between protecting …
When your matter is approaching a trial, it will be absolutely essential for you to understand what information the Court has access to and what information you need to provide to it. You can’t assume that the judge who will be hearing your trial will have any knowledge of what has happened in the case …
Service of Documents in the Family Court of WA When you file documents in the Family Court, you will be required to have these documents served on all other parties (or provided to the parties). Providing the documents to the other party is an important part of the Courts process. It will let the other …
What to do when a lawyer seems unaffordable, but you’re not eligible for Legal Aid
Resources for Talking to Kids about Divorce Explaining to kids what divorce is, and what their own parent’s divorce means for them can seem like an impossible task. And I’m not saying that any of the many conversations you will likely need to have with your kids about this change in their lives will be …
What can an ICL make me do? ICLs (Independent Children’s Lawyers) feature in a lot of highly conflicted cases in the Family Court, and they have a special role according to the Family Law Act (and Family Court Act, the equivalent for WA unmarried parents). Information about the ICL When an ICL is appointed you are …
One of the things that clients pay lawyers to do, is to help them ‘craft their case’. What that means is that lawyers take all the facts that their clients give them (plus any facts provided by outside evidence or even the other party) and establish a ‘case theory’. Case Theory Before you can build …
The Full Court of the Family Court of Australia has found that a trial Judge made an error, by deciding that a child was at risk of family violence based only on the fact that there had been family violence during the relationship that had ended 6 years earlier (Soulos & Sorbo [2019] FamCAFC 231). …
When a relationship between adults breaks down, it can be tricky enough, but when you remain bound to someone because you are parents, it can feel almost impossible to navigate the adjustments you need to make so that you can have an ongoing positive relationship for the benefit of your children. Especially in the immediate …
