Care of Children
The Family Justice Reforms changed the way Parenting matters are dealt with in the Family Court. There is now a greater emphasis on the parties working together to resolve their disputes. Before filing a non-urgent application in the family court the applicant must have completed Parenting Through Separation within the last two years and the parties must have attempted Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) mediation. There is limited funding available for people who are unable to privately pay a lawyer. The government funds the Family Legal Advice Service (FLAS) for pre-court legal advice. This advice is broken into two stages:
As lawyers are unable to act for parties in parenting proceedings until directed to do so by the Court , the client must file the Court documents themselves. It is likely the client will need to attend the first Court event without a lawyer: this is normally an Issues Conference for the Judge to determine what issues need to be resolved. We recommend our clients ask the Judge for lawyers to act at that time.
Lawyers may act for parties at a Settlement Conference if directed to do so by a Judge once the matter has been directed to proceed to a defended hearing, or if the Court directs that the matter is to proceed as though it were filed urgently. This means there potentially is a large part of the court proceedings when the client will not readily have a lawyer available unless they are able to pay privately.
The court process can be complicated, confusing or stressful. The majority of matters will proceed along the standard track: an Application is filed, an Issues Conference is held with a Judge and the matter is then likely to be directed to a Settlement Conference if the Judge believes the matter is capable of settlement. Lawyers may act at the Settlement Conference. It is important that the client asks for a direction that Lawyers may act. If there is no agreement at the Settlement Conference the matter will be set down for a hearing and Lawyers can act. The next conference is likely to be a Directions Conference to seek any further directions necessary to ready the matter for a hearing. This includes specialist reports like psychologists reports or social work reports.
Legal aid funding is strictly limited to providing legal advice and undertaking legal work on a file. Legal work is any work necessary to progress the matter through court. It does not include undertaking negotiations around matters that cannot be enforced in a Parenting Order, for example when one party is late to a changeover.
- FLAS 1 – usually completed prior to Family Dispute Resolution, this session covers the rights and obligations of the parents in all parenting matters, what to expect from FDR, and ascertaining what the legal issues are and advising the client as to the options to resolve the dispute including the terms of any agreement.
- FLAS 2 – completed after Family Dispute Resolution to assist the client to draft the court entry documents, usually an Application and an Affidavit.
As lawyers are unable to act for parties in parenting proceedings until directed to do so by the Court , the client must file the Court documents themselves. It is likely the client will need to attend the first Court event without a lawyer: this is normally an Issues Conference for the Judge to determine what issues need to be resolved. We recommend our clients ask the Judge for lawyers to act at that time.
Lawyers may act for parties at a Settlement Conference if directed to do so by a Judge once the matter has been directed to proceed to a defended hearing, or if the Court directs that the matter is to proceed as though it were filed urgently. This means there potentially is a large part of the court proceedings when the client will not readily have a lawyer available unless they are able to pay privately.
The court process can be complicated, confusing or stressful. The majority of matters will proceed along the standard track: an Application is filed, an Issues Conference is held with a Judge and the matter is then likely to be directed to a Settlement Conference if the Judge believes the matter is capable of settlement. Lawyers may act at the Settlement Conference. It is important that the client asks for a direction that Lawyers may act. If there is no agreement at the Settlement Conference the matter will be set down for a hearing and Lawyers can act. The next conference is likely to be a Directions Conference to seek any further directions necessary to ready the matter for a hearing. This includes specialist reports like psychologists reports or social work reports.
Legal aid funding is strictly limited to providing legal advice and undertaking legal work on a file. Legal work is any work necessary to progress the matter through court. It does not include undertaking negotiations around matters that cannot be enforced in a Parenting Order, for example when one party is late to a changeover.
