Does the amount of contact with your children affect your entitlement to receive Family Tax Benefit A or other Family Assistance Payments?

The short answer is yes. A contact parent who has ”regular care” to the children i.e. 52 to 127 nights (2 to 4 nights a fortnight) may not get Family Tax Benefit A or other family assistance payments. A contact parent who has “shared care” to the children, between 128 to 237 nights a year (5 to 9 nights a fortnight), both parents may receive family assistance payment and both parents can share in the Family Tax Benefit Part A. A parent who has the children live with them over 86% of the time, i.e. 314 nights a year as a minimum, receive...

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Why Hire a Family Lawyer?

Why Hire a Family Lawyer? Many people balk at the idea of hiring a family lawyer for a variety of reasons, including the cost of the exercise, and the feeling that they do not want to invite a stranger into the most intimate details of their lives. The Court has made services accessible to the public at large that helps to foster peoples’ easy and cost effective access to justice including: All Court forms being readily accessible online, with how-to guides for popular documents Providing ‘duty lawyer’ services at Court...

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The Small Business Family Law Dilemma

Clients with small businesses often find themselves gobsmacked at the approach that the family law courts may take in relation to their business. A valuer is often appointed at significant expense and that valuer will place an astronomical value on a business that the client has no ability to sell, leaving them with a fixed asset of paper-worth but little by way of realisable value. The situation that may result is a difficult one for many small business owners to face – that they will be left with just their personal-services business whilst...

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Can I register for Child Support when one parent lives overseas?

Either parent may be able to: Apply for an Australian child support assessment; Register a Maintenance Order, Assessment or Agreement from another country for collection in Australia if the Order, Assessment or Agreement was established in a country listed as a reciprocating jurisdiction for Australia; Obtain an Australian Court Order requiring the other party to pay child support. An Australian Court Order can be registered with the Child Support Agency for collection. Collection options can be limited however, where a paying parent lives...

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The Future of the Binding Financial Agreement

'Pre-nuptial’ Binding Financial Agreements are an important tool available to the cautious and well-prepared traveller through life. They are particularly widely-requested from parties who have already been through one hotly-contested relationship breakdown and with good reason These parties will often appreciate what people who have not been through litigation before will not; namely that any document or record of what happened at the beginning of a relationship is an invaluable tool should a relationship end. They also have a more acute...

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Parenting post-separation – don’t become a victim to statistics

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) recently released research which showed that only 6% of children under 17 spent equal time with both mother and father. Yet regularly family lawyers will be regularly instructed to seek an equal shared care arrangement, or what many clients refer to as ‘shared custody’. Why doesn’t this frequent desire of separated parents often materialise in reality? There are a variety of factors that the Family Law Act (Cth) 1975 requires be considered in making Orders concerning parenting arrangements,...

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Deane & Deane 2014 FamCA 869

A couple had been married for several years and had two daughter aged 7 and 3 years at the time of the hearing.  During one year the father’s own mother died and the father did not enjoy the Christmas period as he felt that his grief had not been adequately recognised, that there was no sexual intimacy with his wife, and that he would not be missed if he left the family.  The wife subsequently made allegations about three types of incident over the holiday period: that the father had thrown one daughter against a wall, that the husband...

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Australian migration - Appeals and Reviews

If your visa application is unsuccessful (refused), it is normally possible to apply to have the decision reviewed. There are two major avenues through which to apply for review: The Tribunals (Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT)); and / or    The Minister for Immigration. Our experience and services As legal professionals, we are called on to represent applicants or companies in cases where: Applications have been unsuccessful Immigration department officials have taken action or are about to take action...

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What is a Binding Child Support Agreement?

A Binding Child Support Agreement allows you to make a financial agreement regarding child support payments and how they are paid.  Each party wishing to enter into a binding child support agreement must obtain independent legal advice before making or entering into the agreement.  You can also make a binding child support agreement that credits privately made lump sum payments or the value of a transfer of property against the liability that is payable under a child support assessment.  You can specify the rate at which...

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How do you proceed with a divorce if you do not know where your spouse is?

You can still proceed with your Divorce application but you need to obtain an Order from the Court for “substituted service or dispensation of service”. An Order for substituted service permits you to serve the Divorce documents on a third person who the Court is satisfied will bring the divorce documents to the attention of your spouse.  An Order for dispensation of service gives your permission not to serve the Court documents on your spouse if the Court is satisfied that you have taken all reasonable steps to locate your spouse. ...

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Can Domestic Violence Increase My Family Law Property Settlement?

The short answer is yes. In circumstances where the contributions of a party are made more “onerous” by the violence of the other party, the Courts may give more weight to that circumstance. For example, if one party is subjected to verbal or physical abuse which causes difficulties for that party in carrying out their “role in the relationship”, this may be taken into account.  As well as being relevant to the party’s present health and their likely future employability, that party may get an extra portion of the propert...

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