Posts Categorized: Family Law

Note that this post is now 14 years out of date, and fee estimates have changed significantly in that time. This post will be updated in the near future and in the interim ought not be relied upon. If your marriage has ended, you probably want to know how much a family lawyer will charge…

A will-maker is presumed to be sane, and to have sufficient mental capacity to make a will, unless the contrary is proved. A lack of mental capacity may derive from a congenital intellectual difficulty, trauma affecting the brain, or cognitive processes and disease, including those more commonly occurring with old age. The Dickensian language of…

The Special Disability Trust is an underutilised but useful vehicle for providing for family members who may have a physical or intellectual disability. It permits one to hold up to an amount of $551,740 which is excluded from the asset test, and the income from which is excluded from the income test. What Is It?…

The effects of family breakdown extend beyond the personal to the economic, including intergenerational wealth transfers such as those created by wills. The Family Court has extensive powers to make orders in relation to the ‘property’ and ‘financial resources’ of couples whose relationship has failed and one or both of whom have asked for its’…

It may be good and well to cope with a disappointment, but it is better to take advantage of it. Death and taxes, so the saying goes, are two of life’s certainties. And for an indeterminate 40% of the married population, so too is divorce. Although death has become less expensive with the abolition of…

The Family Court possesses extensive powers to deal with the property and financial resources of parties to a marriage. The recent case of Kennon v Spry, decided by the High Court earlier this year, shows just how extensive. The case dealt, in the main, with the meaning of ‘property’ for purposes of the Family Law…