Family Law

Upon separation, you need to sort out how to divide your property and finances.  In summary, the Family Court can make orders on

1. Division of your property and finances between you and your partner.
2. Spousal or de facto maintenance.

For property and financial orders, your assets are divided based on the contributions (both financial and non-financial contributions) you and your partner made to the relationship.  The Court must ensure that the overall orders are ‘just and equitable’.

Our role, as your lawyers, is to fight for you and make sure you receive the portion that you are entitled to.  There is a set of legal principles that applies to determine how assets are divided.  We will advice and guide you akk the way so that you are fully aware of what you are entitled to.

Parenting orders deal with:

• where the children will live, and who they will spend time with
• how the children will be financially supported
• how the children will maintain a relationship with both parents and other significant people, such as grandparents and extended family.

Our family law system encourages people to agree on arrangements without going to court.  The parenting orders needs to be practical, workable and, most importantly, that you are putting the interests of the children first.

If a parenting arrangement is agreed upon, you can use parenting plan or consent orders to formalise your arrangements.

A parenting plan is not a legally enforceable agreement.  It is not a parenting order the Court. Parenting plans are relatively easy to make and to amend as your circumstances change.

A Consent Order an agreement between you and the other party which is approved by the Court and made into a court order.  It is a legally enforceable agreement and has the same status as other orders made by the court.

If the parties can reach an agreement, the process is a lot faster for you to formalise the agreement in Court.

Before applying to the Court, you need to make a genuine attempt to resolve your dispute.  You are required to follow pre-action procedures before making an application to the Family Court.  This includes:

• Participating in dispute resolution.
• Writing to the other party, setting out your position and exploring options for settlement.
• Comply with the duty of disclosure.

If you are unable to settle the dispute, we will help you apply to the Family Court for final orders for you.

We will represent you in Court, negotiate for you, and navigate the Court’s process for you.   If your matter proceeds to trial, we will continue to fight and stand up for you and act for you.

In certain circumstances, interim application may be required.  For instance, where:

1. Urgent injunction is needed to stop the other party from disbursing or minimising the matrimonial assets.
2. Interim parenting orders is required to make sure that your children’s safety and wellbeing is preserved, and their best interest is looked after.

There are also other applications you can make to the Family Court, for instance, if you are relocating to a different city, you can apply to the Court for permission to relocate with your Children.

Tang Law has helped many clients since 2002 in family law matters.