Family law can involve emotional and financial stress for you and will impact any number of family members either directly or indirectly. The decisions that you will take can be life-changing and so having the best advice to guide you is vital.

We offer free 30-minute family law consultations to assist you obtain some general advice before you take any decisions. Once you contact us, we will send you a brief questionnaire that will provide our lawyers with some basic information and background to your situation. This saves time and makes sure that when we speak with you on the phone that we are already prepped and can focus directly on the main issues with you. The information we receive will be held confidentially.

After the initial consultation, we will offer you the opportunity to retain us for your family law matter. To ensure transparency we will provide you with a written summary of the scope of business and what your fees will be. The last thing that you need is to be worried about unforeseen legal expenses.

Nott and Co Lawyers offer a range of family law services including:

This is an agreement between you and your spouse that formalises the division of matrimonial assets and makes future arrangements for your children. It can take some time to negotiate common ground between the parties as there are often tensions and competing interests. Nott and Co Lawyers offers a measured and common sense approach to these negotiations. Avoiding Court if possible is a priority and Consent Orders provides a relatively amicable way forward for the parties.

Once you and your spouse settle upon the terms of the Consent Orders, these will be sent to the Family Court of Australia where they will be reviewed. Once approved, the Court will place them under seal. Consent Orders are court enforceable and therefore protect you in the future.

Consent Orders are a strong option and should be considered as they also mean that you and your spouse do not have to attend Court to battle things out. Often the cost of court action is far more than the value of the increased share that you are taking court action to obtain.

This instrument permits you to formalise property settlement by agreement. Mostly clients use this sort of document in good times to prevent acrimony in the unfortunate event a separation occurs. This type of legal instrument is most often used before or during a marriage or before or during a de facto relationship.

This sort of document is not lodged with the Family Court and does not go under the Court seal. While this means that the document is not legally enforceable in the same way Consent Orders are, it also means that there is more flexibility for the parties to customise their agreement.

Divorce comes about by applying to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia for a Divorce Order. Such an application does not contemplate parenting arrangements or the division of matrimonial assets. There are some requirements such as having to wait for a statutory period of separation before the application can be made but the process is relatively straight forward.  If relations between the couple remain amicable, and the Divorce Application is signed together, you do not have to serve the Application on your spouse or attend Court.

Nott and Co Lawyers can also provide the following family law service options:

• Property Settlements
• Spousal maintenance
• Family Dispute Resolution
• Grandparents Rights
• Asset and Property Protection
• Child Abduction
• Wills and Estate