The Seven things to know before you call
Kate Austin Family Law
We have a strict non-conflict policy – We are family lawyers who won’t fight.
We have consciously decided not to get involved in any disputes between parties. After 25 years of Family Law, we feel we have “done our bit” with conflict. Suppose you do not have an amicable relationship with your former partner. In that case, we are not a suitable firm to assist you. If you call us, we will say we are “too old and too tired to fight”. Perhaps not too old, but we certainly have better things to focus our energy on than fighting.
We do not interfere with your agreement.
Our clients have taken the time to agree amicably. While this may happen quickly for some, it doesn’t for others. We respect the effort that you have taken to finalise your situation. So long as we believe that your “agreement is fair” and as we act as a neutral party, we will never advise one party to change the agreement. We do not offer independent legal advice.
We work with amicable parties. – we don’t represent either of you.
As a neutral third party, we do not represent either party. We do not offer legal advice but rather procedural advice. Each party is free to seek legal advice if they wish. We encourage parties to seek independent advice if there is any uncertainty.
We specialise in amicable separations.
It should also be noted that parties are not required to obtain independent legal advice with consent orders. Once again, clients are free to do so if they wish.
We only do Consent Orders.
We only work with clients to draft consent orders. We do not dabble in anything else, and we do not engage in litigation matters. We do not draft Binding Financial Agreements or prenuptial agreements or offer any other services.
We are a national service.
We assist clients all over Australia and, in fact, the world so long as their matter can be determined in the Australian Family Court. Family law is a national law governing all Australians equally. The same rules apply in all states ( with some exceptions in Western Australia). Your consent orders can be determined by a registrar within any state (except Western Australia).
We only offer fixed fees.
For simplicity, we only charge fixed fees, avoiding confusion and eliminating a potential dispute over fees. We advise our fees in advance and provide you with a trust account request for that amount. That money will remain in your trust account until the matter is finalised. Then we will pay your account usually a week or two later. Fixed fees avoid potential conflicts.
We will only accept your matter if we believe it’s “just and equitable”.
We complete quite a few hundred matters each year. We are proud that we have never had a matter ejected by the Family Court. We can never guarantee what the court will decide; however, after 25 years of Family Law, we can select matters that the Family Court will approve.
