Blog

Cases such as the ‘Italian 4 Sisters Case’ and most recently the ’60 Minutes Lebanon kidnapping’ case bring international family law parenting disputes into the spot light. The Italian 4 sisters case revolved around whether 4 sisters should return to live in Italy with their father or remain living in...

In the Canberra Times on 11 and 12 April 2016 there have been articles critical of diplomats for committing traffic offenses (speeding and DUI) but refusing to submit to the criminal jurisdiction. According to the newspaper reports they won’t even pay their parking fines. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations...

In this post, Family Law Solicitor Anna Neilan revisits her article What’s in a name discussing whether you can change your child’s name after separation. Quite often, separated parents may have a dispute about their child’s surname. Situations often occur when this becomes an issue. For example, if a child...

Family Law Property Settlements – Should you trade super for cash? Superannuation is property and can be split from one person to another as part of a property settlement. Statistics tell us that women have less superannuation than men. This inevitably means that as part of a heterosexual property settlement...

What happens to my Will if we separate? – Ending a De Facto Relationship may change your Will The case of Blyth v Wilken [2015] WASC 486 was a landmark decision – the first of its kind in Australia that provided some guidance and commentary on the effects of the...

Decision Making When You’re Going Through a Separation Guest Post for Farrar Gesini Dunn by Scott Malcom from Money Mechanics Confident decision making as you are going through a major life event can be difficult. With divorce emotions can be raw and the vision or plan for your life has...

2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the Family Law Act 1975 and creation of the Family Court of Australia. As discussed below, some the greatest and most revolutionary changes were enacted in this legislation, making the law more accessible and user friendly to those who need it most. Did you...

Guest Post from Simon Port of Everyman Australia (formerly The Canberra Men’s Centre) about the Working With the Man program: People often ask: ‘How can you work with men who perpetrate Domestic Violence?’ These comments usually reflect a widely held belief that such men are not worthy of any support...

The best, just got better We are excited to announce the merger of Farrar Gesini Dunn and Certus law Last year at Farrar Gesini Dunn we celebrated our 20 year anniversary. Since the beginning, we have always strived to be the best at what we do and to be leaders...

Thanks to Michael for sharing his article with us! Guest Post from Michael Miller MLC Advice Canberra Decision making when you’re going through a divorce. Financial planning is in many ways quite simple, it’s just about decision making. So I spend just as much time reading material from the field...

Financial Agreements – De Facto versus Marriage The Full Court of the Family Court has delivered a new judgement regarding whether you can have a binding financial agreement (aka a pre nup) that covers both de facto relationship breakdown and marriage breakdown. Background Several years ago the Family Law Act...

What are prenups in Australia? Something I commonly hear when talking to non family lawyers is: “I’d like my clients to protect their assets from divorce, but prenups aren’t binding in Australia…” Well actually, they are! Prenups (or as we know them: Binding Financial Agreements – BFA’s for short) ARE...