Following on from Friday’s post about compulsory mediation for family law matters involving children, some might be wondering if there is a similar requirement to attend mediation for financial matters (also known as family law property settlement matters). There is no corresponding compulsion in the Family Law Act 1975 to attend family dispute resolution for financial matters, however, as a matter of practice, mediations in one form or another do tend to occur as a matter of course. The parties may opt for mediation as the first step in the dispute resolution process. Given the many benefits of mediation, this is a sensible approach to dispute resolution. Mediation tends to be cheaper, faster and permit a more satisfying resolution where the parties decide the terms of the agreement, rather than have terms imposed upon them. If proceedings have been commenced, when the matter comes before a judge the Court will ...
We’ll take a short break from our series on Family Law Fundamentals to start a new series on Frequently Asked Questions. This is one of the most common questions we get asked – and the answer is generally, yes, mediation is the first step in the process if your dispute involves children. As we discussed in our recent article on the best interests of the child, filing an application with the Court is essentially asking a judge to decide for you what is in the best interests of your child or children. There are many reasons why such an application to the court is sometimes necessary, but a far better (and cheaper) way to resolve the dispute is to engage in family dispute resolution, also known as family law mediation. There are many benefits to mediation: The process is flexible and can be tailored to the individual needs of the ...
Welcome to our series of articles on Family Law Fundamentals. We’re going to start by looking at the stated objectives of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“the Act”), and the provisions of the legislation which put those objectives into operation in a practical sense. The place to start is s.60CA of the Act, which requires that the court must regard the best interests of the child as the paramount consideration. But just was is in a child’s best interests? How does the court decide? What factors are considered? OBJECTIVES OF THE ACT The objects and principles of the Act are outlined in s.60B. To summarise, s.60B(1) states that object of this Part of the Act (Part VII – Children) is to ensure that the child’s best interests are met by: Ensuring that children have the benefit of both parents having a meaningful involvement in their lives; Protecting children from physical ...