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Book a Clean Slate Reduced Rate Consultation

Brisbane Family & Divorce Lawyers

When you need a clean slate, talk to one of our family lawyers

 

Have you separated or are you thinking of separating? Our Clean Slate Reduced Rate Consultation is the first step to giving you a fresh start and taking control of your future.

How we can help you

Our Brisbane Family & Divorce Lawyers can help you with all issues relating to your separation, including:

Why Choose us

We understand that hiring a family lawyer is a massive step.

Our Brisbane Divorce & Family Lawyers are committed to providing you with clarity, compassion and kindness in the provision of our legal services to you.

Our Brisbane Divorce & Family Lawyers:

  • Only do family law all day every day. That makes us really good at what we do;
  • Are dedicated to helping you work through your family law issues so you can have a fresh start;
  • Have your best interests at heart;
  • Have the knowledge and experience to solve your family law problems, no matter how complex;
  • Will help you to reduce the conflict with your former partner;
  • Will fight for you and your children;
  • Provide exceptional quality service to you, tailored to your individual case needs;
  • Will educate you about your options, the steps you need to take and we will develop a strategy to help you to achieve a fair outcome and the best practical outcome for you and your family;
  • Will provide you with practical, realistic, commercial and strategic advice to empower you to make smart decisions following separation that will save you time, money and stress;
  • Will deliver an outcome to you quickly and cost effectively, with fixed fees for certainty;
  • Will do everything within our legal power to get you the best outcome for you and your family;
  • Are with you, supporting you, every step of the way from negotiations, to mediation, to litigation and settlement.

Don’t like the path you are currently heading down at the moment in your life? The best way to change your future is to create it.

By choosing one of our Brisbane Family & Divorce Lawyers, you choose certainty that you are on the right path to a better future and a clean slate.

Take control of your future today.

How to prepare for your reduced rate clean slate consultation

Click the link to our Separation Checklist to ensure you have done everything you need to do to protect yourself both before and after separation.

If you have contacted us because you want to separate assets with your former partner, click the link to access our Client checklist of Financial documents. We recommend that you start collating these documents and as much information as possible about the assets in your name, joint names and your former partner’s name, prior to your reduced rate consultation. Being prepared for your first consultation with as much information as possible will enable you to make the most of it and we can give you more detailed information and advice about your rights and entitlements.

What you can expect in your Reduced Rate Consultation

During your reduced rate consultation, one of our experienced family law experts will:

√     LISTEN TO YOUR CONCERNS

√     CLARIFY AND UNDERSTAND YOUR INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

√      PROVIDE YOU WITH DETAILED ADVICE ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS

√     PREPARE A FIXED FEE QUOTE TAILORED TO YOUR MATTER

√     DISCUSS THE PROCESS AND THE NEXT STEPS

√      FORMULATE A STRATEGY TO GET YOU TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE AS QUICKLY AND COST EFFECTIVELY AS POSSIBLE

Are you wanting to separate your assets and finances?

In your reduced rate consultation, we will discuss with you the possible outcomes that are just and equitable to you (aka the ‘range of your entitlements’) based on the facts of your case. This is what we like to call the bullseye on the dart board or the goal post.

We will examine the property pool

We will assess your current assets, liabilities & superannuation, whether in joint names or in the sole name of you or your former partner. Assets include, for example, the family home, any businesses, cars, shares and all assets whether of monetary or sentimental value. This includes assets you have purchased post separation as all assets, no matter when acquired are taken into account.

We will ask you about what your ‘magic wand’ outcome, for example, whether your goal is to keep the family home or have enough money to buy a new home. We will ask you whether your priority is retaining more cash or super.

It is helpful for you to have estimates of the values of the assets, liabilities and superannuation so that we can refine our preliminary advice to you. If you are unsure about what the assets, liabilities and superannuation are, we will ask you to do some further investigations post the appointment or alternatively, when you engage our services, we will seek this information directly from your former partner.

We will provide you with a Client checklist of financial documents at the end of your appointment called ‘disclosure documents’ which you can then start collating (if you have not done so already) so when you are ready to engage us, we can hit the ground running.

We will discuss your contributions to the property pool

Once we know the property pool, we will then ask you some questions about the contributions of both you and your former partner to that pool.  Contributions may be financial (e.g. paying the mortgage) or non-financial (looking after the children or renovating the family home). Contributions can be direct (paying the mortgage) or indirect (money spent on household goods, groceries or utilities). Contributions as homemaker and parent are considered just as important as contributions of the breadwinner in any financial separation. We will ask about what assets you each had at the beginning of your relationship. We will ask you about any lump sums, gifts or inheritances received during the relationship. We will ask when these windfalls were received. We will ask you who has been paying the lions share of the bills post separation. We will talk about spousal maintenance where relevant to your case. These questions will help us to determine what a Court would say your contributions based entitlement is e.g. 40%, 50%, or 60%.

Contributions are the most important factor in determining the division of your assets in any financial separation. The longer the relationship, the less important contributions are from the beginning of the relationship because they will have ‘eroded’ in importance over time. Any windfalls will be considered in the context of when they were received. The more recent a windfall is e.g. if it was received close to or after separation, the more relevant it will be.

As you can see, the length of the relationship is pretty important.

We will talk about your future needs

Future needs impact what is considered equitable in a financial separation. There may what we call an ‘adjustment’ in favour of one party if their future needs are greater than the other party. We will ask you how old you are, we will ask about what your respective income capacities are, we will ask you about your health, and what the current care arrangements are for the children. We will ask about anticipated inheritances, new partners, and any other factor affecting your future financial needs.

We will advise you what outcome is just and equitable

Once we’ve discussed these matters, in your reduced rate consultation, we will advise you in relation to:

  1. An equitable financial split, including the % division and who keeps what;
  2. Different options to negotiate this split;
  3. The process and next steps;
  4. A unique strategy specific to your case to get you from where you are to your desired outcome;
  5. Your options for documenting an agreement when one is reached;
  6. A fixed fee quote tailored to your case.

Are you wanting to sort parenting & child custody issues?

If you are concerned about parenting and child custody related issues, we will listen to your concerns and clarify and understand the reasons you have come to us. We will ask you about the care of your children during the relationship and following separation. We will ask you what you want, what your ‘magic wand’ outcome is and what you can live with as a compromise. After hearing about what’s important to you and what the best practical outcome for you and your family is, we will provide you with advice about whether that is possible, the steps that will be required to achieve that outcome and we will develop a strategic plan to help to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

We will talk about the process, your options & next steps

We will provide advice on how to negotiate an agreement with the other parent in relation to the care of your children.

We will discuss the options with you, including negotiation by letter or through a process called mediation.

We will talk about court as an option of last resort and the costs if you want to engage us to prepare your court documents and to represent you in court.

We will provide you with our recommendation as to which option is right for you in the circumstances of your case.

We will discuss the options for you to document your parenting agreement when one is reached. We will talk about the difference between the consent order and a parenting plan and the pros and cons of each.

If you are in court already

We will discuss your case, review your court documents, talk about your upcoming court date and provide you with advice about the likely outcome and the cost if you engage us to prepare response documents and to represent you at court.

How much is our clean slate consultation?

Our clean slate reduced rate consultation is only $250 for all new clients.

Contact us today to make a booking with with one of our experienced Brisbane Family & Divorce Lawyers.