Strategic edge. Connected advantage.
Publications & alerts
Our team of Family Law specialists regularily produce alerts and publications on current topics and changes in the law. Recent publications can be viewed by clicking on the title to the left.
If you would like to receive our publications and alerts to your inbox, please sign up.
If you would like to receive our publications and alerts to your inbox, please sign up.
The new Surrogacy Act 2010 (Qld) - a guide for potential surrogates
Published July 2011 The Surrogacy Act 2010 (Qld) (“The Act”) came into effect in Queensland on 1 June 2010. The Act provides the framework for the regulation of altruistic surrogacy agreements and prohibits commercial surrogacy arrangements. T...Read more
Premature distributions, waste and add-backs – The Family Court again tackles Notional Adjustments to Property Pools
– Now you see it, Now you don’t! Published March 2011 Introduction Ever since Kowaliw,1 the Full Court has held that notional adjustments to property pools for section 79 determinations have been the exception and not the rule. At ...Read more
Family Law Amendment Bill a step in the right direction and hopefully the first step in further reforms
Published March 2011 The Family Law Section of the Law Council (FLS), chaired by Barry.Nilsson. Lawyers’ Geoff Sinclair, recently published its response to the Family Law Amendment (Family Violence) Bill 2010 (the Bill). The Bill was tabled by...Read more
The Family Law Amendment (Validation of Certain Parenting Orders) Bill 2010
Published November 2010 As a consequence of the High Court’s decision in MRR v. GR [2010] HCA 41, there was a collective shudder amongst the family law fraternity. The High Court had held, seemingly axiomatically given the words of paragraphs...Read more
Parental Responsibility – Implication, Order & Effect
Published October 2010 In a recent decision of Lansa & Clovelly [2010] FamCA 80, Murphy J discussed at some detail the interplay between parental responsibility conferred on a parent by virtue of section 61C of the Family Law Act 1975 and an ord...Read more
Traps when providing for spousal maintenance in financial agreements
Published September 2010 When a court makes an order for spousal maintenance pursuant to section 74 of the Family Law Act 1975, there are statutorily prescribed events which terminate or modify the order. These are:- When a party dies &ndash...Read more
Post-Mortem Sperm Harvesting
Published 2010 On 21 April 2010, White J ordered that provided a widow pay the costs associated with storage, an IVF clinic in Brisbane was required to store the gametes (sperm) of her late husband. The Supreme Court has a relatively consistent hi...Read more
"Parental Alienation" in the Courts
Published 2010 Two recent cases have highlighted the difficulty family law and the courts face when dealing with what has been labelled “parental alienation.” At its highest, the term refers to a set of pathological symptoms where a parent, on...Read more
Binding Financial Agreements - "A Plague on Both your Houses!
Published July 2010 When poor Mercutio gets embroiled in a familial punch-up between the Montagues and the Capulets, he is the one that gets stabbed and dies. Before collapsing off-stage, he curses the fight that brings about his untimely demise. Su...Read more
Are the 'Recommendations' of Family Report Writers Admissible Evidence?
Published 2009 The fundamental rule of evidence is that it must be relevant. It is said that all other rules of evidence flow from this fundamental rule. 1The purpose of the fundamental rule is to only allow 'evidence' which tends to prove or dispro...Read more
When will the court order paternity testing?
Published 2009 There is significant community interest in the capacity of DNA assessment to affect court proceedings. It is suggested that a swathe of wrongly convicted persons might be released because of 'DNA evidence.' That is yet to bear fruit. ...Read more
Is Contested International Relocation Dead?
One of the principle proponents of the 2006 'shared care' amendments to the Family Law Act 1975, Professor Patrick Parkinson of the Sydney University Law School, has openly commented that those amendments 'ought to make relocation harder'. It should be...Read more
De Facto Property Proceedings – The State Courts will hang on
It may be that we family and relationship lawyers had a collective sigh of relief with the passage and commencement of the Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures) Act 2008. Practised in the streamlined rules and procedures ...Read more
Kennon v. Spry – The High Court and discretionary family trusts
Published 2009 Discretionary family trusts are not uncommon. Whether created for some tax benefit, or to avoid other imposts on transfer or disposition, these trusts often play an important role in the asset management of a family. Generally spea...Read more
Property settlements, property orders and the Global Economic Crisis
Somewhat stating the obvious, large accounting firms are predicting significant underperformance for many businesses reliant upon consistent cash flow and liquidity during this current economic crisis. Relationships, too, require cash flow and liquidit...Read more