Fees: divorce/access/custody/property settlement

LAWYER’S FEES:  I have a very intense divorce and custody matter going on where my husband is being very difficult. I went to a lawyer and he said if it goes to court it will cost me $13,000 a day. That seems rather a lot of money. Can he charge me so much?

That seems to be well above the normal fee for a lawyer doing procedural divorce/access/custody litigation. But there is ‘freedom of contract’ – you can always obtain the services of another other good, competent divorce lawyer much cheaper than that, say, for some $2,000 to $3,000 per day in court. Property settlement is very important, but a lawyer can negotiate that from his office using precedents for guidance. Experience shows that what usually gives problems is where there is a dispute about access to the children of the family.  Divorce/access/custody litigants would save a great deal of money if they could accept precedents where the circumstances were similar to theirs. In other words, what I very strongly suggest – to save thousands of dollars – is to go to court with ‘consent orders’ – where there will be agreement on property, custody, access before going to court

DIVORCE

I’ve been having problems with my husband and we both agreed to separate. But I want a divorce because I am still young and want to establish a relationship with another man. We have two children ages 9 and 12 but I don’t trust him with the children.

In Australia divorce and family law matters are regulated by Federal law. First, the only ground for divorce in Australia is if the marriage has ‘irretrievably broken down’ – meaning that you and your husband are absolutely certain you will not be getting back together again. You have to be separated for at least twelve months. After confirmation of the divorce by the Family Court you can re-marry. If you are a Catholic, you may be able to apply for a ‘marriage annulment’ and obtain approval to re-marry.

As to the children, the law is that the biological father has a legal right to have ‘reasonable’ access to the children. The only times the father would not be allowed access to the children would be in the cases of proven cruelty, excessive alcohol or drug, pedophilia or total incompetence or something else of a substantial nature. But this would have to be a court order. Otherwise, the husband has a right to have independent access, taking the children away usually twice a week depending on the agreed access times.