Family Law Drafting Intensive
213N39: You will gain practical guidance on some critically important areas of family law practice. Master your drafting techniques and develop strategies for your binding financial agreements, binding child support agreements and spousal maintenance agreements. Learn how to draft interim orders seeking financial assistance from the court and affidavits for interim parenting proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court.
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD units in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Once seminars are completed, delegates from Western Australia may apply to The Law Society of Western Australia for family law specialist accreditation points. Each application is subject to approval by the Accreditation Committee on a case by case basis and approval is not guaranteed. Your request for points form and attached materials can be emailed to accreditation@lawsocietywa.asn.au
Chair: Rachel Slat, Director, Slat Family Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Family Law
9.00am to 10.00am Are Binding Financial Agreements Dead? Drafting Tips and Traps
The decision in Thorne & Kennedy was thought to have brought about the death of Binding Financial Agreements, a thought that has been somewhat borne out by many firms refusing to do them.
- Are they really dead (and, if not, should they be)?
- Do they remain a useful tool to be used by lawyers to provide clients with certainty, either at the start or the end of the relationship?
- Can you draft them so they are not set aside?
- When courts will set them aside
Presented by Karina Ralston, Principal Lawyer, Coleman Greig Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Family Law and Accredited Family Law Mediator and Arbitrator
Paper Prepared by Malcolm Gittoes-Caesar, Principal/Director, Head of Family Law, Coleman Greig Lawyers
PowerPoint Prepared by: Malcolm Gittoes-Caesar, Principal/Director, Head of Family Law and Karina Ralston, Principal Lawyer, Coleman Greig Lawyers
10.00am to 11.00am Binding Child Support Agreements: Drafting for Future Change
Whilst Child Support Agreements seem less challenged, they should be drafted with no less care than financial agreements.
- An overview of the key elements
- Some recent legislative changes to be aware of when looking to protect your client
- Drafting clauses to allow for variations and/or suspension of a party’s obligations under the terms of a Binding Child Support Agreement
Presented by Jackie Vincent, Managing Director, Watts McCray Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Family Law; Leading Family & Divorce Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2020
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
Professional Skills
11.15am to 12.15pm Drafting Interim Orders to Seek Financial Assistance from the Court
- Application for security of costs: How and when to apply?
- Litigation funding when the other party controls the purse strings
- Circumstances when to seek orders for a part property settlement and how to apply
- S106A Applications: tips and traps in drafting orders and material evidence required to establish non compliance
Presented by Collette McFawn, Partner, Lander & Rogers; Accredited Specialist in Family Law; Leading Family and Divorce Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2020
12.15pm to 1.15pm Drafting Affidavits for Interim Parenting Proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court
- Principles applying to interim parenting proceedings
- Identifying and addressing the salient evidence in the context of the Orders sought
- Complying with practice directions (and what to do if you haven’t)
- Keeping an eye on the main game (that is, the Final Orders sought)
Presented by Mark MacDiarmid, Principal, Mark MacDiarmid Family Law Specialist; Accredited Specialist in Family Law; Recommended Parenting & Children’s Matters Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2019
1.15pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair
Presenters
Rachel Slat
Rachel Slat is an Accredited Specialist in family law and has over 25 years of experience. Over that time, she has gained significant experienced in complicated financial and complex parenting cases, from first working as a duty solicitor on AVO days in the Local Court to long family court trials whilst working at some of Sydney’s top family law firms. She now has her own firm and alongside running cases, she also works to try to secure an early resolution, where possible. Rachel trained as a mediator at Harvard Law School and is also a trained collaborative lawyer. She is President of Collaborative Professionals NSW Inc for the 3rd year, which is the peer group state peak body for experts (mediators, therapists, accountants and financial advisors included), who work to tailor solutions for clients who want to keep their disputes out of court.
Jackie Vincent
Jacqueline Vincent (Jackie), an Accredited Specialist, has practised predominantly in the Family Law area since commencing work as a Solicitor in 1997. She has experience in all aspects of Family Law including property and financial matters, residence and contact issues, child support, maintenance and domestic violence as well as de facto relationship disputes. She appears regularly as an advocate in both the Family and Federal Circuit Courts. Jackie’s patience, ability to communicate openly with clients, and straight forward approach to legal practice, mean that she can quickly understand and analyse all aspects of a client’s individual concerns.
Collette McFawn
Collette McFawn is an Accredited Family Law Specialist who has worked solely in the family law jurisdiction since 2004, including serving as the Associate to a Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. Collette has assisted clients across the spectrum of family law matters including complex financial cases, parenting matters involving serious allegations of family violence, applications by one parent to relocate a child's residence, and de facto matters. Collette is also featured in Doyles Guide's Leading Family & Divorce Lawyers in Australia for 2017.
Mark MacDiarmid
Mark MacDiarmid has been a lawyer for over 30 years. He is an Accredited Family Law Specialist, a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner and a registered Family Law Arbitrator. Mark is a former Director of national law firm Gadens Lawyers (where he worked in the commercial law and banking & finance sections), a former specialist family law consultant for Coleman & Greig Lawyers, and for many years was the Principal Solicitor of the Elizabeth Evatt Community Legal Centre. As a lawyer Mark's practice is currently focused on Independent Children's Lawyer appointments, and as a mediator he focuses on legally assisted property mediations.
Karina Ralston
Karina Ralston is a Principal Lawyer, and is both an Accredited Specialist in Family Law, and an Accredited Family Law Mediator and Arbitrator, with experience and skills allowing her to provide advice and representation in a range of matters including divorce, parenting arrangements, relocation cases, property matters, Binding Financial Agreements, and De-Facto Relationships. Karina has completed the Master of Laws (Applied Law) majoring in Family Law, from College of Law and has been involved with Western Sydney University teaching several subjects including family law. Karina’s involvement with the South West Sydney Legal Service and prior work with the Women's Legal Centre includes providing pro-bono legal advice and assistance to those who may be experiencing legal difficulties. In addition she mentors students, cadets and graduates within Coleman Greig and the wider community.
Venue
The Grace Hotel
77 York St
Sydney 2000
NSW
Australia