Family Law: Challenging Issues
We have identified issues that can challenge even the most experienced practitioners & brought together the best of the best so you avoid coming unstuck. You’ll takeaway new key insights on relocation concerns and recent cases. Gain an understanding of inheritances during family proceedings, how to minimise the risks and when a family provisions claim might arise. 2211W01
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD points including:
1 point in Competency Area 1: Practice Management
3 points in Competency Area 4: Substantive Law
This program is based on WA legislation
Chair: Trevor O’Sullivan, Special Counsel, O’Sullivan Davies Family Lawyers
9.00am to 10.00am Relocation Issues in Practice: Review of Key Issues and Recent Cases
- How far does one party have to move for it to be ‘a relocation’?
- What should you do if a party says they are going now?
- Review of recent cases and practical tips to assist your clients
- oppose the other person going
- run a case to leave
Presented by Nicola Watts, Partner, O’Sullivan Davies
10.00am to 11.00am Treatment of Inheritances During Family Court Proceedings and Post Settlement from Family Provision Claims
- Current case law on inheritances during relationships and after separation
- The Court’s treatment of prospective inheritances
- How to protect inheritances from family law claims and what to remember when advising clients
- Family Provision Claims: When they can arise and how to minimise the risk
Presented by John Butler, Special Counsel, Principal, Butlers Lawyers & Notaries
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
Competency Area 1: Practice Management
11.15am to 12.15pm Legal Professional Uniform Rules (WA) for Family Lawyers: Key Issues to Know
Gain insight into 2021 and 2022 Cost Determinations and highlight the issues which should be focused on by Family Lawyers, against the backdrop of the commencement of the Uniform Law on 1 July 2022.
Presented by Clare Thompson SC, Barrister, Francis Burt Chambers; Chair, Legal Costs Committee
12.15pm to 1.15pm Binding Financial Agreements: When all Else Fails, Look at the Legislation
- When are financial agreements actually binding?: Section 90G
- Common non-compliance with Subsection (b) - Before signing the agreement, each party was provided with independent legal advice about the effective agreement on the rights of that party and about the advantages and disadvantages at the time that the advice was provided to that party of making the agreement
- Section 90G(1A) - Non-compliance with Section 90G is not fatal, however when will a court be satisfied that it would be unjust and inequitable if the agreement were not binding
- Section 90G(1B) - The court may make an order declaring a financial agreement is binding upon application by a spouse party seeking to enforce the agreement
- Section 90K - Circumstances in which a court may set aside a financial agreement or termination agreement
- Section 90K1(b) - When is the agreement void, voidable or unenforceable?
- Section 90K1(c) - In circumstances that have arisen since the agreement was made, when is it impracticable for the agreement or a part of the agreement to be carried out?
- Section (90K(1d) - When has a material change in circumstances occurred, being circumstances relating to the care, welfare, and development of a child of the marriage such that, as a result of the change, the child, or if the applicant has caring responsibility for the child, a party to the agreement will suffer hardship if the court does not set the agreement aside?
Presented by John Hedges SC, Barrister, Francis Burt Chambers
Presenters
Trevor O’Sullivan
Trevor graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1969. He was admitted to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1972 and to the High Court of Australia in 1987. Trevor completed the Professional Certificate of Arbitration and Mediation at the University of Adelaide in 1999 and is a member of the Resolution Institute and the Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators (AIFLAM). Trevor is an NMAS accredited Mediator. Trevor is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and a member of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia and a past member of the Council of the Family Law Practitioners' Association of WA having previously held a number of positions including President and Secretary. In 2013 Trevor was made a Life Member of the Family Law Practitioners' Association of WA (FLPA). The FLPA awarded him Family Lawyer of the year 2018. Trevor became an accredited Family Law Specialist in 1992 and chairs the Law Society of Western Australia's Accreditation Committee. Prior to forming O'Sullivan Davies, Trevor was a Partner at Clayton Utz for 15 years. Before that, he was also a Partner at the firm now known as Ilberys for 10 years. He has served on the Executive of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia and has given numerous papers at local and national conferences and to tertiary institutions and specialist interest groups. He is Chairman of the WAFL Tribunal. Trevor is a past Chair of the Council of Wesley College.
Nicola Watts
Nicola always wanted to be a lawyer. She studied at the University of Tasmania and was admitted as a Practitioner of the Supreme Court of Tasmania and the High Court of Australia in 1993. Four years later, Nicola moved to Melbourne where she was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria and worked in family law for 16 years. She moved to Perth in 2013, joined O’Sullivan Davies in 2018 and became Principal in 2020. Widely experienced across Australia, Nicola practises in all areas of family law with a particular interest in children’s matters. Nicola was one of the first people in Australia to be trained to act as an Independent Children’s Lawyer and was appointed by the Legal Aid Commissions of Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia to represent children between 1995 and 2018 in that role. Nicola has also qualified as a mediator, collaborative lawyer and arbitrator. Nicola is Western Australia’s only Executive Member of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (FLS) having been elected in 2016 and made Treasurer in 2021. Nicola is the Chair of the Organising Committee for FLS’ 20th National Conference which will take place in Perth. She also sits on the Legal Aid Review Committee and as FLS Representative on the Family Law Practitioners Association of Western Australia (FLPA). Nicola has previously been a member of the Board of the Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators (AIFLAM) and the Law Society of Western Australia’s Ethics and PSS sub-committees and the Legal Aid Review Committee.
John Butler
John Butler has worked in the law for more than 55 years. He is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, and on the Roll of Legal Practitioners for the High Court of Australia. In addition to Western Australia, John has practised in New South Wales and the ACT. He has been a partner in a national legal firm and has twice established his own practice. John is currently the Principal of Butlers, Lawyers & Notaries, based in Nedlands. The majority of John's practice is in the areas of Family Law, Business Planning, Wills & Estate Planning, Claims on Estates, Guardianship & Administration and Elder Law. John has been involved with government and independent schools for over 40 years, including serving on the governing bodies of several independent schools over that period. John holds a Commission in the Australian Army and is on the Reserve of Officers. John is also an active member of the Rotary Club of Matilda Bay.
Clare Thompson SC
Clare Thompson is a barrister at Francis Burt Chambers practising in general commercial and civil litigation, including torts, contract, property, trade practices and tax. Her practice primarily comprises litigation before the Supreme and Federal Courts and she has appeared in several high profile professional negligence matters including Carmody & Ors v Priestly & Morris & Anor [2005] WASC 120; (2005) 30 WAR 318, Witcombe v Talbot & Olivier [2011] WASCA 107 and Nigam v Harm [No 2] [2011] WASCA 221. She has appeared before the High Court of Australia and in professional regulation matters in the SAT and AAT. Prior to joining the Bar in 2004, Clare worked at Freehills for 10 years. In 2002 Clare was President of the Law Society of WA and a director of the Law Council of Australia and in that role was involved in the discussions with Government surrounding the introduction of the Civil Liability Act. From 2000 - 2010, she was a member of several statutory regulators, including the Legal Practice Board and the Psychologists' Registration Board. Since 2003 she has been a member of the Legal Costs Committee, which sets the legal costs scales. Clare's qualifications include LLM, University of Melbourne, LLB (First Class Honours), University of Tasmania, Post Grad Dip Mgt, Curtin University, & B. Business, University of South Australia.
John Hedges SC
John Hedges graduated from the University of Western Australia with law degrees in 1980 and was admitted to practise in Western Australia in 1981. He was articled and then employed at Talbot & Olivier until 1982, after which he joined the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia until 1985. In 1987 John travelled to the United Kingdom where he was admitted and worked in the area of commercial litigation. He then returned to Perth where he worked at Dwyer Durack in the areas of family law and crime until 1988. He moved to Sydney in 1988 and practised in the areas of equity and family law until he was called to the Bar in Sydney in 1992. John then returned to Perth and has practised as a barrister at Francis Burt Chambers since 1993, primarily in the area of family law. He has also acted as a prosecutor for the Director of Public Prosecutions for Western Australia. He has been the Convenor of the Professional Standards Committee for the Anglican Archbishop's Panel of Advice on Complaints Against Clergy and Church Workers since 1999. He was a member of the Professional Standards Committee for the Medical Board of Western Australia from 2006 to 2008 and served as a Councillor on the city of Fremantle between 1993 and 1997. John's recreational activities include cycling, trekking, art and classical music.
Venue
Parmelia Hilton
Level 1, Meeting Room, 14 Mill Street
Perth 6000
WA
Australia
Directions
Nearby Public Transport:
Train Stations - The Esplanade Station
Bus Interchange - St Georges Terrace Cloisters Green
Parking information
Parmilia Hilton - Valet Parking only - Click here to view rates.
Convention Centre - 100 metres from Parmelia Hilton. Click here to view rates.