Frequently Asked Questions

YES. Our clients are located all over Australia (with the exception of WA).

Although our office is based in Sydney’s Inner West suburb of Burwood, you can choose how you would like to work with us.

Generally, we will communicate with you using a combination of written, telephone, face-to-face, and/or online audio-visual methods as appropriate to your matter. However, we are also able to conduct entire family law matters remotely from beginning to end where necessary or preferred by you.

Yes. Face-to-face consultations are available by appointment only. Our free 30-minute initial consultation is conducted either by telephone or audio-visual link (AVL such as Zoom). Subsequent meetings may be arranged to take place either in person at our Burwood office or by telephone/AVL.

Our business hours are 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. We may offer ‘after hours’ appointments on a case-by-case basis, provided these are arranged prior during normal business hours.

We are a fixed-fee practice which means that we charge a set amount that is agreed upon prior to us commencing your matter. There are no hidden costs, and you will have certainty regarding our professional fees at each stage of your matter. For more information about our fee model, please visit Our Fees page.

Disbursements are third-party costs incurred on your behalf during the course of your matter. Disbursements can include items and services such as property valuations, filing fees (e.g. for divorce or consent orders), title searching and property / business enquiries, process serving, etc. We strive to keep you informed regarding any disbursements necessary for the progression of your matter and the estimated costs of these disbursements. We never receive any commission or mark-up in relation to any disbursements.

We look forward to working with you! If you decide to engage our services, we will first email you our Costs Agreement and General Terms of Business. Our Costs Agreement will set out the scope of work we will provide to you, our professional fees to perform that service and any anticipated disbursements that may be incurred. We ask that you read through the Costs Agreement and General Terms of Business to ensure they accurately reflect your understanding of the work we will perform for you, sign the Costs Agreement where indicated, and return it to us by email. We will then be able to commence your matter and will guide you through the next steps in the process, depending on your individual circumstances.

At LEDA Lawyers, we are a mother-daughter lawyer team with over 35 years’ legal experience between us. You will have two lawyers working on your matter from start to finish and being a fixed-fee practice, this means that you will have the benefit of two lawyers’ experience without the added cost in professional fees you would be charged under a time-billing model.

Collaborative Family Law (or Collaborative Divorce) is indeed a legal process – without the need for you to go to court. It requires you and your former partner to engage collaboratively trained family lawyers to represent you. You will receive legal advice regarding your dispute and the various legal issues which arise. It is a legal pathway with formal steps that are followed to resolve your family law dispute, as an alternative to the combative, expensive and lengthy court process.

The result at the conclusion of the Collaborative process is the same as that of concluding a trial at court – namely, a set of legal documents which set out the terms for any parenting arrangement, property division, spousal maintenance, and child support between you and your former partner.

In Collaborative Family Law, these terms are set out in various written “agreements” which adhere to the requirements set out in the applicable Family Law legislation. Similarly, if the outcome is decided by a judge in court following the traditional family law pathway, the terms of the judge’s decision are called “Orders”.

The only difference between the Collaborative Family Law process and going to court is who decides the outcome and how you get there. In Collaborative Family Law, you retain control throughout the process and reach an agreement with your former partner, rather than having a third-party (judge) decide the outcome for you in court.

Yes. You and your former partner will each require legal representation. The difference in Collaborative Family Law (or Collaborative Divorce) is that you and your former partner each need to be represented by a collaboratively trained family lawyer. A list of certified collaborative family lawyers can be found on the Australian Association of Collaborative Professionals website:

https://www.collaborativeaustralia.com.au/find-a-professional/

If you would like to use Collaborative Family Law to resolve your family law dispute but are unsure about how to raise this with your former partner, we can assist you.

Many traditional family lawyers will state that going to court is an option of “last resort” but often embark on this combative pathway. ‘Going to court’ is not just a ‘one-off’ court attendance but rather involves many steps. It requires numerous court attendances by both parties and their lawyers during which time the court may direct the parties to undertake various tasks (such as meet with family consultants or psychologists) or obtain/provide information (e.g. valuations, financial information, or documentary ‘proof’). The final court attendance is called a final hearing. In addition to not giving the parties control over the final outcome, the court process is lengthy, emotionally and financially depleting and usually leaves both parties with bitterness and resentment towards each other.

In Collaborative Family Law, we commit to keeping your family out of court. One of the critical early steps in the process is that you and your former partner and the collaborative lawyers representing each of you sign a “Participation Agreement”. This agreement is a contract between all four parties that the matter will not be taken to court (or even threatened to be taken to court). A crucial term of the Participation Agreement is the lawyers’ commitment that if the Collaborative process breaks down, both lawyers must withdraw from the matter and cannot represent their client in traditional family law proceedings (i.e. going to court). Each party must therefore find new lawyers if either party wishes to end the Collaborative process and go to court. This model provides everyone with a strong incentive to work together to resolve the dispute and achieve a better outcome for the whole family.

If your former partner already has legal representation, this is not automatically a barrier to using Collaborative Family Law to resolve your dispute. Many traditional family lawyers are also trained in Collaborative practice, however, you and your former partner must both agree to using the Collaborative family law pathway to resolve your dispute. If your former partner would also like to resolve the dispute using Collaborative practice, they will need to engage a certified collaborative lawyer to represent them. You can find a list of Collaborative Family Lawyers here:

https://www.collaborativeaustralia.com.au/find-a-professional/

The result at the conclusion of the Collaborative process is the same as that of concluding a trial at court – namely, a set of legal documents which set out the terms for any parenting arrangement, property division, spousal maintenance, and child support between you and your former partner.

In Collaborative Family Law, the terms of any agreements reached by the parties are set out in either of the following documents:

• various written “agreements” which adhere to the requirements set out in the applicable Family Law legislation; or
• “Consent Orders” which are “agreements” registered with and approved by the court (without the parties attending court); or
• A combination of various written documents and Consent Orders.

Whether the result of the Collaborative process is documented by various agreements or by Consent Orders, we ensure that the terms of your agreement are legally binding and enforceable.

Collaborative Family Law boasts an extremely high success and client satisfaction rate, particularly when compared to parties whose disputes are settled in court. If, however, the Collaborative process breaks down and either your or your former partner decide to commence proceedings in court, both lawyers must withdraw from the matter and you and your former partner must engage new lawyers. Even if the Collaborative process breaks down and you engage new lawyers to take your matter to court, the time you have spent in the Collaborative process is not wasted as often several (if not most) issues have already been resolved through the Collaborative process, narrowing the issues in dispute to be decided in court.

Although not required in every case, a Collaborative Coach is a neutral third party who acts in a capacity similar to a project manager for the dispute. It is entirely in the parties’ discretion whether or not to engage a Collaborative coach. Similarly, it is open to the parties to jointly engage other neutral third-party experts to provide guidance and assistance in resolving their dispute. Third party neutrals can include accountants/financial/tax professionals, property or business valuers, child experts, and other mental health professionals. These third-party neutrals attend the Collaborative meetings as and when required (and must also sign the Participation Agreement).

A requirement of the Collaborative Family Law model is that all participants (you, your former partner and each of your lawyers) sign a Participation Agreement. The Participation Agreement provides that the matter will not be taken to court, nor threatened to be taken to court. It further provides that the lawyers cannot continue to act for either party if the Collaborative process breaks down. If at any stage of the process you or your former partner decide to pursue the matter in court, you and your former partner must find new lawyers to represent you.

The Participation Agreement also sets out the governing principles, terms and conditions of the Collaborative process, such as providing full and honest disclosure of all information. The Participation Agreement must be signed by you, your former partner and your respective lawyers at the first Collaborative Meeting.

No. Children do not attend the Collaborative meetings. The Collaborative meetings provide a safe and supportive space for you and your former partner, together with your collaborative lawyers, to discuss and negotiate all aspects of your family law dispute. Whilst the best interests of the children are always of paramount importance, it is not appropriate for the children to be exposed to or participate in these discussions, regardless of age.

Yes. If you and your former spouse have already reached a verbal agreement on all the issues without the assistance of a lawyer, we can formally document your verbal agreement into a legally binding agreement to ensure that your agreement is legally enforceable.

The Family Court encourages parties to attempt to resolve their dispute through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) before resorting to court.

Services such as Family Dispute Resolution offered by Relationships Australia is essentially a mediation service for parties to attempt to address decisions in relation to their children, finances, and property. The mediator (or Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner) facilitates negotiations but cannot provide the parties with legal advice. Furthermore, agreements made in mediation are usually “in good faith” and not legally binding.

For an agreement to be legally binding, it must be drafted in the correct form by a lawyer or submitted to the court in the form of Consent Orders.

By way of example, let’s say you and your former partner enter into a ‘parenting plan’. A parenting plan is simply a document which aims to clarify the arrangements that parents have voluntarily agreed between themselves to put in place to care for their children. It must be in writing and signed and dated by both parents. A parenting plan, however, is not legally enforceable. It is simply the responsibility of the parties involved to honor the agreement voluntarily.

For a financial agreement to be enforceable, both parties must obtain independent legal advice before signing, and the agreement must comply with the strict formalities prescribed by the Family Law Act. For more information on property division, please visit our page on Binding Financial Agreements.

Remember that the decisions you make in relation to your children and your property during the challenging time of separation can have long-lasting consequences. It is therefore important to obtain legal advice before consenting to an enforceable agreement.

A service such as Collaborative Family Law offers an ADR solution which empowers parties through their collaboratively trained lawyers working together to resolve the parties’ dispute. It results in legally binding and enforceable agreements which can cover all aspects of a separation. For more information about Collaborative Family Law (or Collaborative Divorce), please visit out page on Collaborative Family Law.

In addition to being admitted as an Australian Legal Practitioner, in order to qualify as a Certified Collaborative Lawyer, a lawyer must undergo specific additional training in Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice and satisfy the minimum training requirements to be eligible for membership into the Australian Association of Collaborative Professionals.

Whilst Collaborative Family Law is a highly effective pathway for most separating couples or families, for circumstances involving domestic violence, substance abuse or where personality disorders are present, traditional family law litigation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution may be the most appropriate forums for these disputes.