We appreciate it is very overwhelming when you don’t know where to begin to start sorting out the division of property following a separation. Here is our process.
The starting point is for us to gather information from you so that we can give you an advice as to what would be a fair outcome for you. We need to know things like, what all of your assets are and what you think they’re worth; how much debt do you have; what did you have at the start of your relationship; What contributions did you each make during the relationship both financial and as homemaker and parent if applicable; What’s your current financial situation and what does the future hold for you.
Once we have this information we are on our way to giving you an advice about what your proposal might be to resolve the division of property between you and your former partner.
We charge according to whatever time is spent on a file and it is at an hourly rate of $400 per hour plus GST. In order to try and save you at least an hour of fees we have a questionnaire that we send for you to fill in, in your own time, which asks all of the questions above.
When the questionnaire is returned to us, we have a look at it and make a time to go through it with you. It might be the case that we need some more information in which case we will tell you what that is and how we go about getting it. If there is enough information from the questionnaire for us to give you an advice about a good proposal and outcome for you, then we will talk about that at an appointment. We will also talk about how we can put your proposal to your former partner, will it be by way of you talking to your former partner, us writing them a letter, you both attending a mediation, or a combination of all of these things? There is no right or wrong method and we will talk to you about what is the best for you.
Once a proposal has been put to your former partner, we wait to their response. Their response will let us know the future pathway for your matter. For example, the response might indicate that you and your former partner are quite close to reaching an agreement. Or it might be the opposite. Either way, we will let you know what the next steps are and give you a further estimate of fees.
At all times what we are working towards is having you and your former partner reach agreement about the division of your property and having that agreement documented in a legally binding manner, usually, by way of an application for consent orders although a financial agreement is also an option. We will talk to you more about this when the time comes.
We will tell you what to expect, what we require of you, and what you can do to assist us to minimise your fees. Hopefully this will make your pathway through the process a lot easier!
, I honestly cannot thank you enough. You made this process so easy and were a pleasure to work with.
