Services we choose not to provide because other experts do it better:

Adoption

As a specialised area, adoption is not dealt with by the Family Law Act. Each state and territory has its own laws. It is complex and requires an expert.

Surrogacy

An extremely niche area of law, surrogacy is not dealt with by the Family Law Act. Rules vary across the states, territories and at the Federal level. For example, areas where national uniformity is lacking include: human tissue laws; rules on the payment of egg, sperm and embryo donors; human cloning laws; status of children legislation; and surrogacy legislation. All this means that the regulation of assisted reproductive treatment is extraordinarily complex.

Allegations of sexual abuse in parenting matters

This is a high-conflict and complex parenting dispute. It will involve complex child-protection issues. These matters have minimal prospects of settling without a court-ordered determination and are time-consuming, combative and emotionally draining because the stakes are high. They are very important issues to resolve and they require an expert children’s lawyer who specialises in sexual abuse matters. We will only act in circumstances where an existing client , during the course of their matter, is falsely accused by a malevolent sociopath, psychopath or narcissist.

International jurisdiction disputes

While our niche clientele may own assets overseas and they or their spouse may live overseas, when there is no dispute that the proper jurisdiction to resolve their property settlement matters is in Australia we will deal with these matters.

However, where there is dispute about jurisdiction between Australia and another country, matters are more complex. Every country has different family law legislation which makes jurisdictional issues complex and requires collaboration with family lawyers in the other country. We choose not to provide this kind of service.

International child abduction

When a child is taken out of a country that they are habitually resident in by one parent without the permission of the other, this is known as international child abduction. Many countries fall under the Hague Convention – a multilateral treaty between countries. While we have extensive experience in complex international child abduction matters, we choose to no longer provide this service.

Advising Third Parties

Our exclusive clientele does not include third parties. However, third parties may be involved in the resolution of our client’s family law matters. On some occasions, our clients will be financially intertwined with the third parties including:

• Companies

• Business partners

• Creditors

• Family members – adult, children, siblings and parents.

These third parties need advice regarding asset protection, asset recovery, disclosure of documents, responding to subpoenas, and how best to navigate to ensure their interests are not prejudiced.

If the third parties have a relationship with our client, we will refer them to other trusted expert lawyers to ensure their interests are protected.