Family matters are rarely only legal. What we can do is take the legal part off your hands, keep it moving, and stop it costing more than it needs to.
Separation and divorce
An application for divorce generally requires twelve months of separation. You can be separated while still living under the same roof, but that needs to be evidenced. Divorce itself is a separate question from dividing property and from arrangements for children — the three are often confused, and the deadlines attached to them are different.
Property settlement
The court works through a structured approach: identify the asset pool including superannuation, assess the contributions each party made, consider future needs, then ask whether the result is just and equitable. Knowing that sequence changes how a negotiation is run.
Time limits: generally twelve months from the date a divorce order takes effect, and two years from the end of a de facto relationship. After that you need the court's permission to apply at all.
Full disclosure early is not a concession — it is what makes settlement possible. Most of the cost in family law is spent arguing about facts that proper disclosure would have settled in the first month.
Children
Arrangements are decided on what is in the best interests of the child. A parenting plan is a written agreement that is not enforceable; consent orders are approved by the court and are. We advise on which is appropriate and prepare the documents either way.
Binding financial agreements
Made before, during or after a relationship. Each party must have independent legal advice for the agreement to be binding — an agreement drafted without it is likely to fail at exactly the moment it is needed.
Wills, powers of attorney and estates
A will decides who receives what, who administers the estate, and who cares for children under 18. It does not control superannuation, property held as joint tenants, or assets inside a family trust or company — an estate plan that ignores those is only half a plan.
We also prepare the two documents that operate while you are alive: an enduring power of attorney for financial and personal decisions if you lose capacity, and an advance health directive for medical treatment.
For deceased estates we act for executors through probate and administration, and we act in family provision claims. Those time limits are short: notice of an intended claim must generally be given to the executor within six months of the date of death, and the application filed within nine months.
Working with us
Advice and court attendance in Vietnamese or English. Where a matter can be resolved by negotiation or mediation we will say so — a settlement that holds is usually worth more than a judgment that costs two years to obtain.
General information only. This page describes the law in general terms and is not legal advice for your situation. Time limits are strict and the law changes. Call BNE Lawyers on 0423 007 888 to discuss your own circumstances in English or Vietnamese.