Welcome to the legal content update for May. This is a big update following the new Family Law changes that came into force on 6 May 2024. This month we also released our first matter types for Western Australia and also made many enhancements to existing Reports.
Let’s dive in!
Family Law Updates
Following the changes to the Family Law Act due to the commencement of the Family Law Amendment Act 2023 and Family Law Amendment (Information Sharing) Act 2023, a number of FCFCOA forms and brochures have been updated. We have also implemented these changes in several of our parenting precedents and the Family Law Education Network of Australia (FLENA) Marketplace Precedents.
Here’s the full list of the changes now available:
FCFCOA Forms
Forms without a grace period:
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Annexure to Proposed Consent Parenting Order (Current Case)
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Application – Contravention
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Application – Enforcement
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Application for Consent Orders
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Application for Consent Orders - Non Automated
Forms with a grace period until 7 June:
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Certificate of Readiness
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Confidential Case Outline Document (Dispute Resolution)
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Notice of child abuse, family violence or risk
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Outline of Case Document (Final Hearing)
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Subpoena in an arbitration
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Subpoena - Family Law
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Warrant of arrest
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Certificate of Dispute Resolution
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Bond
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Notice of Address for service
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Notice of ceasing to act
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Undertaking as to disclosure
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Request to attend by electronic communication
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Application for sealed copy of orders
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Credit card payment form
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Natural Disaster Replacement Document Request
FCFCOA Brochures
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Central Practice Direction: Family Law Case Management
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Family Law Practice Direction: Critical Incident List
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Family Law Practice Direction: Financial proceedings
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Family Law Practice Direction: Parenting proceedings
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Before you file – pre-action procedure for parenting cases (prescribed brochure)
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Marriage, families and separation (prescribed brochure)
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Parenting orders – obligations, consequences and who can help
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Child Impact Report - FAQs
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Compliance with parenting or other child-related orders
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Conciliation conference
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Court Child Experts - FAQ
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Duty of disclosure
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Family Reports FAQs
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Guide for Independent Children’s Lawyers in the Evatt List
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Guide for practitioners in the Evatt List
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Leave requirements for subpoenas in family law proceedings
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Legal words used in court
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Lighthouse - Triage Counsellors
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Lighthouse information sheet for parties - risk screening
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Lighthouse information sheet for practitioners
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Reports prepared by Court Children’s Service
Smokeball Precedent Updates
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Orders Clauses - Parenting
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Parenting Plan
The “Initial Client Letter - Family Law Parenting” precedent has also been removed from the precedent library due to being outdated.
FLENA Marketplace Precedent Updates
- NEW Precedent: 5 - Initial Formal Letter to Other Party (Solicitor)
- Family Law Checklist
- 1 – Initial Letter to Client on Retention
- 2 – Initial Formal Letter to Client
- 3 – Initial Formal Letter to Other Party (self-repped)
- 4 – Letter to Client Requesting Financial Disclosure
- 6 – Property Division Letter of Advice
- 7 – Letter to Other Party following FD etc.
- 9 – Letter to Client with Obligations and CPD
- 10 – Written Notice of Intention to Commence
- 11 – Written Notice of Intention to Commence 2
- 13 – Letter of Submissions to the Court when filing
- 14 – Cost Letter to Client
- 20 – Letter to Client to confirm No Substantial change
- 23 – Letter to Court: Ready to Proceed
- 31 – Post FDR Letter to Client
- 36 – Letter to client with trial plan
- 38 – Letter to Court and Other Party with Cost Notice
- FLO7 – Calderbank Offer
New Matter Types for Western Australia
This month we were very excited to announce the release of our first Matter Types for Western Australia, with more to come soon!
These initial matter types were:
- Will matter type;
- Enduring Power of Guardianship matter type; and
- Estate Planning Lead.
Report Updates
This was also a big month for report updates! The following six of our Smokeball desktop reports were enhanced by including the addition of a new column named 'Referrer':
- Lead - Full List
- Matter Summary List
- Matter Next Steps
- Safe Custody - Filtered
- Matter - Next Task
- Lead - Closed Lost
The ‘Conveyancing - Settlement Report’ was also updated to include the Person Responsible, Person Assisting and Matter Type fields and 'Conveyancing - Matter Report' within the Smokeball reports has been updated with the addition of the 'Trust Balance' column.
That’s the highlights from the past month. Don’t forget to check out the full list of updates here. Please reply below if you have any questions or feedback about this month’s releases!