What happens at my First Consultation with a Lawyer from Barkus Doolan Kelly?

The initial consultation is vital in enabling you to give us instructions about the background of your matter, and so we can provide you with our preliminary opinion about your rights and obligations.

Many clients wish to undertake negotiations directly with their spouse or partner. They use a preliminary consultation with an accredited specialist family lawyer at our office as an invaluable means of understanding what their general rights and obligations are, about matters such as:

• Division of property;
• Maintenance and child support;
• Arrangements for children.

Our clients are then able to use the advice they have received as the basis for their negotiations. By understanding where they stand, they are then far better placed to try and resolve matters between themselves. If you are then successful in reaching an agreement, it will be vital that you come back to see our lawyers so we can prepare the Court documents on your behalf to finalise your settlement.

Charges for Consultations

We charge for our first consultation at hourly rates that vary depending on the seniority of the lawyer advising. When you first contact our office by telephone or email, we can discuss the most appropriate lawyer to act for you and their hourly rate.

What should I bring to my First Consultation?

We can only provide you with advice if we fully understand your case and the background. You help us in that process by providing us with detailed relevant information and background material.

If you have time before our first meeting, you should consider preparing a Chronology that provides information such as:

• Date of cohabitation;
• Date of marriage;
• Dates of birth of parties and children;
• When you acquired various assets;
• When you may have received inheritances, damages payouts or redundancy packages;
• Any periods of separation.

To advise on property division, we need information about your asset and liability position, both at the date you commenced cohabitation and at the present date. It helps us if you can provide us with a:

• List of your assets and liabilities at the date of cohabitation; and
• List of your assets and liabilities now.

How do Courts value Assets?

The Court normally values the assets at the date of settlement or final hearing, and not at the date of separation.

If you own real estate, you should initially have real estate agents provide you with an appraisal of the estimated value of your home or investment property. If agreement cannot be reached on value, we can arrange for a registered property valuer to inspect properties and provide an expert opinion.

It may be that you and your spouse run a business or company or operate a professional practice such as a law partnership or medical practice. Whilst you may not at this stage have any idea of its value, we can provide advice about retaining an expert accountant to value those assets and their goodwill.

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