Revised Legal Aid General Criminal Law Panel Practice Standards take effect from 15 September 2014.
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
Tag Archives: Mosman Lawyers
Mosman Lawyers
Notice of Intention to Suspend North Sydney Council
ON 15 SEPTEMBER 2014, the Minister for Local Government issued North Sydney Council with a Notice of Intention to Suspend under s438I of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW).
Under the Act, the Minister has the power to suspend the Council and install an interim administrator for a period of 3 months to “restore the proper or effective functioning of the council”.
The Council has 14 days from 15 September to respond with a submission. The Minister will consider the submission before deciding whether or not to suspend the Council.
The Mayor intends to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting, open to the public.
1300 00 2088
Reference under s443A of the Criminal Code by the Attorney-General for the Northern Territory of Australia of the convictions of Alice Lynne Chamberlain and Michael Leigh Chamberlain
ON 15 SEPTEMBER 1988, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain were acquitted by the Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeal, who quashed their earlier convictions.
1300 00 2088
How to Apply for a Divorce
Australia has a no-fault system of divorce.
The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) defines “divorce” as the “termination of a marriage otherwise than by the death of a party to the marriage”.
The Family Court, state Supreme Courts and Federal Circuit Court have the jurisdiction to grant a divorce or a decree of nullity to either Australian citizens, persons domiciled in Australia or persons who are an ordinary resident of Australia and have been so for the 12 month period prior to proceedings being instituted. Proceedings are usually brought in the Federal Circuit Court.
A party may make an application for divorce if there has been an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage and the court is satisfied that the parties have separated and lived separately for a continuous period of 12 months before the application and there is no reasonable likelihood of the cohabitation being resumed. The divorce order takes effect 1 month after the date on which the divorce order is made.
The steps to be taken when seeking a divorce are as follows:
- Complete an Application for Divorce which can be obtained by downloading the Application for Divorce Kit.
- Swear or Affirm the application in the presence of a lawyer, Justice of the Peace or other authorised person.
- Make two copies of the application and supporting documents.
- File the an original and two copies of the application and a copy of the marriage certificate at a family law registry. The documents may be filed in person at the registry or by post. A filing fee must be paid.
- Receive a hearing date and documents, which the court will give you at the time of filing the application.
- Serve a sealed copy of the application and information brochure on your spouse at least 28 days if your spouse is in Australia, or 42 days if your spouse is overseas.
- Attend the hearing. If there is no child under 18, you are not required to attend. If there is a child under 18 and the application is a joint application, you are not required to attend. If there is a child under 18 and the application is a sole application, your are required to attend.
- Outcome. If the application is successful, the court will grant a divorce order which will become final one month and one day after it is made, unless another order is made. The court will then send a copy of the order to the husband and wife.
For further information, go the Family Law Court’s website.
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
Parenting Plan Template
A parenting plan does not have to take any specific form but it must be in writing and signed and dated by both parents. It must be freely agreed without any threat, duress or coercion.
Sample parenting plans can be found at the back of the Child Support Agency’s Me My Kids and My Ex and Relationships Australia’s Share the Care.
A parenting plan should cover:
- The child’s place of residence.
- Time spent with each parent.
- Time spent with other people, such as grandparents.
- How parents will share parental responsibility and consult about parenting decisions, such as selection of school.
- Mode of communication with the parents and other people.
- Special day arrangements, such as birthdays and holidays.
- Processes for changing the plan.
- Any other issue about parental responsibility or care, welfare or development of the child.
The agreement is voluntary and not enforceable. If the parties cannot reach agreement they can make an application for orders from the Family Court of Australia or the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.
For further information we recommend you go to:
Family Relationships Online, Parenting Plan Guide
Family Relationships Online, An Introduction to Parenting Plans
Legal Aid Victoria, Parenting Arrangements and Child Contact
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
Sample Parenting Plan
A parenting plan does not have to take any specific form but it must be in writing and signed and dated by both parents. It must be freely agreed without any threat, duress or coercion.
Sample parenting plans can be found at the back of the Child Support Agency’s Me My Kids and My Ex and Relationships Australia’s Share the Care.
A parenting plan should cover:
- The child’s place of residence.
- Time spent with each parent.
- Time spent with other people, such as grandparents.
- How parents will share parental responsibility and consult about parenting decisions, such as selection of school.
- Mode of communication with the parents and other people.
- Special day arrangements, such as birthdays and holidays.
- Processes for changing the plan.
- Any other issue about parental responsibility or care, welfare or development of the child.
The agreement is voluntary and not enforceable. If the parties cannot reach agreement they can make an application for orders from the Family Court of Australia or the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.
For further information we recommend you go to:
Family Relationships Online, Parenting Plan Guide
Family Relationships Online, An Introduction to Parenting Plans
Legal Aid Victoria, Parenting Arrangements and Child Contact
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
Singer v Berghouse [1994] HCA 40 | 14 September 1994
ON 14 SEPTEMBER 1994, the High Court of Australia delivered Singer v Berghouse [1994] HCA 40; (1994) 181 CLR 201; (1994) 123 ALR 481; (1994) 68 ALJR 653 (14 September 1994).
The High Court ruled that the determination of family provision disputes involves a two stage process: per Mason CJ, Deane and McHugh JJ (at [18]).
The first stage requires an assessment as to whether the provision for maintenance under the deceased’s will was appropriate having regard to mattes including “the applicant’s financial position, the size and nature of the deceased’s estate, the totality of the relationship between the applicant and the deceased, and the relationship between the deceased and other persons who have legitimate claims upon his or her bounty”. The question for consideration is whether or not the applicant has been left without adequate provision for proper maintenance as well as education and advancement in life?
If it is found that the applicant has been left without adequate provision for proper maintenance, the second stage requires an assessment of what is a proper level of maintenance and adequate provision to make an order in favour of the applicant. The court must be “mindful” that in some circumstances “a court could refuse to make an order notwithstanding that the applicant is found to have been left without adequate provision for proper maintenance”, such as where there are no assets and making an order would affect the testator’s arrangements with creditors.
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
Makita (Australia) Pty Ltd v Sprowles [2001] NSWCA 305 | 14 September 2001
ON 14 September 2001, the NSW Court of Appeal delivered Makita (Australia) Pty Ltd v Sprowles [2001] NSWCA 305 (14 September 2001).
The common law rules regarding the admissibility of opinion evidence were summarised by Heydon JA as follows:
- An expert has a duty to provide the trial court with criteria to allow the evaluation of the validity of the expert’s conclusions (at [59]).
- The trial court is to decide whether or not to accept the conclusions.
- The intellectual basis or essential integers of the expert opinion must be explained to the trial court to allow it to arrived at an independent assessment of the opinions and their values (at [68], [71] and [79]).
- The trial court must give weight to the opinions in the same way as for the evidence of non-expert witnesses (at [82]).
- The expert’s opinion is to be based on facts, either proved by the expert or disclosed as assumptions of fact that form the basis of the opinion [at 64].
- the opinion will be admissible and material if other admissible evidence establishes that the assumptions are sufficiently likely even though not completely precise.
- The expert witness is not an advocate. The paramount is to be impartial to the court. This duty overrides its obligation to the engaging party. The expert witness is not an advocate (at [77]).
- The expert witness is to assist the trial court in determining a matter in issue, but the court must weigh and determine the probabilities of the fact on the whole of the evidence (at [67]).
- The expert’s particular expertise is to be applied to the assumed or proven facts in order to come to his or her opinion (at[59]).
Per Heydon JA (at [85]):
“In short, if evidence tendered as expert opinion evidence is to be admissible, it must be agreed or demonstrated that there is a field of “specialised knowledge”; there must be an identified aspect of that field in which the witness demonstrates that by reason of specified training, study or experience, the witness has become an expert; the opinion proffered must be “wholly or substantially based on the witness’s expert knowledge”; so far as the opinion is based on facts “observed” by the expert, they must be identified and admissibly proved by the expert, and so far as the opinion is based on “assumed” or “accepted” facts, they must be identified and proved in some other way; it must be established that the facts on which the opinion is based form a proper foundation for it; and the opinion of an expert requires demonstration or examination of the scientific or other intellectual basis of the conclusions reached: that is, the expert’s evidence must explain how the field of “specialised knowledge” in which the witness is expert by reason of “training, study or experience”, and on which the opinion is “wholly or substantially based”, applies to the facts assumed or observed so as to produce the opinion propounded. If all these matters are not made explicit, it is not possible to be sure whether the opinion is based wholly or substantially on the expert’s specialised knowledge. If the court cannot be sure of that, the evidence is strictly speaking not admissible, and, so far as it is admissible, of diminished weight. And an attempt to make the basis of the opinion explicit may reveal that it is not based on specialised expert knowledge, but, to use Gleeson CJ’s characterisation of the evidence in HG v R [1999] HCA 2; (1999) 197 CLR 414 (at 428), on “a combination of speculation, inference, personal and second-hand views as to the credibility of the complainant, and a process of reasoning which went well beyond the field of expertise.”
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
What Does a Parenting Plan Look Like?
A parenting plan does not have to take any specific form but it must be in writing and signed and dated by both parents. It must be freely agreed without any threat, duress or coercion.
Sample parenting plans can be found at the back of the Child Support Agency’s Me My Kids and My Ex and Relationships Australia’s Share the Care.
A parenting plan should cover:
- The child’s place of residence.
- Time spent with each parent.
- Time spent with other people, such as grandparents.
- How parents will share parental responsibility and consult about parenting decisions, such as selection of school.
- Mode of communication with the parents and other people.
- Special day arrangements, such as birthdays and holidays.
- Processes for changing the plan.
- Any other issue about parental responsibility or care, welfare or development of the child.
The agreement is voluntary and not enforceable. If the parties cannot reach agreement they can make an application for orders from the Family Court of Australia or the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.
For further information we recommend you go to:
Family Relationships Online, Parenting Plan Guide
Family Relationships Online, An Introduction to Parenting Plans
Legal Aid Victoria, Parenting Arrangements and Child Contact
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
Declaration of Rights for Older People
The Welsh Government has produced the Declaration of Rights of Older People in Wales.
The declaration is the first of its kind in the world. It’s purpose is to clarify the rights of older people in Wales. It aims to help older people understand:
- how the rights apply to them;
- how they access the rights more effectively; and
- how the rights relate to the current equality and human rights laws.
The declaration also aims to set out the expectations of older people for the benefit of those responsible for providing them with public services.
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
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