Congratulations to our new Specialists!

The Queensland Law Society has just announced the latest Accreditation of Family Law Specialists. Of those that applied and went through the gruelling assessment process just over 20% were ultimately appointed.

We are proud to announce that 4 of our Solicitors went through the process and all four completed it successfully and have been appointed Family Law Specialists. Congratulations to Elizabeth Millar, Amy Campbell, Clare McCormack and Amy Honan.

The feat is even more remarkable as it now provides Michael Lynch Family Lawyers with 2 new firsts for any family law firm in Queensland. Not only do we have the most Accredited Family Law Specialists of any firm in Queensland but we are the only firm in Queensland where all solicitors are Accredited Family Law Specialists.

For more information on the significance of Specialist Accreditation visit www.mlfl.com.au/services/specialists.

Michael Lynch Family Lawyers now have 7 Accredited Family Law Specialists and is the leading Specialist Family Law firm in Queensland.

Final public seminar – TODAY!

The final public seminar for this year is on in Brisbane at lunchtime TODAY!

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Accredited Family Law Specialist, Michael Lynch, explain how property settlements are determined. He will also identify some common traps

people encounter and give some tips on how to overcome them. The Seminar “7 Secrets to Surviving Property Settlement” is being held:

• Brisbane City: 1:00pm – 2:00pm – Tuesday, 12 November, The Sebel Suites, Cnr Charlotte & Albert St, Brisbane City.

The seminar is open to everyone and the attendance fee is ONLY $20.

For more information or to book your seat, contact our office on (07) 3221 4300 or email [email protected].

Conference or Professional Development day? Need a speaker?

If you are looking for a speaker on Family Law matter for your next Conference or Professional Development day, please give us a call!

Our Principal, Michael Lynch, presents over 50 seminars a year to accounting, financial planning and legal firms, as well as other groups.

If you want your staff to be better equipped to serve clients (or you would like to offer your clients tips e.g. protecting assets in property settlement) call us on (07) 3221 4300 to organise a FREE seminar.

The seminars are generally for 1 hour and include a powerpoint presentation and additional hand-out material. For more information or possible seminar topics, visit our Seminar Series webpage or phone 3221 4300.

Coping with Christmas

Over the last couple of years one of our most popular articles has addressed the challenges faced by separated families over the Christmas holiday period, but more particularly, Christmas Day. To avoid Christmas being a time of disappointment and disagreement and in the lead-up to the Christmas holiday period, we again share with you our article entitled “Coping with Christmas – Timely Tips for separated Mums and Dads”. Onforward the article to anyone you feel would benefit from it!

What is unconscionable conduct?

A Financial Agreement can take a variety of forms, it can either be completed prior to a marriage (a pre-nuptial agreement), during the relationship or after separation. A Financial Agreement can be ‘set aside’ if there has been “unconscionable conduct”. So, what does that mean?

Decisions made by the Courts, tell us that a person acts ‘unconscionably’ if they know (or ought to know) of the other spouse’s special disadvantage or disability (example poverty, sickness, age, infirmity of body or mind, drunkenness, illiteracy or lack of education), and takes advantage of that special disadvantage or disability.

Enjoyed this flyer? – Forward it to a friend

Sharing up-to-date information in Family Law has never been easier! You can select an edition of the Family Flyer online and forward it instantly to a friend.

If you have any comments regarding the Family Flyer, we’d love

to hear from you. Please email us by visiting www.mlfl.com.au/contact.

Banning of temporary tattoos

A recent case has considered when a court should intervene when the parents have a different parenting style.

The Facts:

The case involved a 4 year old child. The parents separated just after the child’s birth and they had very different attitudes to parenting. The father had a more carefree attitude which included putting transfer tattoos on the child.

The mother did not like the child to be tattooed and would remove the tattoos from the child when he was returned to her. Despite the child telling the father (at the mother’s request) not to put the transfers on, the father would send the mother a text message asking ‘why not?’

Court Held:

The court was satisfied that the child had a ‘meaningful relationship’ with both his mother and father. The court found that the primary difficulty for the child however, was that the parents had a very poor relationship, with the communication between the parents limited to text messages only.

The court did not have an issue in the transfer tattoos itself, it was that the child complained it was painful when the tattoo was removed and the child was distressed because of the different rules in each household.

Court Order:

The mother should have sole parental responsibility for the long term decisions concerning the child.

The court also made a specific order restraining the father from putting tattoo transfers on the child at any time.