We have seen a burst of people moving cities, towns, states, territories and countries for various reasons including to be closer to family, for lifestyle reasons or even just a change of scenery. However, what happens if the child’s parents are separated and one of them wants to move with the child?

AI and NLP has the potential to be a game-changer in family law matters, providing clients with greater access to legal information and advice and helping lawyers streamline the legal process. However, it is important for clients and lawyers alike to approach AI with caution, recognising its limitations and potential risks.

The emergence of crypto technology has led to a new digitally driven, decentralised asset class that has caught the attention of both experienced and novel investors. As crypto-assets gain in popularity, the issue of identifying, valuing and dividing that property in the context of family law proceedings has become more important than ever.

We would like to share the Australia chapter that Pearson Emerson Family Lawyers has written for the International Comparative Legal Guide to: Family Law 2020.

The case has left open what level of parenting one will need to show before a sperm donor will be elevated to the status of a parent. At the same time the case gives reassurance to a donor like Robert that the other parent cannot unilaterally decide to take the child away from them at a whim; ensuring the best interests of the child remain overriding.

Family law is, more than any other area of law, concerned with the intricacies and the varied forms of human relationship. Yet the law, over and over again, has to cast these varied relationships into patterns which they sometimes fit very poorly.

Many a parent has said to a child from time to time "I am doing this for your own good even if you don't like it". An unusual recent case featured a judge saying the same thing to a litigant. 

The one constant in the life of any family lawyer for the past 40 years has been change of the law and, to the extent that the government pays any regard to the ALRC report, more change is likely.

One of the things our clients frequently ask is "how do I prove I'm telling the truth?"  In almost all family law issues that a judge has to decide, "proof" means evidence that demonstrates what our client needs to show on the balance of probability, that is, whether the fact in issue is more likely than not to be true.

It seems that every day somebody expresses an opinion about immigration, its benefits, its limitations, too much, not enough, wrong kind, right kind. However, as with other aspects of modern life, the movement of people in and out of countries creates international legal issues, one of the things for which Pearson Emerson Meyer is highly regarded and in which we specialise.

When family lawyers or judges come to consider how to divide property between the parties to a relationship that has broken down, what do they do?

A recent case called Sarai & Talwar, features a couple of different points, but one relating to what it takes to end a marriage.

A fairly high percentage of relationships end because they break down. 100% of all relationships will end, either by breakdown of the relationship or by death.

In the very recent case of Simic v Norton Justice Benjamin in the Family Court of Australia harshly criticised the amount of money charged by the lawyers in a case he decided.

The are some incredible and innovative Apps available that make communications for separating families much easier whether those families are still separated under one roof or not.

One of the more difficult tasks that we confront is deciding when a couple is in a de facto relationship. There is no difficulty in proving, in almost every case, whether a couple is married or not.  There is a marriage certificate.  While de facto relationships can be registered, very few are.

As from 1 January 2017, payees may take action to recover arrears of periodic payments of child support. Such arrears are a debt due to the Commonwealth and, in the past, recovery action could only be taken by the Commonwealth by the Child Support Registrar.

We take our freedoms for granted. This includes some we don't really have.