Family Lawyers in Australia generally charge based on their time spent working on your matter.
What type of work is included family law costs?
That work includes meetings with you, telephone attendances with you, considering your circumstances, preparing letters to the other party or lawyer acting for them, telephone attendances with the other side or the lawyers acting for them, arranging barristers to represent you or advise you at any stage of your matter if it’s necessary, arranging and preparing mediation documents, drafting and preparing court documents, attending at court to either appear for you at any return date or instruct your barrister and doing anything else to advance your case.
The time engaged by your family law solicitor is charged at an hourly rate for your Family Lawyer. That hourly rate is generally based on their expertise and years of experience they have in working in the family law legal field. The more experienced the solicitor is, they hold more senior positions within the law firm and their hourly rate is set at a higher level than the more junior solicitor, whose hourly rates are less.
What is the general cost (hourly rate) of a family lawyer in Australia?
As a general guide:
- Senior solicitors generally charge anywhere between $500 per hour up to $1,000 per hour (plus GST)
- Mid-tier solicitors who have positions such as Associates and have anywhere between 4-10 years’ experience generally charge anywhere between $450 per hour up to $650 per hour,
- and junior solicitors who have experience anywhere between 1-4 years of practising as a Solicitor generally charge anywhere between $350 per hour up to $500 per hour.
These hourly rates also attract GST which is an additional cost based on the time spent for each attendance. The hour is broken up into 10 units of each solicitor’s time calculated in 6 minute periods.
So, an attendance between 2-6 minutes of the Family Lawyers time will be 1 unit calculated at their hourly rate. An attendance of between 24 minutes up to 30 minutes of the Family Lawyers time is equal to 5 units charged at their hourly rate. An attendance of between 54 minutes and 60 minutes is 10 units and so on.
You generally get to choose what level of seniority and advice and representation that you think is needed in your matter. The level of seniority of your Family Lawyer should match the type of expertise and experience that your situation requires.
If your situation is complex, the issues in dispute will guide you to the level of experience and knowledge of the Family Lawyer that you think you need in order to best promote your interests and advise and guide you through this very complex and important part of your life following breakdown of your relationship with your significant other and the lifelong effects thereafter.
Choosing the right family lawyer
The matters that you should take into account in guiding you as to your choice of Family Lawyer in financial matters will include the type of assets that you or your partner have. Those assets may include owning a property or properties, whether you or your partner operate a business and\or have interests in a Family Trust or other types of Trusts, whether one or either of you is a high income earner, whether one or either of you have the ongoing care of a child of the relationship and many other factors that are specifically relevant to your current and future financial well-being.
Your financial future, security and well-being are important and the experience and knowledge of the Family Lawyer you choose may make the difference towards your future financial health.
The matters that you should take into account in guiding you as to the choice of Family Lawyer in disputes relating to the ongoing care and welfare of the children of your relationship may include:
- the children’s wishes
- the children’s needs
- the family dynamics
- relationships of the children to each parent.
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Picking the right family lawyer will ensure the process is smoother
Your children’s and your future, security and well-being are important and the experience and knowledge of the Family Lawyer you choose may make the difference towards the betterment and happiness of you and your children. The number and type of issues between you and your spouse or partner that you have not been able to agree on, inevitably increase each party’s legal fees. Your attitude and the attitude of your spouse or partner also have a significant effect on what your legal costs will end up being.
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Pre-action procedures
All parties are now required (except in cases of risk, safety, family violence or urgency) to undertake mandatory Pre-action procedures before starting a court case. This applies to whether the issues in dispute between you are of a financial nature and\or the living, safety and care arrangements for your children.
The Pre-action procedures include requirements that you and your spouse\partner (if possible) participate in alternative dispute resolution processes to try to help you resolve your issues before starting a court case.
If all matters in issue between you are not resolved through the alternative dispute resolution processes, some of the issues may need to be determined by the court. The Pre--action procedures will help to limit and identify the issues in dispute. That can have a significant effect on what you would have spent on legal fees if the matter had not been resolved\settled either fully or in part. There are still court processes or legal documentation to be done to formalise any agreement, but those costs are significantly less than what you will spend if you proceed to Court to have your disagreement determined by a judicial officer.
If court proceedings start, the more stages that your matter proceeds through, the more expensive it will be. In addition, the court can order you and the other party to attend further mediation on one or more occasions which will also add to your legal costs.
The number of and types of experts that may need to be engaged to do valuations of your property or assessments of your family in relation to child - related disputes will also affect your legal fees.
Each case is different and lawyers are required to give you at the earliest opportunity an estimate of what they think your legal costs will be at each stage and if your matter is not resolved prior to a final trial, the costs up to and including the trial. That is a wholly predictive exercise and can significantly change during the course until ultimate determination of the issues in dispute between you.
At Carew Counsel Solicitors we have different levels of experience and knowledge of Family Law Solicitors and therefore a choice of expertise and hourly rates available to you. At Carew Counsel Solicitors we take a teams-based approach to enable you to have the benefit of every Family Lawyers’ years of experience, expertise and knowledge.
