Footscray Community Legal Centre

Family law

Family Law continues to be a major area of demand for assistance. The Centre acts on behalf of people in relation to children’s issues, divorce and some property settlement matters where assistance for the client is required but not otherwise available.

There remains a very significant demand for Family Law assistance at the Centre and amongst most Centres. The situation is complicated given less private practitioners are doing Legal Aid work due to low fees paid. It is an area of casework which is consuming resources in Community Legal Centres.

We would like to see Legal Aid funding measures implemented which ensure accessibility to private practitioners specializing in Family Law through the Legal Aid system. This will require a significant increase in Legal Aid funding by the Commonwealth Government. We would also like to see a major boost in resources to Regional Legal Aid Offices to handle Family law cases, particularly where private referral is for some reason problematic.

We also believe that pre filing mediation/counselling in the Family Court should be urgently reintroduced. At present mediation is only available through the Court after legal action has been commenced. The pre filing services are outsourced to private agencies. We welcome the initiative of Victoria Legal Aid to begin a Primary Dispute Resolution Service.

Whilst recognizing that mediation is NOT always appropriate the additional option of going to the Family Court for that service would be of major benefit in many situations we encounter. For some parties, we believe attending at the Court is more likely to engender trust and confidence in the process.