Fixed-Fee Collaborative Family Law and Settlement Documents

Fulcrum Family Law offers carefully scoped fixed fees for collaborative family law practice, Consent Orders and Financial Agreements. Understand the process, scope and cost before each stage begins.

Family law clients are entitled to understand what their legal work is likely to cost. They are also entitled to expect that certainty about fees will not come at the expense of careful advice, sound judgment or properly prepared documents.

Fulcrum Family Law offers staged fixed fees for suitable family law matters involving:

Collaborative practice; and
settlement documentation following an agreement.

The purpose of this approach is straightforward: to define the work properly, identify its cost in advance and take responsibility for completing it to a high professional standard.

Our fixed-fee service is not designed to be the cheapest available. It is designed to give you certainty about the cost and certainty of the quality of the outcome. Family law agreements can affect property, superannuation, businesses, financial security and relationships with children for many years. The quality of the process and documents matters.

Our approach to Fixed Fees

A fixed fee should not mean applying the same template to every family.

Before proposing a fixed fee, we consider:

what the client is trying to achieve;
whether agreement has already been reached;
what remains unresolved;
the nature and value of the property involved;
whether companies, trusts, businesses or superannuation interests are involved;
whether the proposed arrangements require legal advice or further negotiation;
what documents are appropriate; and
what work can responsibly be included within a defined scope.

The matter is then divided into stages. Each stage identifies the work included, the applicable fee and any relevant assumptions or exclusions.

If circumstances change, the scope may also need to change. Where that occurs, we explain why and provide a revised scope and fee before undertaking additional work.

This creates certainty without pretending that every family law matter is predictable from the outset.

Working towards an agreement through Collaboration

Collaborative practice is a structured form of family law negotiation.

Each person has their own collaboratively trained lawyer. Other professionals, such as a financial specialist or family consultant, may also participate where their expertise would assist the family.

The process generally involves:

identifying the issues that need to be resolved;
agreeing on the information required;
exchanging relevant financial and other disclosure;
considering each person’s interests, concerns and responsibilities;
developing and testing possible solutions; and
recording the agreement in appropriate legal documents.

Collaborative practice does not avoid difficult conversations. It provides a professional framework in which those conversations can occur constructively.

It requires preparation, candour and responsibility from everyone involved. It also requires the professional team to remain open to new information and to adjust its approach as the family’s circumstances and priorities become clearer.

When Collaboration may be appropriate

Collaborative practice may be suitable where both parties are prepared to:

negotiate in good faith;
provide full and frank disclosure;
participate respectfully;
listen to perspectives that may differ from their own;
take responsibility for decisions and agreed tasks;
obtain independent legal advice; and
work towards resolution without litigation.

It will not be appropriate in every matter. Suitability is assessed by us carefully, including by considering a client’s ability to stand in the other person’s shoes, as well as any power imbalance, family violence, safety issue, urgency or unwillingness to provide disclosure.

Fixed-Fee stages for Collaborative practice

A collaborative matter may be divided into stages such as:

Onboarding and preparation

This may include explaining the collaborative process, reviewing preliminary information, identifying the issues and preparing for the first collaborative meeting.

The first collaborative meeting

This may include preparation with the client, attendance at the meeting, review of the meeting record and a post-meeting debrief.

Disclosure and information exchange

This may include advice about disclosure obligations, review of documents, identification of missing information and liaison with the collaborative team.

Further collaborative meetings

Further meetings can be separately scoped and priced. This allows the work to respond to the progress of the matter rather than assuming at the outset how many meetings will be required.

Recording the outcome

Once agreement is reached, the terms are reviewed and the appropriate form of legal documentation is identified.

The collaborative process and the preparation of final legal documents are distinct stages. Consent Orders, a Financial Agreement or other settlement documents are therefore separately scoped unless expressly included.

Formalising an agreement already reached

Some clients approach Fulcrum Family Law after reaching agreement directly, through mediation or during a collaborative process.

Reaching agreement is important, but it is not always the final legal step. Informal notes, emails or signed summaries may not create the intended legal effect or bring financial matters to an end.

Depending on the circumstances, the agreement may need to be recorded in:

Consent Orders;
a Financial Agreement;
a parenting plan;
a child support agreement; or
a combination of documents.

The appropriate option depends on the terms of the agreement and the outcome the parties are seeking.

Even where the essential agreement appears clear, careful drafting remains important. The documents need to address how the agreement will operate in practice, including deadlines, transfers, payments, releases, responsibilities and what is to occur if an anticipated step cannot be completed.

Consent Orders

Consent Orders are orders made by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia with the agreement of the parties.

They may address:

the sale or transfer of real property;
payments between the parties;
mortgages and other liabilities;
bank accounts, shares and investments;
motor vehicles and personal property;
companies, businesses and trusts;
superannuation splitting;
spousal maintenance; and
parenting arrangements.

Consent Orders are not effective merely because the parties have signed the application. They take effect if and when the Court makes the proposed orders.

For property matters, the Court must be satisfied that the proposed orders are just and equitable. For parenting matters, the Court’s paramount consideration is the best interests of the child.

Possible Fixed-Fee stages for Consent Orders

Depending on the matter, the work may include:

Initial review and advice

reviewing the settlement terms and available documents;
identifying missing information or disclosure;
considering whether the agreement is ready to be documented;
explaining the Consent Orders process; and
identifying any issues requiring further consideration.

Drafting

preparing the Application for Consent Orders;
preparing the proposed Minute of Consent Orders;
incorporating agreed property, superannuation or parenting terms;
preparing an initial draft for review; and
completing an agreed number of amendments.

Negotiation and amendment

Where required, a separate stage may cover comments from the other party or their lawyer, advice about proposed changes and further drafting.

Filing and finalisation

This may include arranging execution, filing through the Commonwealth Courts Portal, monitoring the application and providing sealed orders once made.

Court filing fees and other third-party costs are separate to the fixed-fee unless expressly included in the proposal.

Binding Financial Agreements

A Financial Agreement is an agreement made under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). It is frequently described as a Binding Financial Agreement or BFA.

A Financial Agreement may be made before, during or after a marriage or de facto relationship, provided the relevant statutory requirements are met.

It may deal with matters including:

property division;
liabilities;
superannuation;
spousal maintenance;
business and company interests;
trusts;
inheritances and future acquisitions; and
financial arrangements following separation.

Financial Agreements require particular care. They are not filed with and approved by the Court in the same way as Consent Orders. Strict statutory requirements apply, including the requirement that each party receive independent legal advice from a separate Australian legal practitioner.

There are also circumstances in which a Financial Agreement may be challenged or set aside. Proper disclosure, careful drafting and meaningful independent advice are therefore fundamental parts of the work—not administrative formalities.

Fixed-Fee stages for a Financial Agreement

The stages may include:

preliminary advice and review of financial information;
preparation of the first draft;
review of an agreement prepared by the other party’s lawyer;
negotiation and agreed amendment rounds;
final advice about the agreement’s effect, advantages, disadvantages and risks;
execution and exchange; and
provision of the solicitor’s statement or certificate where it is professionally appropriate to do so.

Where a matter involves complex companies, trusts, taxation issues, foreign property, bankruptcy risks or unusual superannuation interests, additional specialist work may be required. That work is identified and separately scoped rather than compressed into a fee that does not allow the issue to be addressed properly.

Consent Orders, a Financial Agreement or both?

Consent Orders and Financial Agreements serve different purposes.

In some matters, Consent Orders are the appropriate way to formalise a property settlement. In others, a Financial Agreement may be preferred or required for particular financial arrangements. Some settlements require both—for example, where Consent Orders address property adjustment and a Financial Agreement deals with spousal maintenance.

The correct pathway should be determined by the substance of the agreement, not by selecting the document that appears simplest or least expensive.

What a Fixed Fee does and doesn’t mean

A fixed fee is an agreed price for defined work. It is not a promise that every possible issue is included.

A written fixed-fee proposal will generally specify:

the work to be completed;
the number of meetings or amendment rounds included;
whether advice, negotiation and filing are included;
the fee, including GST;
the assumptions on which the fee is based;
the work that is excluded (including any Court fees, searches or third-party expenses); and
when the matter may need to be re-scoped.

If a stage has not commenced and is no longer required, no fee will be charged for that stage. If a stage has commenced and the matter then resolves or instructions are withdrawn, the fee for that commenced stage remains payable.

Why a matter may need to be re-scoped

Further work may be required if:

the parties materially change their agreement;
an issue thought to be resolved becomes disputed;
financial disclosure is incomplete or inaccurate;
additional assets, liabilities or financial interests are identified;
further negotiations or amendment rounds are required;
a company, trust, business or taxation issue is more complex than anticipated;
urgent work or Court proceedings become necessary;
a superannuation trustee raises a substantive issue;
the Court requests further evidence or substantial amendments; or
the collaborative practice process ends.

Re-scoping is not treated as a failure of the fixed-fee model. It is part of taking responsibility for changes in the work and being transparent about their cost.

The information required

Good legal documents depend on accurate information.

For a property settlement, this will usually include details of:

real estate;
mortgages and other secured liabilities;
bank accounts;
shares and investments;
motor vehicles;
businesses, companies and trusts;
personal loans, credit cards and taxation liabilities;
superannuation;
other financial resources;
assets and liabilities held at the commencement of the relationship;
financial and non-financial contributions;
homemaking and parenting contributions;
significant gifts, inheritances or other windfalls; and
each party’s current and future financial circumstances.

Clients are asked to provide complete and accurate information and to identify anything that is uncertain at the outset. Assumptions can then be tested before they become drafting or implementation problems.

Booking an appointment

An initial appointment can be used to consider:

whether collaborative practice is suitable;
whether an existing agreement is complete and ready to document;
whether Consent Orders, a Financial Agreement or both may be appropriate;
what information or disclosure is still required;
the proposed scope of work; and
the fixed fee for the relevant stage.

Book a time with Fulcrum Family Law.