If there has been any form of domestic violence in a relationship, it's not unusual to see applications for a Domestic Violence/Protection Order (DVO), usually with the objective to try to gain an advantage in the family law proceedings. This is often practised in family law disputes involving children.
Chances are that if you are reading this, you’re experiencing some difficulty concerning the parenting arrangements for your children.
Whilst shared parenting is a common occurrence in this day and age, sorting out arrangements for your children and parental conflict take a huge toll on both parents and kids alike. So many parents are not child-focused and let stress and emotions guide their behaviour and actions -which can have a disastrous effect on the outcome of your case. It is vital to be prepared with the likely obstacles you will face, not only legally, but emotionally and financially.
What is workplace bullying?
Workplace bullying can include a wider range of conduct than people often expect. It can be physical, verbal, social or psychological.
We live in an age where the kilometers, miles and oceans that divide continents are bridged by the internet, email, Skype all forms of social media, the list goes on. Nothing is too foreign or too far to be within reach of an ordinary person, the up and coming entrepreneur or the CEO of a multi-million-dollar corporation. It is becoming all too common for individuals and entities to own foreign assets or trade outside their native land. As a family lawyer, I have dealt with property settlement matters where clients or their former spouses have assets in Malaysia, Columbia and South Africa and the list goes on for my colleagues.
Having recently restructured my position within the legal profession as a full-service lawyer after some twenty years practicing as a dedicated patent (and trademark) attorney, I have been given an interesting perspective on both professional areas.
I asked a real estate colleague recently about how the industry had changed in recent times. I was particularly interested in the circumstances where the agent pays for all the marketing costs. My viewpoint was that surely this would be a surefire winner in producing potential customer listings. Real estate marketing costs are not insubstantial and depending on the marketing campaign, they can run to a few thousand dollars My colleague went to great pains to explain why this was not a good thing as far as the agent or the public was concerned.
I had lunch recently with a real estate colleague who was very upset with a client who he had known for nine years.
The client was a vendor who had engaged my colleague to sell his property on a prime street. Having only received one offer 'which fell through' during the exclusive listings period, the vendor was then poached by a rival agent with whom the property was subsequently listed.
For business men and women, their hard-earned assets are worth more than just a dollar value. Most entrepreneurs invest significant hours in starting up a business and poor their heart and soul into making their business successful. Aside from the heartache, blood, sweat and tears that goes into starting up a business, keeping that business running is also a labor of love. Whether it’s big business or sole traders the level of dedication and expertise that it takes to start and run a business should be admired.
If you have separated from your spouse or partner, you might be asking yourself is there a time limit for a property settlement? It is critical you are aware there are time limits for a property settlement after divorce if you are married, or a property settlement after separation if you are in a de facto relationship.
Our experienced team of family lawyers at Forge Legal can advise you as to the time limits that apply to your property settlement so you don’t miss the critical date and potentially lose your rights to make property settlement claim.
Unlike many areas of law which remain remote and mysterious to the majority of the population, at some point most people will need to engage with retirement villages, whether in connection with themselves or a family member. Despite this being the case, the law as it relates to retirement villages and the different contractual arrangements which may exist between retirement villages and their residents are very poorly understood – due in no small part to the complexity and variety of arrangements which exist.