Are you just about to engage with a Family Lawyer, and wondering how the fees are calululated?

We are a boutique firm which means we don’t have large overheads which can inflate our fees to cover high city costs. But we are large enough that we have a number of lawyers with varying experience and can offer a range of fees to suit your case and budget.

Our lawyer’s hourly rate starts at $300 plus GST and increases from there based on their experience and accreditation. We also offer an initial appointment at a discounted hourly rate.

When you retain our services, we provide you with our client service documents which outline our fees and how you’ll be charged.

We also offer an appointment with one of our assistants or paralegals to go through these documents with you. This appointment is completely free of charge and will address any questions you may have.

It is standard practice in law that you are charged for all work that we do other than inquiries or making or rescheduling an appointment with us.

How this works is we charge proportionately for the work involving shorter periods of less than an hour.

Our charges are structured in six-minute units. For example, the time charge for work done up to six minutes will be charged at one unit at $300 per hour plus GST.  This results in a charge of $30 plus GST time.  The charge for work done between six and 12 minutes will be charged at two units at $300 per hour plus GST.  This results in a charge of $60 plus GST and so on.

We will also require an upfront payment starting at $2,500.  Again, this depends on the experience and accreditation of your lawyer and what stage your case is up to.  This payment is deposited into a trust account and is held in a trust account until your case is finalized and you are issued with a final bill from our firm.  The trust amount is then applied to our final invoice and any funds left over are refunded to you.  Any invoices issued throughout your case are to be paid separately. All our standard invoices are itemized.

We also offer fixed fees for services such as divorce applications, preparing or advising on an agreed application consent orders or after separation binding financial agreement.

We have also partnered with a litigation funding service, Plenty. Plenty is one of the few litigation funding services that fund Family law matters.

If you are struggling to pay legal fees, then this may be an option for you and something that we can discuss with you.

For more information about our fees. Please do not hesitate to contact our office.

Our assistants and paralegals are able to assess which lawyer will be most suited to your case based on the circumstances of your case and the availability of the lawyer and whether we can offer you a fixed fee during the initial appointment the lawyer will be able to provide estimates of our fees based on the advice provided.