Our principal solicitor Cristina Huesch has been interviewed in a new book all about navigating the family law system after a relationship breakdown. Inside Family Law, written by Zoe Durand, 
is a behind-the-scenes look at what happens in family law, designed to demystify the process and empower people as they deal with parenting and property matters during their separation and divorce.
Inside Family Law comprehensively explores issues relating to family law including mediation, alternative dispute resolution services, court processes and more, “capturing all angles of the family law system and allowing readers to have a fireside chat with some of the big names in family law”, Ms Durand says.
For the book, Ms Durand has interviewed Judge Joe Harman, The Honourable Justice Peter Rose AM QC, Former Federal Circuit Court Judge Stephen Scarlett OAM RFD, Recently retired Federal Circuit Court Judge Robyn Sexton, Dr Antony Milch, Alison O’Neill, Linda Campbell, Brian Pickup, David Bird, Mark Lipson, Trevor Tockar, Tom Hutchings, David Barry, Stephen Page in addition to our firm’s Cristina Huesch.
Cristina says,
“If you are contemplating separation, are in the middle of separation, or are wishing to understand what a loved one might be going through at separation, this book will help you make sense of what is often a very confusing process with lots of complexities and jargon.”
There’s advice on co-parenting, how you can support your child through separation and divorce, what you can do if you feel your child is being alienated from you, how best to communicate with your ex and how a court views such communication, including via social media. There’s also information on supervised time with children, including the kinds of things supervisors look for and include in their supervision reports.
There’s helpful advice on topics such as:
What is the process for an expert to prepare an expert psychologist or psychiatrist report? What other material does the expert consider besides meeting with me and my family? What actually happens on the day I am interviewed by a psychiatrist or psychologist Court expert? What do I do if I disagree with the expert psychiatrist or psychologist report? How can I challenge it?
Also in the book is a vast amount of practical information on property division including regarding superannuation and tax issues, what you can do if you fear your ex is hiding assets, how a forensic accountant can help, how an expert business valuer values a business, and much more.
The book also gives you step-by-step tips for organisation of documents for your lawyer to save you time and money. And you can gain insight from a family court judge into what the “four essential questions” are that you should ask your family lawyer.
At Alliance Legal Services we specialise in collaborative divorce and we do our utmost to help you achieve an out of court solution to your matter. As Cristina tells Ms Durand in the new book:
“We try to help clients see that making compromises and having finality of proceedings can be the best thing for the children…If your lawyer is telling you that you can go to court for two years, spend $40,000, and end up with potentially only an extra night per fortnight with your kids, then ask yourself if that time and money is really worth it, or whether you’d rather move on, spend that money on your kids, and keep the relationship with your ex as functional as possible.”
Details of how you can get a copy of Inside Family Law are available here.
If you would like family law advice from Cristina or one of our other experienced solicitors, please get in touch here at Alliance Legal Services on (02) 6223 2400. For more information about our services, please see here.
Please note our blogs are not legal advice. For information on how to obtain the correct legal advice, please contact Alliance Legal Services.
