Table of contents
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Table of contents
- 1 – Introduction
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2 – Types of matters that may be assisted
- Criminal law matters
- State family matters
- Commonwealth family law and child support matters
- State civil law matters
- Commonwealth civil law matters
- Other matters: special circumstances
- Types of matters that will not be assisted
- 3 – Criminal law guidelines
- 4 – Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
- 5 – Commonwealth civil law guidelines
- 6 – State family guidelines
- 7 – State civil law guidelines
- 8 – Standard grants assessment process
- 9 – Simplified grants assessment process
- 10 – Referral and practitioner panels
- 11 – Means test
- 12 – Commonwealth merits test
- 13 – State reasonableness test and interests of justice test
- 14 – Special circumstances
- 15 – Applying for a grant of legal assistance
- 16 – Decision to grant or refuse assistance
- 17 – Reconsideration and review of decisions
- 18 – Standard terms and conditions
- 19 – Contributions and overdue payments
- 20 – Abandoning legal assistance
- 21 – Finalising grants of legal assistance
- 22 – Allocation of work to lawyers and law firms
- 23 – Payments to lawyers and service providers
- 24 – Compliance reviews
- 25 – Privacy protection
- 26 – Complaints and feedback
- Topic index
- Invoices, worksheets and forms
- Contact us
Commonwealth family law and child support matters
Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) may provide a grant of assistance to a person for a family law or child support matter under Commonwealth law if:
- the matter is a Commonwealth family law matter or child support matter within the Commonwealth legal aid priorities set out in the Commonwealth Legal Aid Guidelines (for the family law priorities see Schedule A of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Services (PDF))
- the matter is not a type for which the Board of VLA has determined that funding is no longer available
- the proceedings can be funded under the forum test
- VLA considers the person cannot afford the full cost of a private lawyer (the means test) if the person is an adult
and, usually, - the matters for which aid is sought meet the Commonwealth merits test.
Commonwealth family law matters are proceedings under the:
- Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)
- Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth)
or - Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 (Cth).
Applications under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 are considered State family matters.
Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
The Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines set out the conditions under which a grant of legal assistance may be made in relation to the following Commonwealth family law and child support matters being heard or determined in Victoria:
- mediation of family disputes
- family law matters relating to children
- spousal maintenance and arrears
- child support and child maintenance and arrears
- divorce: dissolution and nullity of marriage
- appeals of family law or child support matters
- international child abduction matters.