Table of contents
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Table of contents
- 1 – Introduction
- 2 – Types of matters that may be assisted
- 3 – Criminal law guidelines
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4 – Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
- Guideline 1 – early intervention and dispute resolution
- Guideline 2 – litigation
- Guideline 3 – parties who are not parents
- Guideline 4 – assistance for applications to discharge or vary parenting arrangements
- Guideline 5 – independent representation of children
- Guideline 6 – child support and child maintenance
- Guideline 7 – spousal maintenance
- Guideline 8 – arrears of spousal or child maintenance or child support
- Guideline 9 – parentage
- Guideline 10 – special medical procedures involving children
- Guideline 11 – recovery, location and information orders
- Guideline 12 – nullity of marriage
- Guideline 13 – assistance after final court orders are made
- Guideline 14 – appeals
- Guideline 15 – contravention and enforcement of court orders and contempt of court
- Guideline 16 – international child abduction matters
- Guideline 17 – family law costs management
- Family law trials and final hearings
- Jurisdiction of family law proceedings
- 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
Guideline 11 – recovery, location and information orders
Victoria Lega Aid (VLA) may provide a grant of assistance to a person for proceedings under the Family Law Act 1975 for a recovery order, a location order and/or an information order relating to the location and/or recovery of a child where the matter meets '2.1 – parenting orders' in Guideline 2 – litigation.
Limitations and conditions
Usually, a grant of assistance for a recovery order, a location order and/or an information order will be:
- limited to $2000 (but see further below)
- granted by VLA only on condition that the person seeking assistance seeks a costs order against the respondent to the court application.
However, if the respondent is also receiving a grant of legal assistance, then VLA will not impose the costs application condition.
If the applicant seeks a grant of legal assistance for a location order, then VLA will not include the amount of the grant when calculating the cost ceiling for the substantive matter (that is, a parenting order about with whom a child should live or spend time).
Court proceedings for a recovery order, a location order and/or an information order are ‘new matters’
For the purposes of the family law costs management methodology, VLA will treat proceedings for a recovery order, a location order and/or an information order as a ‘new matter’.
Applications for recovery orders should be filed with the substantive matter
Usually, VLA expects that an application for a recovery order be filed with the substantive matter (an application for a parenting order about with whom a child should live or spend time).
Only one lump sum fee would apply – that is, the lump sum fee for the substantive application (for example, to initiate/respond). The limitation of assistance to $2000 will not apply in this case. However, if it is not possible to file together, the lump sum fee to initiate/respond will apply in addition to the lump sum for the recovery application. The limitation of assistance to $2000 will still apply to the separate application for a recovery order.
The practitioner's file should include a note indicating that the issue has been considered, and reasons why the applications were filed separately.