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 – priority for urgent matters
- Guideline 2 – family dispute resolution services
- Guideline 3 – independent representation of children
- Guideline 4 – parenting orders
- Guideline 5 – child maintenance and child support
- Guideline 6 – spousal maintenance
- Guideline 7 – arrears of spousal or child maintenance or child support
- Guideline 8 – parentage
- Guideline 9 – special medical procedures involving children
- Guideline 10 – recovery, location and information orders
- Guideline 11 – divorce and nullity of marriage
- Guideline 12 – property
- Guideline 13 – assistance after final court orders
- Guideline 14 – appeals
- Guideline 15 – enforcement of court orders
- Guideline 16 – contempt of court and breach of court orders
- Guideline 17 – international child abduction matters
- Guideline 18 – 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 6 – spousal maintenance
6.1 – assistance for applications for spousal maintenance
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance for an application for spousal maintenance or to increase spousal maintenance if:
- the applicant cannot obtain the order by consent
- the other party’s whereabouts are known, or substituted service is likely to be successful
- there is good reason to believe that the other party has the capacity, or is likely to have the capacity in the future, to pay either spousal maintenance or increased maintenance
- the applicant cannot get appropriate assistance elsewhere. (See 'Alternative sources of assistance' in Commonwealth family law guideline 7.)
6.2 – assistance to defend applications for spousal maintenance
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance to defend an application for spousal maintenance if:
- it is unlikely that the court will make an order for the amount sought by the party making the court application
- the applicant cannot adequately defend the court application without a grant of legal assistance.
6.3 – assistance for applications to reduce spousal maintenance
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance for an application to reduce the amount payable under a spousal maintenance order if the applicant cannot adequately prepare the court application without legal assistance.
6.4 – assistance to defend applications to reduce spousal maintenance
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance to defend a court application to reduce the amount payable under a spousal maintenance order if the applicant for assistance cannot adequately defend the court application without legal assistance.
Documentary requirements
Applications under this guideline are within the simplified grants assessment process or the standard grants assessment process.
Standard grants assessment process
Lawyers or other applicants seeking a grant of legal assistance via the standard grants assessment process should forward all of the following documents to VLA for assessment:
- a completed VLA application form
- the client’s instructions (if the application is made via a lawyer)
- a statement of the lawyer’s opinion about how the matter meets guideline 6
- any document that supports how the application meets one of the spousal maintenance guidelines
- for applications under guidelines 6.2 or 6.4, copies of the originating court application
- for an application under guideline 6.3, a copy of the existing spousal maintenance order
- relevant proof of means.
Simplified grants assessment process
Lawyers seeking a grant of legal assistance via the simplified grants assessment process should submit a completed simplified VLA application form and a family law checklist only after ensuring that the following documents are retained on file unless they are requested by VLA for assessment:
- their client’s instructions
- a brief statement of the lawyer’s opinion about how the matter meets the Commonwealth’s merits test and the spousal maintenance guideline if this is not clear from other information on the file
- any document that supports how the application meets one of the spousal maintenance guidelines
- for applications under guidelines 6.2 or 6.4, copies of the originating court application
- for an application under guideline 6.3, a copy of the existing spousal maintenance order
- relevant proof of means.
Lawyers are also encouraged to complete a family law merits worksheet and a proof of means worksheet for their file.