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 11 – divorce and nullity of marriage
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance for a court application relating to the dissolution (divorce) or nullity of the person’s marriage if the court application is imperative and, either:
- the person seeking assistance suffers a particular hardship
or - parts of the court application are complex and it would not be reasonable to expect the person seeking assistance to conduct the proceedings without legal assistance.
When might the application be imperative?
An example of an imperative court application is if the dissolution or nullity of the marriage would end continued harassment or ill-treatment of the person seeking a grant of legal assistance.
What is ‘a particular hardship’?
An example of a ‘particular hardship’ is if it would be unreasonable to expect the person seeking a grant of legal assistance to adequately represent themselves because of any of the Commonwealth’s special circumstances.
What complexities in a court application justify a grant of legal assistance?
The following types of case may justify a grant of legal assistance:
- difficulties in proving the marriage
- a need to obtain recognition of an overseas dissolution
- a need for substituted service
- a need to dispense with service of the application.
Documentary requirements
Applications under this guidelines 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 11
- where relevant, any document that supports how the person meets one of the Commonwealth’s special circumstances
- a copy of the certificate of marriage
- 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
- where relevant, any document that supports how the person meets one of the Commonwealth’s special circumstances
- a brief statement of the evidence to be relied on (and, if a statement or piece of evidence determines a particular issue, then the file note must readily identify the statement or evidence so that VLA can review the file for compliance)
- a brief statement of the lawyer’s opinion about how the matter meets the Commonwealth merits test and guideline 11, if this is not clear from other information on the file
- relevant proof of means.
Lawyers are also encouraged to complete a family law merits worksheet and a proof of means worksheet for their file.