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 18 – family law costs management
18.1 – cost management principles
VLA will apply cost management principles to all family law or child support matters where a grant of legal assistance is made. A costs cap is the costs limitations on a grant of legal assistance. Applicable costs caps are discussed in:
- Commonwealth family law guideline 10 – recovery, location and information orders
- Commonwealth family law guideline 15 – enforcement of court orders
- Commonwealth family law guideline 18.2 – limit on costs (below).
The costs of a matter means the total costs paid by VLA in a family law or child support matter in which a grant of legal assistance has been made. This also takes into account the costs paid by any other legal aid commission, if the matter has been transferred from one or more of the States or Territories. Calculation of the costs of a matter includes counsel’s fees and fees for expert reports and other disbursements (except interpreter and translator fees, rural travel and accommodation costs), less any contributions collected or costs recovered by any legal aid commission from the legally assisted person.
VLA will treat the following proceedings as a new matter for the purposes of the family law costs management methodology:
- recovery
- location and/or information order relating to the location and/or recovery of a child
- appeals
- enforcement proceedings.
18.2 – limit on costs
The payment of costs in a family law or child support matter is limited to the cost ceiling for Commonwealth family law matters, regardless of whether legal assistance is provided by VLA’s in-house service or a private lawyer.
The limit on costs does not apply to grants of legal assistance to independent children's lawyers.
18.3 – if costs are likely to exceed limit
The costs cap for a particular grant of legal assistance may be increased if VLA decides that undue hardship would be caused if further assistance is not provided. In making this decision the following factors will be considered:
- whether the applicant has incurred significant additional costs due to special circumstances
- whether it would be unreasonable to expect the applicant to adequately represent themself due to special circumstances
- whether the costs of the applicant have increased significantly through no fault of the applicant
- the number and complexity of issues in dispute
- the likelihood of risk to a child’s safety or welfare.
Before making a decision to increase the costs cap for a particular grant of legal assistance VLA will consider whether it is possible to contain costs by, either:
- providing legal assistance for the matter in-house
- considering whether alternative means of funding are appropriate, including negotiating a fee package that is not in accordance with the VLA’s usual fee scales with a private practitioner.
Any decision made by VLA to increase the costs cap for a particular grant of legal assistance will be subject to strict limits on costs. The nature and extent of the additional cost will be determined by VLA or agreed between VLA and the private practitioner (as appropriate) having regard to the following factors:
- advice from the court and the parties about the estimated length of time required for the hearing of the matter
- the number and nature of witnesses who must be called or cross-examined
- whether the other parties to the matter have legal representation.