Legal Advice
Before filing any type of family law application it is recommended that you obtain legal advice. A lawyer can help you understand your legal rights and responsibilities. They can also explain how the law applies to your case.
It is important you understand the impact of the orders you or the other party ask the Court to make.
You can seek legal advice through:
- Family Relationship Advice Line
- Private law firms
- Legal Aid WA
- Citizens Advice Bureau
- Community legal services
Family Court staff can help with questions about court processes, but they can't provide legal advice.
Family Relationship Advice Line
The Family Relationship Advice Line can help you with free legal advice and information about services available to assist you with family relationship issues including information relating to family law proceedings
Call 1800 050 321, and advise that you are seeking legal advice (also advise if your request is urgent). The advice line staff will organise a time for a lawyer to contact you.
Private law firms
The Court cannot refer you to a private lawyer. If you are looking for a private lawyer who specialises in family law matters, you can visit the:
- Law Society of Western Australia's database of legal practitioners, or
- Family Law Practitioners’ Association of Western Australia's database of family law practitioners and law firms.
Legal Aid WA
Legal Aid WA provides a number of services:
- information and referral to services through the Legal Aid WA InfoLine. Call 1300 650 579 during business hours.
- assistance from the family court duty lawyer service
- appointments for one off legal advice
- ongoing legal representation if you meet the eligibility criteria, and
- a comprehensive website with information on a range of family law issues.
Legal Aid WA has several on-site duty lawyers who can provide assistance with urgent family law matters. See the Legal Aid page for more information.
Community legal services
Community Legal Centres
Community Legal Centres are community based non profit organisations that provide legal services to low income and disadvantaged people.
You can contact Community Legal Western Australia for a referral to an appropriate service by calling the telephone number listed on their website.
Or you can contact the legal centres directly from a detailed list of the community legal centres in Western Australia (in PDF format), which includes information about locations and services provided by each legal centre.
Citizens Advice Bureau
The Citizens Advice Bureau is a community based organisation with branches located throughout Western Australia. Each branch provides a range of services to the public, including legal and non-legal information and referrals, including a mediation program for family matters.
Visit the Citizens Advice Bureau website for more information and the location of their offices.
Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia
If you are Aboriginal or a Torres Strait Islander you may also be able to get legal advice from the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia. Call 1800 019 900 or visit any ALSWA office. The service has a head office in Perth, and regional offices across WA.
Family Court Legal Services Directory
The Family Court Legal Services Directory contains contact details for a range of organisations which may provide free or low cost legal advice.
AMICA
If your relationship is relatively amicable, and both parties are willing to communicate on-line, you may be able to negotiate directly with your former partner through the new amica tool at www.amica.gov.au. The website helps separated couples to make parenting and financial arrangements, and provides a pathway to a range of legal education and information options about family law issues, including your rights, responsibilities and options.
In financial cases, amica uses artificial intelligence technology to suggest the split of assets, taking into account the couple's particular circumstances, the kinds of agreements reached by couples in similar situations and how courts generally handle disputes of the same nature. It can also assist parents to develop a parenting plan for their children.
amicaone is a new single-sided version of amica which has been developed to assist people who want to try amica themselves before entering into any negotiations with their former partner.
People can now use the single-sided version to see how amica works, obtain some information about their rights and get an estimate of what their property settlement may look like, without involving their former partner.
All that a person needs to use amicaone is their own financial details and an estimate of their former partner’s financial information.
amicaone uses artificial intelligence to provide a suggested percentage of what they may receive.
The artificial intelligence considers all factors of a relationship when giving an estimate of what is a fair split – including the length of the relationship, age and health care needs, contributions to the relationship, and earnings.
The suggested division range in amicaone is an estimate only. Once the user has created an account and invited their former partner, they will receive a more accurate suggestion based on information provided by and agreed to by both parties.
More information
There is additional information available about the Legal Aid duty lawyer service available on-site.
Last updated: 16-Apr-2024
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