Hello
everyone
Happy New Year
Many
of my clients get frustrated by the length of time it takes to resolve their
Family Law property matter. I am often asked
"how long will all of this take?" or "this is simple why can't
we get it done by the end of the month?"
Unfortunately unless both parties are willing to be reasonable it may take
months, if not years, to negotiate arrangements for a financial settlement.
There is lengthy Court delays to have matters determined, with matters taking on
average between 18 months and 2 years to resolve if a trial is required, but in
my practice many delays are not due to court lists, but instead are as a result
of one party not responding to the reasonable requests of the other to
negotiate.
There
are many reasons for this, some people simply do not want to accept their relationship
is over, others hope that if they ignore letters the other party will simply
give up and some people simply want to annoy their ex-spouse.
I
often tell my clients that I cannot force the other side to negotiate and that
we either have to wait until the other side is ready to exchange documents or
respond to our offers, or we have to go to court.
There
is a positive obligation on both parties to exchange documents and attempt to
resolve matters before going to court, but you cannot negotiate with someone
who refuses to come to the bargaining table.
Many
clients do not want to go to court, until they understand that for property
only matters, the first two dates at court are conferences specifically designed
to try and force negotiations.
If
negotiations are not working or information is not being exchanged, then I recommend
issuing an Application for property settlement as soon as possible. At the very least, filing an Application will
provide a timetable and will force people to file documents, exchange financial
information and to be in the one place at the one time to attempt negotiations.
Fortunately,
in my experience, most property settlement matters settle early in the court
process, and for that reason parties should not be afraid of going to court, if the
other side is delaying a resolution of the matter, because there is no other
way to force negotiations. Of course if
the matter does not resolve in the conference phase of proceedings you are already in the court list and can continue to
try and negotiate while waiting for a trial.
As
always please feel free to comment on this or any other of my blogs. I
would also be happy to respond to any questions you may have on this topic.
If
you have any further queries please feel free to contact me directly at
Septimus Jones & Lee on (03) 9613 6555
