YOUR DAY IN COURT - CASE ASSESSMENT CONFERENCE
- The Case Assessment Conference is the first opportunity for the Court to be involved in the process of resolving a property settlement between you and your former partner. The Case Assessment Conference will be conducted by a Deputy Registrar or Registrar of the Family Court of Australia and is now often conducted in a relatively informal way. All discussions are considered "Without Prejudice" or "off the record" and cannot be used in subsequent proceedings as evidence. What will occur is as follows:
- Before the Conference, we will, as required by the Family Law Case Management Guidelines provide you with an estimate of the costs incurred to date and the likely future costs to be incurred in your matter.
- We will discuss with you the likely directions or list of things to do that the Court will make to advance your matter to the next stage of the Court process.
- Attend with your at the Case Assessment Conference, you will not be required to say anything in the conference.
- We will present a short and essentially non-contentious outline to the Court of the history of the relationship, the assets, liabilities and financial resources of you and your former partner and outline the areas of agreement and the areas of dispute.
- Before the Conference, we will, as required by the Family Law Case Management Guidelines provide you with an estimate of the costs incurred to date and the likely future costs to be incurred in your matter.
- There are three separate segments to a Case Assessment Conference:
- An information Session or mediation which you will be required to attend and will take approximately 30 minutes. Sometimes this is scheduled in a separate appointment a few weeks before the Case Assessment Conference;
- The Case Assessment Conference which will take approximately 1 hour; and
- A Directions Hearing will directly follow the Case Assessment Conference and will take approximately 10-15 minutes;
- An information Session or mediation which you will be required to attend and will take approximately 30 minutes. Sometimes this is scheduled in a separate appointment a few weeks before the Case Assessment Conference;
- The Case Assessment Conference itself will involve three stages including:
- An assessment by the Deputy Registrar or Registrar if the issues in dispute and current barriers to an Agreement;
- A negotiation between the parties about facts and background issues in an attempt to resolve the matters in dispute. We will negotiate on your behalf, you will not be required to say anything; and
- The Directions Hearing where a Deputy Registrar or Registrar will make legally binding Orders of the Court with respect to any agreement reached during the Case Assessment Conference and/or Orders setting out the next step in the resolution process. If an agreement is not reached, it is likely that the Deputy Registrar or Registrar will make Orders for the parties to proceed to a Conciliation Conference.
- An assessment by the Deputy Registrar or Registrar if the issues in dispute and current barriers to an Agreement;
- A Conciliation Conference allows a forum for settlement to be further pursed with the assistance and intervention of a Deputy Registrar or Registrar of the Family Court.
- After the Case Assessment Conference, we shall discuss with you the further steps that need to be taken and what we can do to try and resolve your matter at the earliest opportunity.
- There are certain documents each party is required to exchange before the Case Assessment Conference. We will provide you with specific advice as to what documents you need to produce. General guidelines are contained in the Information Sheet entitled "Discovery".
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Dear Joe,
For once I find myself out of words to express my gratitude and thanks for the wonderful work that you have done for my children.
Many thanks to you, to Brett and anyone else in your office involved in getting the case through.
My children are finally going to feel and "act" normal again! What a relief. They wish to pass their thanks as well.
Regards
Elie
