What it is?

We run a Family Law (Property) Legal Clinic about family law financial matters. This can include property settlement and spousal maintenance.

The Legal Clinic runs once a month or so and the one hour appointments are with private family lawyers who generously donate their time to volunteer at our Service. The appointments are usually via telephone.

We do not provide advice about financial or child support agreements.

You will need to contact the Family Law Practitioners Association of WA to find an accredited family law specialist for advice about a financial agreement.

Who the Legal Clinic can help?

The Legal Clinic is designed to assist women who need legal advice about their family law financial matter, who do not have a lawyer and who cannot afford one.

The Legal Clinic is not suitable for women who have ongoing or complex Family Court proceedings as the Legal Clinic appointments are only one hour and our volunteer lawyers do not have the time to review the court documents required for them to provide you with the legal advice for your situation.

Requesting a Legal Clinic Appointment

To request a Legal Clinic appointment, you need to contact our Service by calling (08) 9272 8800 or emailing us at info@wlswa.org.au.

We will need to know your full name and date of birth, as well as the full name and date of birth of any other party (or potential other party) in your matter. This is required so we can do a conflict check (which we are required to do as legally and ethically we are not allowed to act for more than one party in any legal matter).

If we cannot assist

Please note, if we do have a conflict (e.g. if we were already or had already acted for another party in your matter) we are not allowed to tell you this and we will just let you know that we are sadly unable to assist.

We thank you in advance for your understanding about these requirements.

If we can assist – further information we need from you

If we are able to assist you, we will ask you to complete our Family Law (Property) Legal Clinic Background Information Form.

Once the completed form has been returned we will add you to our Waiting List and be in touch when a Legal Clinic appointment becomes available.

If for any reason you are unable to complete the Background Information Form, please contact our Service and we can go through it with you over the phone or discuss other alternatives.

We do require the information in the Background Information Form prior to offering you an appointment as we need to assess the complexity of your matter to make sure we have a lawyer with the required level of experience to assist you.

It also means the lawyer can spend more time giving legal advice and less time just getting these details from you during your appointment.

We will prioritise matters which are urgent and while we do our best to provide as many women as we can with appointments, there can be a lot of demand for this service and it might take several weeks or longer before an appointment is available. It does depend on the number of volunteers we have available at the time. It is best to request assistance as soon as possible in your matter.

While waiting for an appointment you are certainly welcome to contact other community legal centres to see if they can assist you on a more urgent basis. If you no longer require our assistance, please let us know as soon as possible so we can take you off the waiting list.

At your Appointment

On the day of your Legal Clinic appointment please bring with you any documents you have which are relevant to your case (but be mindful that the lawyer may not have time to review a lot of documents). Examples of documents which may be relevant and which you should bring along are recent letters from the other party or their lawyer and any Court orders.

Please arrive at least 5 minutes early for your appointment. The lawyer will meet you in our waiting area. If your appointment is by telephone, please provide us with two phone numbers (if possible) in case your battery runs out or one number does not work.

Questions and Feedback

If you have any questions or feedback about the Legal Clinic or our Service please contact us on 08 9272 8800 or email us at info@wlswa.org.au.