Justine Woods

Family Law

• Representing clients in respect of children’s matters involving disputes about the interpretation of shared care under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
• Assisting clients to address unwelcome recommendations in a family report about their children’s arrangements and other issues that may affect parenting matters, such as mental illness, alcohol or drugs or parental alienation.
• Representing grandparents, other relatives or carers (for example former spouses, partners or sperm donors) to secure time with children (including on the death of biological parents) and successfully opposing such applications.
• Advising on the full spectrum of property settlement matters, ranging from the division of a house and superannuation to cases with assets worth in the order of $100 million across four countries, where disclosure and value were in issue.
• Advising high net wealth individuals in respect of both property settlement and pre-nuptial agreements in the context of the changing family law principles regarding ‘special’ or entrepreneurial’ contributions in matters with asset pools of up to $200 million.
• Advising spouses and in other cases their parents or grandparents who generated the wealth in respect of contested property matters, financial agreements and asset protection as to the inclusion of family wealth held in trusts or companies.
• Negotiating and drafting financial agreements
• Negotiating and drafting financial agreements for clients who, for example, simply wish to protect one asset, an inheritance or a business by way of a comparatively straight-forward document.
• Negotiating and drafting court orders that affected a property settlement and business restructure with third parties in a manner that secured all the available tax and duty concessions; protecting a family dynasty valued at more than $600 million.
• Establishing child maintenance trusts for clients to allow them to meet their child support and spousal maintenance obligations in the most tax effective manner.
• Advising clients on the interaction between their relationship agreements and their estate planning, business structuring and asset protection strategies.