Legal Minded - Property Settlement
 

Greetings all 'and cheers to Andrew in advance :)',

My mother has said to my father ‘give me $500k I'm going to buy a house and go my own way’.

She’s happy with the above and has said that he can keep all other assets.

Now in a perfect world I would leave that be but it’s not. I have spoken to a family court lawyer and have received quotes in the vicinity of $7-10k 'which won’t include any court time', to put the necessary documentation in place in order to ensure what has been said stays legal.

‘My understanding is that there may be a need for two lawyers to be involved one for each side.’

Obviously this won’t be the easiest situation for my father to go through so I’m trying to ‘in the very least’, ease the burden of having to come up with the additional cash to fund this.

Questions:

• Is there any legal aid documentation that can be put in place to incept this;
• How easy would it be for a private practice lawyer to circumvent this documentation ‘if available, and yes I know this isn't really an answerable question it's more aimed towards those that have used legal aid documentation and have come unstuck'.

If a lawyer has to be used then so be it, I’m just trying to see if there are any alternatives.

I already have a lawyer in mind if this is the way it has to go.

They need to do an Application for Consent Orders (Form 11)...can be done without a lawyer, but it is best to get a lawyer to do the final check...if both parties agree then lawyer costs should be minimal....certainly not $7-10 K.
The order is filed with the Family court and if straight forward they will issue final consent orders...

Cheers, I found it rather interesting that quotes were given at that level considering all parties had agreed on the terms.

Will do some further reading up on your points.

my 2c

I went through exactly this with my parents.

Dad even went out and bought the house for her within a week to try and keep her happy.

I got in the middle despite saying I wanted nothing to do with it

I suggest you keep the hell out of it in every way shape or form. They are adults and can work it out for themselves.

For me it ended up as the following;

Fathers attempted suicide and me being the one to find him after not hearing from him in 4 days
Mother and sister making completely unfounded accusations about my father
No contact with my sister for 3 years (only good thing IMO from whole situation)
No contact with my mother for 2.5 years and now only just email
My mother making threats and physically abusing my wife
My kids have not seen their grandmother for 3 years
Strain on my marriage
Me being the only one around to try and bring my father back form the brink.

Despite them being adults of 60+ they will all act like children and drag everyone through the shit.

Prior to this I would have considered my family to be somewhat normal with just the usual shit. Not the greatest but never did I expect the shit that went down.

Stay respectfully out of it

[QUOTE=nauli;744058]They need to do an Application for Consent Orders (Form 11)...can be done without a lawyer, but it is best to get a lawyer to do the final check...if both parties agree then lawyer costs should be minimal....certainly not $7-10 K.
The order is filed with the Family court and if straight forward they will issue final consent orders...[/QUOTE]


this is what eventually happened.

Not that I am suggesting that your family will turn out to be bat shit crazy like mine but just take a back seat for your own possible sanity

Unfortunately, I would have to agree with Scary having seen versions of the above.

Marc, you and I have discussed this in the past.If this is the path they wish to follow, my suggestion is that the consent orders allocate the funds to your Mother. From there she can do what she wishes with the funds. It also protects your Father from future recourse in the courts (which I have seen occur).

Further, when the consent orders go to the lawyers there is always the possibility that their influence may cause issues.

I wish you the best.

Cheers for the all the information and heads up guys much appreciated.

I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to have to at least review and explain the documentation they have to sign, keep copies and possibly re-explain in the future (hoping this is all I have to do).

Andrew I think we discussed a situation regarding the purchase of property/business without a formal agreement in place (something that didn't eventuate thankfully).

[QUOTE=mARC;744094]Cheers for the all the information and heads up guys much appreciated.

I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to have to at least review and explain the documentation they have to sign, keep copies and possibly re-explain in the future (hoping this is all I have to do).

Andrew I think we discussed a situation regarding the purchase of property/business without a formal agreement in place (something that didn't eventuate thankfully).[/QUOTE]

Sorry Marc, you are correct, I stand corrected. My comments above stand.

If your looking for a non adversarial type legal well versed in consent orders ... Paynes Solicitors (Anne Payne) 9221 1771.

You're input has been most valuable in both situations Andrew as well as Scary and Nauli in this.