Family + Relationships
Renowned practitioners across family law + relationships
Our experience in family law runs for decades. We understand the complexity of relationships, the emotional and financial pressures, the role of children and pets, and the role of mental health and drug and alcohol abuse. Our extensive experience working in the Family Court of Australia combined with our forensic technical skills allows our family law team to provide the best assistance to our clients while navigating the complex and often challenging personal matters our clients are facing with empathy and sensitivity.
Our diverse team represents our diverse clientele. Our lawyers love what they do and turn up to work each day to problem-solve and fight for your rights.
Online enquiry
Our obligation-free online system empowers you to see where you stand, allowing you to make a start on your legal enquiry in your own time and space.
Rainbow families and co-parenting
We regularly conduct talks, appear on panels and run family law advice sessions for the LGBTQIA+ community.
We know that families may comprise two or more parties, including parties who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. Sometimes more than two adult parties are in a relationship that is breaking down, and there may be complex financial and property considerations.
We also know that children belong in loving relationships with parents and people who want to be their carers. Planning for children can be stressful, particularly when surrogates and / or IVF is involved.
Talk to our experienced family lawyers about your relationship or your family, where it’s headed and how it might be better defined or divided.
Financial Agreements/Pre-nups
Financial agreements (also known as “pre-nups” and “post-nups” are technical documents that require experienced and competent legal drafting, review and advice.
We provide our clients with strategic advice before, during and after marriages or de facto relationships. That advice might relate to consideration of a party’s financial and non-financial contributions to a relationship, whether any children are involved, how corporate structures may have been designed to benefit one party over another, and how foreign assets may be held.
These agreements can be entirely customised to suit the circumstances of parties. Our many decades of experience allow us to assist clients in this process with strategic, emotionally considerate and proactive advice.
Family Court actions, disputes and litigation
Dowson Turco’s family lawyers have extensive experience in the Federal Circuit Court and Family Court of Australia, working with our clients across conciliations, mediations, interim parenting hearings, interim property hearings and final trials.
Our family law team works hard to keep matters out of court, wherever possible. We encourage clients to resolve matters, so that their legal fees do not become disproportionate to the value of the dispute. However, if court action is required to resolve a dispute, our team will fight for our clients’ rights and ensure we brief the best of the family law barristers to represent you in court.
No matter the scale or direction of a client’s dispute, we provide a holistic support framework while advocating for clients and shaping their litigation to their benefit.
All family law + relationships legal needs
In addition to financial agreements, parenting and Family Court litigation, our family law team provides legal representation in matters such as:
- the dissolution of partnerships, registered relationships and overseas marriages;
- negotiations and preparation of Consent Orders;
- mediation and conciliation;
- sperm donor agreements, multiple parenting agreements, agreements for artificial insemination and IVF; and
- surrogacy, adoption, foster care and new families.
