Have you recently separated from your partner or thinking about separating? If so, the sooner you retain the assistance of a professional family and divorce lawyer from Schembri + McCluskys Essendon office, servicing Essendon, Aberfeldie, Strathmore, Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale, Flemington, Maribyrnong, Niddrie, East Keilor, Keilor, Airport West and Pascoe Vale.

Most de-facto and same sex couples are, after two years, treated the same way as married couples. Two years is a very short time. It can be cumulative – three months here, two weeks there and so on.

Young couples often commence living together without consideration of the legal consequences of their relationship. Older couples seeking company can be deemed to be in a de facto relationship even if it was not their initial intention. Relationships need not be of a sexual nature to meet the definition of a de facto relationship. Upon separation and despite prior promises not to, parties often make claims.

If you decide to go through a divorce, there are a number of legal considerations including who gets what from finances & assets, child support and more. Having an expert family lawyer in Essendon is very important. Our family law team, headed by Helen Montgomery, in conjunction with our Principal, Stephen Schembri, provide high quality legal advice and support in all areas of marriage and relationship breakdowns.

Our team is well versed in dealing with:

• Separation & Divorce

• Financial Separation for married, de-facto or same sex couples

• Parenting Matters

• Family Violence & Intervention Order matters

• Binding Financial Agreements& Pre-nuptial Agreements

• Adoption Matters

When you separate, you and your former partner may need to make important decisions about the future care of your children and how to divide your property, money and belongings. Working through these issues is often difficult and emotionally challenging.

We pride ourselves on our human approach and while our priority is to resolve your dispute amicably without resorting to litigation, we are not afraid of a Court battle if necessary. The skill of a valuable family lawyer is to steer clients through issues to a sensible resolution.

Our firm also offers private mediations. This is where parties agree to jointly engage the services of a barrister or mediator. The parties attend the mediation with their lawyers and make an attempt to settle the issues in dispute. A mediation can be scheduled within a couple of weeks. It is a speedy and cost effective way to settle your dispute.

Once you have made the decision to contact Schembri + McCluskys in Essendon, your initial consultation will involve meeting your lawyer and have the law, options and process explained to you in simple terms. We will then be able to assess the facts of your particular circumstances and advise you on what the likely outcomes might be in your situation, and what your realistic entitlements and obligations are.

We will also explain each of the steps required to bring about a resolution to your circumstances and provide you with details of the likely costs involved for each step. We will propose a customised plan of action to resolve the dispute, tailored to your personal circumstances.

Schembri + McCluskys work with a reliable network of professionals including, Specialist Barristers, Psychologists, Family Report Writers, Accountants, Real Estate Agents and Financial Planners, all utilised to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients.

Contact Helen Montgomery or Stephen Schembri on (03) 9923 8233 to discuss your current circumstances and find out how our firm can assist you.

Useful Family Law websites

• Family Court:

• Federal Circuit Court:

• Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia:

• Child Support:

• Australian Institute of Family Studies:

• Relationships Australia:

• Victoria Legal Aid:

• Super Splitting:

• Dads in Distress