The Dispatch
No XLVIII · Legal · 7 min
The 'best divorce lawyer' question, answered properly
Why 'who's the best divorce lawyer in Australia' is the wrong question, and the right questions to ask instead before you sign anything.
No XLVII · LEGAL
Your first meeting with a family lawyer
What to bring, what to ask, what to expect to spend. A practical prep guide for the appointment that sets the tone for everything else.
26 Apr 2026 · 6 min
No XLVI · LEGAL
Navigating child support as a divorced father
The inside view of the system: how to handle changes, what to push back on, and how to keep the kids out of the financial talk.
26 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XLV · LEGAL
Divorce rights in Australia, the basics
What the Family Law Act gives you, what divorce really means in legal terms, and the difference between divorce and settlement.
26 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XLIV · LEGAL
The cost disclosure document, explained
The first time I was handed a cost disclosure, I was sitting in a beige office on Queen Street, holding a coffee that had gone cold while the solicitor talked.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLIII · LEGAL
Limited vs full retainer
I sat across from a barrister in early March, and she said something I have repeated to half a dozen blokes since.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLII · LEGAL
When you don't need a lawyer
Some matters genuinely do not need representation. Knowing which is which saves five-figure sums and a fair amount of wasted Tuesday afternoons.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLI · LEGAL
Mediator vs arbitrator vs lawyer
There is a moment in most separations when someone uses one of these three words and you nod as though you know the difference, even though you do not.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XL · LEGAL
The affidavit walkthrough
I was at the kitchen table at half past ten on a Tuesday night, three weeks before mediation, trying to write the first draft of my own affidavit. The cursor blinked.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIX · LEGAL
The court day, what to wear, what to say
The first time I walked into the Federal Circuit and Family Court at Lionel Bowen, I went the wrong way through the security gate, set off the metal detector with my belt buckle, and dropped my phone trying to put it...
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXVIII · LEGAL
AVOs from the man's perspective
Most AVOs are not contested. The reasons why, and what the consequences actually are, deserve more honest discussion than they usually get.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXVII · LEGAL
Consent orders vs binding financial agreement
I had a long phone call with a friend in early April, the kind of call where one person mostly talks and the other person mostly listens.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXVI · LEGAL
Legal Aid eligibility for men
I sat in a Legal Aid waiting room in Parramatta last winter with a man who had been told three times by three different people that he would not qualify.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXV · LEGAL
The power of attorney conversation
My father had a stroke at sixty-three. He survived. The man who walked out of rehab eight months later was not the man who walked in, and one of the things he could no longer do was sign his name in a way the bank would accept.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIV · LEGAL
The living will, Australia
My uncle was on a ventilator in Royal North Shore for nine days before the family agreed about what he would have wanted.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIII · LEGAL
When she files first
The envelope arrived on a Tuesday and the man I was sitting with at a kitchen table in Penrith had been carrying it unopened for six days. He thought if he didn't open it, the clock didn't start. The clock had started.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXII · LEGAL
When you file first
I sat in the car park outside the Brisbane registry with the application printed and unsigned on the passenger seat. The engine was off. I could feel my pulse in my jaw, the way you feel a bruise when you press it.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXI · LEGAL
Duty of disclosure, explained
I had three banker's boxes on the dining room table at 11:40pm on a Tuesday and a cold cup of tea I had forgotten to drink. My solicitor's checklist was open in one tab.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXX · LEGAL
The one-stop divorce myth
I was at a kid's birthday party in a park in Toowong, holding a paper plate with two sausages and a piece of carrot cake, when the bloke next to me said "yeah we got divorced last month, all sorted." I asked him, casually, how the property...
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXIX · LEGAL
Subpoenas and third-party disclosure
The first subpoena I saw up close wasn't mine. A friend in West End rang me on a Sunday night and said, in a voice I had not heard him use before, "they've subpoenaed my GP." Then a long pause. "And my accountant. And the CBA.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min