Family Court Conciliation Conference: Preparation

What the Family Court Conference Can Resolve

A financial conciliation conference can resolve all or part of a property dispute through agreement. The registrar helps the parties consider settlement options and can discuss applicable legal principles. The registrar cannot give legal advice. Your client needs advice about their own position before making settlement decisions. The Court’s conciliation overview explains that role.

Parenting dispute resolution addresses arrangements for children through a different court process. Private mediation uses an external mediator and its own engagement arrangements. The Court’s hearing-types guide distinguishes the events. For the broader distinction between negotiation assistance and a decision imposed after a hearing, see how conciliation works.

Explain the immediate objective to your client. They can agree on an account balance while disputing the treatment of a withdrawal. Narrowing that disagreement can still make the conference productive.

Read the Order Before Preparing the Client

Read the actual conference order before setting the preparation timetable. Record attendance requirements, the format and the deadline for every document or exchange.

Use these steps to prepare the client:

1. Confirm who must attend and how they will join. A represented party must still attend an ordered conference. Obtain any required order excusing attendance through the Court’s process.
2. Work backwards from the exchange deadlines. Give each outstanding document an owner and a due time before the court deadline.
3. Identify who can authorise settlement. The client must understand each proposed commitment. Identify any trustee, lender or other person whose separate participation or approval is needed.
4. Discuss safety privately. Raise concerns with the registrar early and request suitable arrangements, including separate participation where needed. Seek directions if participation itself is unsafe.
5. Arrange an interpreter where needed. Under the interpreter practice direction, the party or lawyer arranges one. The Court may arrange and fund an interpreter if the party cannot afford one.

A safety concern needs an individual response from the Court. It does not automatically cancel the ordered event. For a remote conference, confirm the client can speak privately with you during negotiations.

Disclosure and the Confidential Case Outline

Prepare the disclosure bundle against the directions in your matter. Review the Financial Statement for changes and complete any required update. The financial-proceedings practice direction identifies that statement and the other documents used in financial proceedings.

Unless the Court directs otherwise, paragraph 6.36 of the Central Practice Direction sets a deadline no later than 14 days before court-based dispute resolution. Disclosure must be exchanged and relevant private expert reports filed. The collated bundle includes the confidential outline, proposed orders and documents directly relevant to disputed issues. It also includes disputed asset valuations or appraisals, financial-resource particulars and superannuation material. Where a split is proposed, include confirmation of procedural fairness to the trustee.

The costs notice is a separate requirement under paragraph 6.37.

Use a preparation index to locate the supporting material quickly:

Material	Preparation check	Issue to identify
Financial Statement	Reconcile figures with supporting records	Changed income, assets or liabilities
Bank and loan statements	Identify accounts and supplied periods	Missing periods or disputed transfers
Asset and liability schedule	Identify ownership and valuation basis	Agreed value versus disputed ownership
Valuations and superannuation records	Match the document to the interest being discussed	Competing values or trustee steps
Confidential outline and proposed orders	State the result sought and remaining disputes	Facts agreed versus legal positions maintained

The Confidential Case Outline form guidance says it is provided on a without-prejudice basis and kept off the court file. Follow the required delivery method. Keep its negotiation content separate from the source documents used to establish the financial position.

Agree the Figures Without Conceding the Case

Record agreement about what a transaction shows separately from agreement about its legal effect. A transfer between supplied accounts changes where money sits. Counting both sides as spending exaggerates the outflow.

This fictional schedule shows one matched transfer and a later payment. The filenames and page references are illustrative.

Item	Source account and statement page	Destination and statement page	Treatment for discussion
T01: $18,000 transfer out	Joint savings, joint-savings.pdf, page 4	Personal account, personal-account.pdf, page 2	Match with the receipt below
T01: $18,000 receipt	Joint savings, joint-savings.pdf, page 4	Personal account, personal-account.pdf, page 2	Same movement, not new income
P02: $6,000 payment	Personal account, personal-account.pdf, page 3	External recipient shown on statement	Separate external payment requiring explanation

Across the two accounts, T01 has no net effect on their combined balance. P02 reduces that combined balance by $6,000, assuming no other movements. Confirm opening and closing balances when reconciling the full period.

An agreed entry can say, “Both statements record the $18,000 movement; the parties dispute the purpose of the later $6,000 payment.” This preserves the numerical agreement without treating the payment as an agreed contribution or dissipation. Those are legal questions requiring the relevant facts and advice.

For statement-heavy matters, FinTrace saves lawyers and forensic accountants hours of manual statement review. The service follows transfers across supplied accounts and produces a searchable Excel ledger with source PDF filenames and page references. You can bring the relevant entries into the settlement discussion with their supporting evidence already at hand.

Fees, Proposals and Settlement Instructions

The FCFCOA’s family law fee schedule lists a $510 conciliation conference fee in both divisions. GST does not apply. The court charge is separate from your firm’s preparation and attendance fees, expert costs and other professional charges.

The Court provides general and financial-hardship routes for fee exemption. General eligibility includes qualifying concession-card holders and people granted legal aid for the proceedings. Use the applicable application with its supporting evidence. The hardship route considers income, assets and living expenses or liabilities. An exemption applies to the particular fee being sought.

Before accepting terms, record instructions about the proposed distribution and how it will happen. Include these points in the client discussion:

• The amount payable, its source and payment timing.
• Any sale or refinance requirement, including what happens if finance fails.
• The proposed superannuation split and outstanding trustee steps.
• Responsibility for tax, debts and liabilities that remain unresolved.
• Which issues settle now and which remain for determination.

A superannuation proposal needs more than agreement between the spouses. Paragraph 1.9 of the financial-proceedings practice direction requires trustee notice before lodging proposed consent orders that bind the trustee. The usual period is at least 28 days, unless the trustee gives the required written consent.

If the client cannot explain how a proposal changes their position, pause for private advice before taking instructions to accept it.

Consent Orders or the Next Court Event

An agreement can become binding court orders when the registrar is satisfied that the terms are legally appropriate. Record precisely what the parties agree, identify remaining drafting and confirm what the Court has actually ordered. Keep payment obligations and superannuation implementation steps in the drafting instructions. Where an application is needed, see formalising an agreement through consent orders.

If settlement fails, record the unresolved issues and prepare for the next event directed by the Court. The matter can proceed towards a compliance and readiness hearing and trial. A conference is not a trial deciding the contested property outcome. The Court’s conference factsheet explains the settlement process and what follows.

Settlement negotiations are privileged, subject to legal exceptions. The Certificate of Dispute Resolution and any concluding procedural hearing are not privileged. Do not treat pre-existing bank statements or valuation evidence as protected simply because they were discussed during negotiations.

Before closing the conference file, check that every agreed term appears accurately in the recorded outcome. Give each remaining disclosure item or drafting step a responsible person and a deadline. Keep the underlying evidence available for the next event, separate from the confidential negotiations.

Preparing for a Western Australian Conference

A Family Court of Western Australia conciliation conference helps parties negotiate their property or financial dispute with a registrar. Apply the WA Court’s directions and Family Court Rules 2021 to that proceeding. The federal preparation timetable above does not govern a WA conference.

The Court’s conference guidance requires attendance and disclosure documents at the conference. It describes filing Conciliation Conference Particulars and supplying outstanding financial documents at least 14 days beforehand. Use the separate PPP500 particulars where that designation applies, and comply with the actual orders. Request separate rooms where appropriate.

Prepare evidence of initial contributions, later gifts or inheritances, property transactions and changes in liabilities. Include the superannuation value and its supporting calculation. The WA listing note says disclosure and valuation issues need attention before listing so meaningful negotiations can occur. Adjournments for those problems will not generally be granted.

Reconcile the settlement schedule to the disclosed statements and valuation material before attendance. For each disputed figure, identify its source and the precise disagreement. Carry the matched-transfer treatment above into the WA schedule so internal movements do not inflate expenditure.