Meet us: $495

This is an initial consult for either you, or you and your ex together, where we hear your story. You don’t need to bring anything. It’s time to tell us what’s keeping you awake at night – what you’re worried about and what you think is working OK. We can talk about your individual circumstances and what initial options are available to resolve your relationship breakdown.

DIY with legal help: $3,990

This is an entirely client driven-package, with some independent legal advice and drafting and filing of all the required legal documents. If you and your ex are able to sit down and work out how you are going to divide your property, this is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to sort things out – and most couples agree to split the cost between them, making it $1,995 each. Bring the agreement to us and we will give one of you legal advice on whether your agreement would be accepted by the Family Court. We will then draft your orders, sort out your superannuation fund, arrange for all the relevant signing and file your final agreement at the Family Court of WA.

DIY with advice for both: $5,980 ($2,990 per person)

Sometimes both of you want the certainty of legal advice to back up your agreement. This is the same as the DIY package but allows each of you to have independent legal advice on what you have agreed.

Sometimes there is just one sticking point, sometimes you and your ex are miles apart. We have different mediation packages taking into account how much legal advice you need.

Start to finish: $2,995 per person

This includes:

• individual intake sessions with a mediator;
• a full-day mediation;
• formal drafting and signing of agreement reached at mediation;
• independent legal advice from a family lawyer for one party;
• drafting of all documents for filing of Orders at the Family Court;
• GST, filing fees and title searches.

Legal advice for both: $3,995 per person

This is the same as the Start to Finish package and ALSO provides both parties with their own lawyer and independent legal advice on the formal documents before they are filed at the Family Court.

Lawyer-assisted: $5,495 per person
This is an add-on to each of the above mediation packages PLUS provides both parties with their own lawyer to attend and participate in the mediation process with them.

The beauty of collaborative practice is that the resolution of your matter is tailored to exactly what you and your family need. It usually takes between 3-6 months, over three collaborative meetings, for a matter to proceed and along the way you may engage different members of the collaborative team.

As a rough guide you can expect a collaborative matter to cost between $10,000-$15,000 per person depending on how many meetings you need and any professionals – such as collaborative accountants or therapists – are involved.

We get that that’s a scary number, but it is not unusual for traditional lawyer-based, time-billed negotiation to quickly exceed that figure, and it’s a fraction of what you would pay if your matter went to court.

With Bright Side you will know in advance what it’s going to cost and payment is made in accordance with defined stages of your matter.

Sometimes you need some ongoing advice. You might be trying to negotiate with your ex directly, or drafting your own documents, or preparing for a mediation, or trying to understand what a lawyer has sent you, or why things are taking so long. Our lawyers can be available to you on call – or txt, or email – for a negotiated fixed weekly fee for as little or as long as you need.