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Product updates and changes

Updated

We are always working on improving and enhancing our product to better suit the way that you work. If you have any feedback or would like to report any bugs, please email us at support@familyproperty.com.au.

 

October 2024

Integrations

  • We enabled the FPSB V2 integration for divorce matters. Cohabitation date was added to SB divorce matters>relationship details layout to facilitate this change.
  • We fixed a bug that was causing the client's email to duplicate in matter settings, when sending an invite to the client portal via the left hand menu.

FP API

  • We extended our API to support the ability to include or omit the current situation step.

September 2024

Integrations

Documents

  • Order clauses - we removed the 'liberty to apply' clause from the orders template.

August 2024

Documents

  • Application for Consent Orders - Western Australia court form has been updated

July 2024

Questionnaire

  • A left hand menu was appearing in the client's view of the Questionnaire, this has been removed.

Documents

  • Application for Consent Orders - The middle name of the matter owner now appears in Part A, Part K & M & Application preparation (when applicable)  

June 2024

Questionnaire 

Lawyers and mediators will now see a refresh notification if their client is adding or changing any information in the Questionnaire if they are accessing this at the same time. 

A message has been added to the Questionnaire in the lawyer/mediator view to advise that the Questionnaire has not been submitted by their client yet:  Your client has not yet completed the questionnaire. When the questionnaire is completed it will be used to populate this dashboard, and may override any initial updates you make.

Dashboard 

A message has been added to all sections of the Dashboard in the lawyer/mediator view to advise if the Questionnaire has not been submitted by their client yet: Your client has not yet completed the questionnaire. When the questionnaire is completed it will be used to populate this dashboard, and may override any initial updates you make.

Integrations

  • FamilyProperty is now available on the following Smokeball lead and matter types:

    • V2 version of the integration for the following:

      • Lawyer family lead type

      • Lawyer matter types:

        • Children

        • Children & Property

        • Property

        • Financial Agreement

  • V1 version of the integration for the following mediation matter types:

    1. Children mediation

    2. Children & Property mediation

    3. Property mediation

       

  • Application for Consent Orders:
    • For lawyer matters, we fixed an issue that was causing the
      Application for Consent Orders to download to the computer
      as well as the Smokeball matter document list.
    • For mediation matters, we fixed an issue that was causing a save as screen to appear when generating the Application for Consent Orders
  • Questionnaire>For integrated leads and matters (except those created via
    the shareable link), the current situation will be included by
    default in the lawyer view of the Questionnaire

May 2024

Documents

  • Court forms updated in accordance with Family Law amendments commencing 6 May 2024:
    • Application for Consent Orders
    • Confidential Case Outline
    • Certificate of Dispute Resolution
  • Parenting Plan & Parenting Orders - changes to wording of parental responsibility & numbering
  • FCFCOA Balance Sheet:

    • In the addbacks section, we have added the assets marked as an addback to the ‘Addback’ section of the balance sheet. This will now be made up of assets marked as addbacks and disposed assets.

    • A new nett total has been added which is assets plus addbacks, plus super, minus liabilities.

  • Application for Consent Orders: 

    • Part H>Contributions and Future needs: We fixed the default answers for Items 69-72 so that if there is information in FamilyProperty, the answers for these sections will default properly.

    • Part N>Statement of Truth of third party respondent: We fixed an issue which wasn’t populating the correct date selected in the smart form to the web form and word document

  • Matter attachments report - We fixed an issue which was causing the ‘uploaded on’ date to appear as FALSE when files were bulk uploaded

Joint Balance Sheet

  • We have released our new Joint Balance Sheet feature which allows you to collaborate in real time with your client/s and the other side. See instructions for lawyers and mediators. 
  • When you are in the neutral view (Joint Balance Sheet) we have now added the FCFCOA Balance Sheet to the shortcut documents on the left hand menu to cater for the needs of lawyers and mediators.

Reports

  • The matter list report will no longer include any matters that were created via shareable link but didn’t progress past the first page.

Account settings

 

 

April 2024

Smokeball & EvolveGo Integrations>Firm Details

  • Update Firm Details - the following firm details will now only be able to be updated from the client’s Firm settings in Smokeball and EvolveGo. When a user changes any of this information, this will flow through to FamilyProperty. The following fields will update and have been made read only in the FP admin settings:
    • Firm name
    • ABN
    • Firm phone number
    • Firm fax
    • Court lawyer code
    • Firm logo
    • Mailing address fields. For mailing address, although the fields are read only, the type of address drop down can still be selected so that the user can still decide which address they would like to use as the mailing address through FamilyProperty.
  • Warning message prior to archiving integrated lawyer matters - When you close a SB matter, this will automatically archive a FP matter, this also works the opposite way. Some integrated clients were closing the FP matter without realising that it also closes the matter in their practice management system at the same time. This is important for the client to know in case they still have money in trust (they are required to keep their pms matter open until this has been dealt with. If a user goes into the FP browser to archive a matter, if it is an integrated lawyer matter, when the user clicks on archive, they will now see a message which states: “Archiving this matter will also archive the linked matter in your practice management system, do you wish to continue?”
  • We fixed an issue which was causing the Property Orders>Orders not to save in the SB documents list.

Balance Sheet

  • When you reorder the liabilities and super in your balance sheet, they will now maintain their position

Mediation sync

  • Mediation sync was showing an error even through the sync was successful

Documents

  • Application for Consent Orders:
    • Part D - If a child's gender is Indeterminate/Intersex this will now appear as an X in the preview and generated word document

    • Part J & K, L & M: When there are multiple applicants or respondents, the numbering in the Statement of Truth was incorrect for the subsequent parties. This has now been rectified.

    • Part H>Item 58 now excludes cash payments (this was just being included in total liabilities (Item 58), but was not affecting the Total net worth (59-60) or the effect of the proposed split (73-75)
  • Disclosure Index:
    • Has now been fixed for mediation matters
    • Disclosed on date and time is now reflecting the users timezone
  • Financial Statement - Life insurance premiums (Item 25) and children's activities (Part N) are now populating into the form

March 2024

Dashboard

  • If you enter court proceedings or existing orders in the dashboard, this will save and flow through to court documents

Parenting Calendar

  • 'Exclusive period' and 'Share half the period' arrangements for some special occasions are now appearing in the parenting calendar

Joint Balance Sheet

  • The estimated only asterix can now be seen in the other party's view

Mediation sync

  • Mediation sync has been fixed

Documents

  • Application for Consent Orders:
    • We simplified the section headings
    • The AFCO will now show when you click on the Documents list>Agreements category
    • The total net worth will update in the smart form view if you add an asset or liability
    • Contributions and Future needs will show under the right party if you change the court role
    • You can add and remove the Statement of truth and Statement of independent legal advice for parties in Part J & Part L of the smart form
  • Proposal (this party only) will now download
  • Mediation sync has been fixed
  • Numbering in the proposals report has been fixed
  • Matter attachments index now includes all files uploaded by the client or other party via a shareable link
  • Parenting Plan,Parenting Orders, Parenting consent orders>the custom arrangements will no longer duplicate.

Integrations

  • Mediation Matters>We fixed an issue which was causing the 'Select what to view' pop up not to appear
  • You can now mark documents accessible when you are uploading documents from your practice management matter

Admin settings

  • PO box box type and State are no longer read only.

 

February 2024

Balance Sheet

  • We added back the liabilities total than was missing in the balance sheet.

Documents

 

January 2024

Integrations

  • Disclosure>Attachments: We fixed an issue where although the user was clicking on ‘Download’ in Disclosure > Attachments,
    Attachment explorer and Asset details > Attachment tab, the document would open in a browser. The documents now download.

  • Matter Title and Balance Sheet: We fixed an issue which was causing the Matter Title and client and other sides name to appear as TBC in the Smokeball integration tabs. Note: If a name has been added into Smokeball, the SB lead/matter needs to be closed and re-opened after adding the names to trigger the update.

December 2023

Balance Sheet 

A new Funds in controlled monies account asset type has been added to FamilyProperty. Money in a controlled account or trust account is money that a legal practice holds on behalf of their client. This money cannot be disbursed without consent of the parties or by order of the court authorising the law firm to do so. Some examples of money held are sale proceeds from selling a property, money given in advance for legal fees or other court related expenses (e.g. an expert report, property or business valuation).

The functions in controlled monies account type has been added to the balance sheet and balance sheet related functions and will appear in all relevant documents and orders.

A liability can be linked to the funds in controlled monies account. The orders will reflect that these liabilities will need to be paid out before the money is then distributed to the parties.

Documents

  • FCFCOA Balance Sheet - the column for No & Ownership have been widened slightly to avoid text wrapping to second line.

Bug fixes

  • If your client has an apostrophe in their name, the 'Get their link' function will now work
  • Disclosure Index - sometimes file names were showing 'FALSE'

September 2023

Documents

  • Application for Consent Orders has been updated to the latest court version (0922V2)

Bug fixes

  • We focused on fixing bugs this month, including:
    • The admin setting CC matter admins in on the client invite emails was fixed so that all admins will get a copy of the client invite email.
    •  Chronology items entered on the Confidential Case Outline will also appear in the Matter Chronology

August 2023

Matter - Setting an Owner (New Feature)

  • Setting a Matter Owner provides you with the ability to allocate and identify who is responsible for a matter, streamline the allocation process of new matters, and control who receives important notifications.

Matter List View

  • The sort function has been pulled out.

  • You can now filter by Owner. Your preference will be remembered the next time you log in. 

  • The search bar now appears next to these functions.

See: "Navigating your Matter List View"

 

Bug fixes

  • We fixed a bug that was causing the top menu not to appear if the SB integrated account user (with ‘user’ access), signed up or logged in using the invitation link.

Questionnaire

  • Additional questions>paragraphs - when you add a paragraph as an additional question at the end of the Questionnaire, this has a word limit of 50 words. We have added a word counter so that the client can see how many words they have left as they type.
  • We fixed a bug that was causing a ‘You don’t have the required permission' error', which appeared when a client signed up and logged in o complete the Questionnaire. This bug did not stop the client from accessing the Questionnaire and submitting it.

June 2023

Emails

  • We fixed a bug that was causing duplicate emails to be sent to the client.

Neutral Balance Sheet

  • The link icon in the Neutral Balance Sheet will now work consistently when there are multiple liabilities connected to an asset. 

Documents

  • We fixed a bug that was stopping the Questionnaire report from downloading and relationship dates to duplicate in the Matter Chronology.

Integrations

  • When a staff member is removed or de-activated in Smokeball or Evolve Go, this user will not automatically be removed from FamilyProperty and from any matters that they had access to.
  • We have built a tool for any existing FamilyProperty clients who are migrating to Smokeball or Evolve Go. This tool will match your existing FamilyProperty matters to make your FamilyProperty integration with Smokeball or EvolveGo as smooth as possible.

 

May 2023

Email matters digest (New Feature)

  • You will begin to receive a daily notification email, which will summarise activities that have occurred on each of your matters.
    • The email digest will not be sent if there are no new notifications across any of your matters.
    • You can go to My profile to turn this digest off if you do not want to receive it.

Balance Sheet

  • You can now include special characters (such as a %) when naming different versions of your Balance Sheet. We fixed an issue which wasn't allowing you to download a Proposal and Balance Sheet because of the special characters.

Documents

  • The Financial Statement>Total weekly income field will now calculate correcting if additional income items are added with a blank value.

Emails

  • We fixed a bug that was causing the firm name to populate incorrectly in the invite email if the firm name had any special characters in it.

Time

  • The system will now reflect the time in your time zone, such as when a document is uploaded, when a Version is updated and any action recorded in the Matter Access logs. Previously this was showing in UTC.

March 2023

Parenting 

  • The parenting calendar has been updated with school term/holiday calendar dates for 2023-2025 (excluding TAS 2025 dates as they have not been released).
  • We fixed a bug that was causing the Neutral Parenting calendar not to load properly.
  • We fixed a bug that was causing the ‘Create a joint balance sheet’ pop up to appear on the Neutral Parenting Calendar.

Balance Sheet 

    • When in a lawyer matter, if you create a balance sheet for the Other Party and use the shareable link to share this, the person who receives the link will only be able to edit ‘Ownership, type of asset, Short Description Summary, and Proposed Value’.

Neutral Balance Sheet

    • Party names in the Neutral Balance Sheet now appear above the Proposal column
    • Sub items for a business/trust are now accessible in the Neutral Balance Sheet
    • Sub items for a business/trust can now be linked to an item in the other party's balance sheet and added to the other party's balance sheet in the Neutral Balance Sheet

Disclosure

    • Clicking on an attachment will open attachments in a new tab (PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG only)

Mediation

    • We removed all links to sharing the disclosure portal in a mediation matter as the Disclosure Portal is not used in a mediation matter.

Documents

    • We fixed a bug that was stopping users from generating the Response to an Initiating Application
    • Financial Statement:
      • We have updated the Financial Statement so that any Other income that you add to the smart form will populate into the word document
      • You can now add income with a zero value (in Part D - Your income Q9-15)
      • We fixed a bug that was converting the weekly council and strata rates back to a quarterly amounts in the generated word document.
    • Application for Consent Orders:

      • We fixed a bug that was not adding a joint self managed super fund to Q61-66. 

Matter Details

    • We fixed a but that was causing the answer to Is this party legally represented? when adding information to a party under the Matter Details>Contact section not to save.

FamilyProperty Smokeball Integration

    • The SB matter ID will no longer appear in the Matter No field in a Smokeball lead
    • If a Smokeball user who is not on the FamilyProperty account user list tries to log in to FamilyProperty through the browser, they will see an error message and will be unable to login. 

Invoices

  • We fixed a bug which was causing the link to your FamilyProperty invoices to break.

Login

  • We have increased the time it takes for your account to automatically log you out so you don't experience as many.

LegalBot

  • We made the question 'What is your enquiry related to?>My family law matter or General Enquiry, a mandatory question. The selection of 'My family law matter' creates a new matter in FamilyProperty for you.