The Application for Consent Orders is used to formalise a property settlement or parenting arrangements when parties reach an agreement by consent.
Why use FamilyProperty’s Application for Consent Orders smart form?
- It will save you significant time as it auto populates the majority of the information you have already entered into FamilyProperty.
- Information will remain consistent and accurate as changes made to FamilyProperty dashboard will update the smart form and vice versa.
- The form auto calculates all totals.
- Any sections of the form which require duplication (court orders, assets, liabilities and super) will automatically duplicate the required tables in the word document.
- The word version of the form will include E for estimate values and NIL for zero value items
- You can preview the form prior to downloading the word document.
How does it work?
The smart form is designed with two diff categories of information in it:
- Information that will come across from other sections of FamilyProperty; and
- Unique information to the court form.
Generally speaking, any changes made to information that is identical in other sections of FamilyProperty and the smart form will stay in sync. Any changes made to information that is unique to the court form will save within the court form only.
The smart form has been designed to be used after most of the information has already been entered into the system. See the table at the end of this article which explains where we are obtaining information for each section of the form and some important tips. This means that you will be at the end of your information gathering and when you have come to a decision about the final agreement as follows:
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Completed FamilyProperty’s Intake Questionnaire – this may have been completed by you or your client; and/or you have filled in relevant information directly into the FamilyProperty dashboard.
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Property matters - use FamilyProperty’s interactive Balance Sheet to model out the terms of the financial agreement. You or you client can also add important details for each item through the item’s ‘Details’ tab.
- Parenting matters – fill in the information required in General Details>Parenting Arrangements
How do I access the form?
- Open your FP matter - select the relevant matter in your matter list.
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Open the Applicant for Consent Orders - Click on Documents and Forms>Agreements>Application for Consent Orders.
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Review and edit the smart form - You will see that information that has already been entered into FamilyProperty will already appear in various sections of the smart form.
- Preview and download the court form – the court form preview will open in a separate browser window so that you can review the form. The web form is read only but will update in real time as you make changes to the smart form. Once you are ready to download, the download button is available in the preview window. Please note: Any changes made to the downloaded word document will not save back to the smart form or FamilyProperty dashboard.
How do I use the form?
Navigation – you can use ‘Forward’, ‘Previous’ or ‘Jump to’ to navigate to different sections of the form.
Add – this button allows you to add parties, items in the balance sheet and for specific sections such as Part D Q22 for children and third-party respondents. Note: If you add a balance sheet item in the smart form, return to the balance sheet to apply a proposal.
Remove – this removes the item from the smart form and from FamilyProperty.
Preview and download – preview a read only version of the court form. You can preview the form at any stage of completing the smart form. Once you are ready to download, the download button is available in the preview window.
Useful links - Click on the links to be taken directly to the relevant sections of rules, legislation, or prescribed brochures/website.
Important information
| Form Section | FamilyProperty section | Important tips |
| Consent order type | This is set based on the matter type. This can be changed. | |
| Court Information |
Matter Details>Court details |
|
| Part A |
Matter details>Parties details & legal representative details (if applicable) |
Remember to identify if a respondent is a third party respondent
|
| Part B |
General details>About the Relationship |
|
| Part C |
Current situation>Proceedings & Orders General Details>Parenting Arrangements |
The smart form will hide the questions you don’t have to answer, depending on the matter type. |
| Part D | General Details>Parenting Arrangements |
Any child/ren must be added through the Questionnaire or Dashboard>Children & Parenting section. They cannot be added into the smart form directly. |
| Part E | N/A | |
| Part F | General Details>Parenting Arrangements |
This information can also be edited in Children & Parenting>Child>Details tab. Any changes made in this section will save into the court form only. |
| Part G |
Current situation>Proceedings & Orders |
|
| Part H |
General Details>Income & Expenses Balance Sheet Considerations>Contributions & Future Needs |
Income - Q38 is a total sum of all income types that have been added into FamilyProperty. Make sure you have applied proposals to each item in your balance sheet If you add any balance sheet items in through the smart form or change the value of an existing item to zero, return to the balance sheet to apply a proposal against that item. |
| Part I | Balance sheet totals based on proposals (read only) | Go back to the balance sheet to make any changes to the proposed split. |
| Part J & K | Matter details>Parties details & legal representative details (if applicable) | |
| Part L & M | Matter details>Parties details & legal representative details (if applicable) | |
| Application preparation | Matter details>Parties details & legal representative details (if applicable) | |
| Part N | Matter details>Parties details & legal representative details (if applicable) | If you have not already identified this party as a third party respondent in the Matter Details screen, you can add them in Part N. |
Have any feedback for the FamilyProperty team about the new Smart Form Application for Consent Orders please send us an email to training@familyproperty.com.au. We are constantly improving and updating our product and appreciate receiving any feedback from our subscribers!