Child support specialist in Melbourne
My office is in Melbourne's legal precinct on Lt Collins Street. Most Melbourne clients I see start with a free phone or video chat and only come in if it suits them. Either way, the work is the same — three decades of focused child support experience, applied to your situation.
Melbourne CBD, in the legal precinct
My consulting rooms are at the corner of New Chancery Lane and Little Collins Street — a short walk from Bourke Street Mall, William Street, the Federal Circuit and Family Court, and the Administrative Review Tribunal's Bourke Street registry. The location is convenient if you need to attend court, the ART, or another legal appointment in the same trip.
Meetings are by appointment. The first consultation is free, takes about 20 minutes, and is designed to give you a clear picture of where you stand and what your options are — not to pressure you into engaging anyone.
Three options, you pick
- In-person — at the Lt Collins St office, by appointment. Useful for first meetings if you prefer face-to-face, or for going through documents together.
- Phone — direct to me, no receptionist, no portal. The most common approach for ongoing matters.
- Video — Zoom, Google Meet, or whatever works for you. Convenient for outer-Melbourne, regional Victoria, or anyone short on travel time.
For most matters — assessments, change-of-assessment applications, agreements, ART hearings — there's no practical difference between in-person and remote. Use whatever fits your week.
Where Melbourne child support matters are heard
Child support disputes in Melbourne pass through three forums:
- Services Australia (Child Support): Internal review of an assessment or change-of-assessment decision. Lodged online or by post — no physical Services Australia counter handles these matters in person.
- Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) — Melbourne registry: Level 17, 1 Bourke Street, Melbourne. Replaced the AAT in October 2024. Most child support hearings are now conducted by video or phone, even for Melbourne-based parties — physical appearance is rare.
- Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia — Melbourne: 305 William Street, Melbourne. Used for appeals from the ART on questions of law, and for child support enforcement matters. Court hearings are a relatively small part of the typical child support pathway — most matters are resolved before they reach this stage.
Melbourne and beyond
Melbourne clients come from every part of Greater Melbourne — the inner suburbs, the Mornington Peninsula, the eastern and western corridors, and outer Melbourne towns. Regional Victoria is well represented too: Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, the Surf Coast, the Yarra Valley, Gippsland.
For regional Victorian clients, phone and video consultations are the standard — there's rarely a reason to travel into the city. Most matters can be handled end to end without you ever leaving home.
Questions Melbourne parents ask most
Yes. The office is in Melbourne CBD, by appointment. The first conversation is free either way (in-person, phone, or video) — most people start with a phone chat and only come in if there's a reason to.
The Administrative Review Tribunal's Melbourne registry is at Level 17, 1 Bourke Street, Melbourne. Most child support hearings are conducted by video or phone, so even Melbourne-based parties usually don't physically attend.
Often, no. If your issue is specifically about a child support assessment, agreement, or review, a child support specialist is usually a better fit than a generalist family lawyer — and far cheaper. If your matter also involves property settlement, parenting orders, or domestic violence applications, a Melbourne family lawyer is the right call, and I can refer you to good ones.
The first consultation is free. Beyond that, fees depend on what's needed — a quick second-opinion call, a change-of-assessment application, an agreement review, or representation through an ART hearing all vary. Pricing is transparent and quoted up front before any work starts. As a non-lawyer consultancy focused exclusively on child support, fees are typically a small fraction of what a full-service Melbourne family law firm would charge for the same work.
Melbourne-based and need clarity on child support?
The first conversation is free and there's no obligation. Phone, video, or in-person — your call.
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