Need legal support when experiencing family violence in Sale? Have a dispute involving tenancy which needs resolving? Struggling with mental health and require additional legal services because of it?
Dealing with these aspects of life can be stressful but, fortunately, there’s a team of legal professionals in Sale who are determined to help you: Gippsland Community Legal Service (GCLS). Their lawyers have the expertise and experience to provide advice on a broad range of matters, completely free of charge.
Whether you need urgent help with a family violence issue or assistance with tenancy disputes, GCLS offer the best quality free legal advice for all their Sale and other Gippsland residents. Here’s how the legal team at Gippsland Community Legal Service can help you when you need free legal advice in Sale.
Family violence
Family violence, as is the case in many rural areas of Victoria, is a serious problem in Sale. In fact, the Wellington Shire has the 6th highest rate of family violence in the state. While the Victorian average of family violence is 1364.7 per 100,000 people, the rate in the Wellington Shire is almost exactly double, sitting at 2703.2 per 100,000.
You are not alone if you’ve experienced family violence in Sale or the Wellington Shire region, and there are services available to help you. Family violence is an issue that the team at Gippsland Community Legal Service are highly experienced in resolving. They can provide free, comprehensive support as a means of helping you live safely once again.
Family violence assistance services provided by GCLS in Sale include:
Intervention order advice before Court
Duty lawyers who can provide advice, representation and referrals on the day you have to attend Court
In some cases, assistance for respondents to intervention orders
Help with legal problems beyond intervention orders, including tenancy, parenting plans, debts, fines, infringements and more.
Tenancy
Tenancy issues are another common legal concern for Sale residents. The team at Gippsland Community Legal Service can assist you in understanding your rights as a tenants, updating you on changes to the law around tenancy, and help you resolve issues such as eviction notices and financial inability to make rental payments.
While tenancy issues are important to address in their own right, they’re often impacted by further problems such as family violence, financial abuse and separation. GCLS offer free legal advice to Sale residents who are experiencing tenancy issues as a result of these other problems, getting you back on your feet.
Gippsland Community Legal Service can help Sale residents solve a range of legal issues arising from tenancy, including:
Financial difficulties and struggling to pay rent
Eviction or challenging a notice to vacate
Having a dispute with your property manager or rental provider about repairs and maintenance of rental properties
Negotiating and dealing with a government or community housing agency about tenancy
Seeking compensation from rental providers who breach their duties under the rental agreement
Applying to and attending VCAT for your tenancy issues
Mental health
One in five Victorians experience a mental health condition each year. In rural Victoria, the effects of this figure are heightened; mental health issues affect the same amount of people in rural Victoria as they do in metro areas, but support services and general understanding of mental health issues are more limited in rural areas.
The statistics show the gap between mental health services in metropolitan Australia versus outer regional Australia. There is an average of 13 psychiatrists and 73 psychologists per 100,000 people in Australian major cities. In outer regional areas like Sale, however, the average is just 4 psychiatrists and 33 psychologists per 100,000 people.
Therefore, mental health and its impact on the law is a primary focus for the team at Gippsland Community Legal Service in Sale. If you’re struggling with mental health issues which have impacted an area of law, GCLS can help. This includes:
Advance statements
Guardianship and administration
Representation at the Mental Health Tribunal
Family law and separation
The breakdown of one’s family is a stressful experience for parents, children, grandparents and friends. Not only does separation prove to be stressful on its own, but in Sale, it’s often combined with other legal issues such as family violence, financial abuse and mental health problems.
GCLS care about your situation and provide legal advice on navigating family law and separation. The team at GCLS help residents of Sale with legal issues like custody battles, property settlement and divorce. Australia’s family law system encourages families to agree on arrangements without going to court and GCLS are determined to help you do this. Going to court with a family law issue is costly and sometimes unproductive for both parties involved.
Gippsland Community Legal Service can provide assistance to Sale residents who:
Want to make a property settlement after separation or divorce
Want to make arrangements for the parenting of their children
Need to apply to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia for financial and/or parenting orders.
Want to apply for a divorce
Need help with other legal issues as part of relationship breakdown, including family violence, debts and financial stresses and tenancy issues.
Fines
Receiving a fine can be source of stress. It may have been issued incorrectly, it may be unjust, or you may not be in a financial position to pay the fine.
If you’ve received a fine in Sale which you need help challenging, talk to the team at Gippsland Community Legal Service. Advice, negotiations and representation are all services that GCLS can provide, free of charge, in the Sale region.
GCLS care about challenging fines that have been issued to Sale and Gippsland residents. Services offered include:
Helping you nominate the person who incurred the fine or infringement if it is currently in your name
Requesting a review of the fines or infringements
Negotiating a payment plan
Helping you access the Work and Development Permit Scheme, which allows some fines or infringements to be worked off through activities or treatment
Helping you access the Family Violence Scheme, which allows some fines to be withdrawn where family violence substantially contributed to the fine or infringement being incurred
Helping you choose to take the fine or infringement to Court if you want to contest it.
