Legal complications mean added mental stress and financial pressure. If you’re a Warragul resident and you need top quality legal advice, but you’re experiencing financial strain, there’s someone here to help.
Gippsland Community Legal Service are a team of dedicated, highly experienced lawyers who offer their services to Warragul residents, free of charge. Whether you need legal assistance relating to family violence, family breakdown and divorce, refuting a fine, or something completely different, the team at GCLS are here to help. Here are some of the common issues that GCLS help Warragul residents overcome:
Family violence
The team at Gippsland Community Legal Service take family violence very seriously. Unfortunately, it’s a common problem in many parts of Gippsland.
Warragul and the Shire of Baw Baw experience an above-average rate of family violence cases per capita, compared with the Victorian average. While the average rate of family violence incidents in Victoria is 1364.7 per 100,000 people, the rate in Baw Baw stands at 1785.9 per 100,000 people.
The team at GCLS prioritise family violence cases in Warragul and are ready to help you with free legal services. Some of the services that GCLS offers 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.
If you’re experiencing family violence in Warragul, you are not alone. GCLS have helped other Warragul individuals and families to overcome unsafe domestic environments. Consult the team at GCLS and get free legal help.
Family law
Family legal issues are particularly stressful for all parties involved; not only is it directly stressful on parents, but for children too. GCLS understands the difficulty of navigating family breakdown, divorce and parenting plans and are here to help. The GCLS team offers the best quality free legal advice and are sympathetic to your situation.
When resolving legal issues around parenting plans and divorce, GCLS is determined to do this outside of court. Going to court proves to be financially and emotionally stressful for all parties involved which is why Australia’s family law system endeavours to resolve issues without resorting to court.
Gippsland Community Legal Service can help Warragul 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.
Personal Safety Intervention Orders (PSIOs)
Personal Safety Intervention Orders (PSIOs) are another area of law that Warragul residents often seek help with.
A PSIO is a court order to protect you, your children and your property from another person’s behaviour. This could include the behaviour of a violent friend, a neighbour or someone else who is not a family member or relative.
The person applying for a PSIO is called the applicant or affected person. The person who the application is made against is called the respondent. The Court can make an interim PSIO to protect the applicant until the final hearing of the case, where the Court will decide whether a final PSIO is appropriate.
If you have been assaulted, harassed, threatened, stalked or had your property damaged in Warragul, the team at GCLS can help you make an application for a PSIO. Consult GCLS for free legal advice on obtaining a PSIO and take the next step to securing your personal safety.
Tenancy
Helping you to resolve tenancy issues is a major service offered by the team at Gippsland Community Legal Service in Warragul. They understand that tenancy issues add extra pressure to daily life and exacerbate issues that may also be affecting your tenancy. These include serious problems like family violence, financial abuse and separation.
GCLS are here to offer Warragul residents high quality, free legal advice when it comes to navigating tenancy disputes. Common issues include eviction notices and inability to pay rent, which the team can assist you in resolving.
Here are some of the problems with which GCLS can help Warragul residents:
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
Fines
Gippsland Community Legal Service can help Warragul residents refute fines on several different bases.
The fine may have been issued wrongly or unjustly, or you may not have the means to pay the fine. In these circumstances, Warragul residents can turn to GCLS for legal advice on challenging or negotiating a fine.
Services offered by GCLS to Warragul residents 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.
Contact Gippsland Community Legal Service today
The team at GCLS are pleased to offer free legal advice for a range of issues other than the ones mentioned here. Whether you require legal help relating to debts, coronial enquiries, consumer complaints, or something different, contact GCLS for help tailored to your situation today.
