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Hague Convention matters Legal aid is not available to applicants in Hague Convention matters to intervene in the proceedings. If the Family Court makes an order that the children should be separately represented, the Legal Aid Commission will apply the guidelines for eligibility for a separate representative. A grant of legal aid for this type of matter is subject to Means Test A, Merit Test B, and Commonwealth general family guidelines. Additional Information The Commonwealth Attorney General's Department administers the Overseas Custody (Child Removal) Scheme. This is a non-statutory scheme under which the Commonwealth Attorney General may grant financial assistance to a person ordinarily resident in Australia for their overseas legal costs, travel and other expenses of recovering a child removed or detained from outside Australia by another person. Grants of assistance may also be made for legal or travel costs incurred in prganising or securing the travel of a child to Australia for access. The scheme does not provide for legal costs incurred in Australia with respect to the overseas proceedings or the preparation of an application under the scheme. The Attorney-General must be satisfied on the grounds of hardship and reasonableness before assistance under the scheme will be granted. In making this decision, reference is had to the conditions of eligibility for a grant of legal aid generally. Applications should be forwarded to:
Attorney-General's Department Robert Garran Offices National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600
Department of Community Services Legal Branch 164-174 Liverpool Street ASHFIELD NSW 2131 Telephone (02) 9716 2490 To see the child abduction regulations and decisions from the Family Court on International Child Abduction, you can search the Scale Plus Database. The US State department also provides information on child abduction at its childrens issues website. |
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