Time Recording and Billing for Family Law Matters in Australia

Family law is one of the most demanding areas of legal practice in Australia, and not just emotionally. From a billing perspective, family law matters present challenges that few other practice areas share. The scope of work changes constantly. Clients are under extraordinary stress and often question every line on their invoice. Matters can drag on for years, involve multiple interim applications, and shift direction overnight when one party changes their mind about settlement.

For lawyers working in this space, accurate time recording is not optional. It protects the firm commercially, satisfies disclosure obligations under Australian cost agreement requirements, and — perhaps most importantly — helps manage the client relationship by providing a clear, defensible record of the work performed and the value delivered.

Why Family Law Billing Is Uniquely Challenging

Unlike a straightforward commercial transaction or even a personal injury claim running on a conditional fee, family law matters are characterised by uncertainty and emotional volatility. A property settlement that seems close to resolution can unravel in a single phone call. A parenting matter where both parties appeared reasonable can escalate into an urgent recovery application or a request for supervised contact.

Several factors make family law billing particularly difficult:

• Constantly changing scope. Instructions change frequently. A client may agree to a consent position on Monday and withdraw their instructions by Wednesday. Each change generates new work — revised correspondence, updated proposals, fresh advice — that must be recorded and billed.
• Emotional clients and high-volume communication. Family law clients contact their lawyers more frequently than clients in most other practice areas. Phone calls at night, lengthy emails about matters that are not legally relevant, requests for reassurance — all of this takes time and must be recorded, but it also creates tension when it appears on an invoice.
• Interim applications. Matters regularly involve urgent or interim applications for things like injunctions, recovery orders, or interim property preservation orders. These are essentially matters-within-matters, each generating preparation time, court time, and follow-up work.
• Independent Children's Lawyers (ICLs). Where an ICL is appointed, the billing dynamics become more complex. The ICL's costs may be ordered to be paid by one or both parties, and the ICL themselves must maintain meticulous time records to satisfy Legal Aid or the court's requirements.
• Long duration. Family law matters often run for 18 months to three years or more. Over that timeframe, billing records must remain consistent and coherent, and fee estimates must be regularly updated.

Understanding these dynamics is essential for any family lawyer who wants to maintain a profitable practice without damaging client relationships. For a broader look at how to approach billing descriptions in any practice area, see our guide on how to write effective billing descriptions.

Recording Time for FDR and Mediation Sessions

Family Dispute Resolution is a mandatory step for most parenting matters before an application can be filed in court, and mediation is increasingly common in property matters as well. Both generate significant billable time that is often under-recorded.

Time recording for FDR and mediation should be broken into three distinct phases:

Preparation

This includes reviewing the client's position, gathering and reviewing financial disclosure documents (for property mediations), preparing a position statement or summary of proposals, conferring with the client to discuss strategy, and reviewing any family reports or expert evidence. Preparation work should be recorded with specific descriptions — not simply "Preparation for mediation" but entries that describe what was reviewed and why.

Attendance at the Session

The session itself is typically recorded as a single time entry covering the full duration. A mediation that runs from 9:30am to 4:00pm with a one-hour lunch break represents 5.5 hours of billable time. Record the start and end times, the mediator or FDR practitioner's name, and whether agreement was reached on any issues. If the session involves breakout rooms or caucus sessions, note this in the description as it explains why the session lasted as long as it did.

Post-Session Work

After the session, there is always follow-up work: writing to the client to confirm the outcome, drafting consent orders if agreement was reached, writing to the other party or their solicitor to confirm the position, or — if no agreement was reached — advising the client on next steps including the issuing of a section 60I certificate. This phase often takes two to four hours and is frequently under-billed because the lawyer moves on to other work without recording these tasks.

Billing for Affidavit Drafting and Court Document Preparation

Affidavit preparation is one of the most time-intensive tasks in family law, and it is also one of the areas where billing disputes most commonly arise. Clients often struggle to understand why a 20-page affidavit took 12 hours to prepare, particularly when they feel they "did all the work" by providing their version of events.

The reality is that drafting a family law affidavit involves far more than typing up the client's instructions. It requires reviewing and cross-referencing disclosure documents, ensuring compliance with the rules of evidence, structuring the narrative for maximum persuasive effect, and — critically — editing the client's often lengthy and emotional account into a document that is legally admissible and useful to the court.

Best practices for recording affidavit preparation time include:

• Recording the initial instructions conference separately from the drafting work
• Breaking the drafting into sessions and recording each one — "Drafting affidavit of [client name]; sections dealing with parenting arrangements and time spent with children (paragraphs 42-68)" is far more useful than "Drafting affidavit"
• Recording time spent reviewing and incorporating annexures — financial statements, text messages, medical reports
• Recording revision time separately, particularly where the client requests significant changes
• Recording time spent preparing the affidavit for filing — pagination, annexure certificates, court cover sheets

For more detailed guidance on billing for court appearances and litigation preparation, see our dedicated guide.

Recording Time for Court Appearances in the Federal Circuit and Family Court

Court appearances in family law matters generate billable time across three phases: preparation, attendance, and follow-up. Each must be recorded separately and with sufficient detail.

Pre-hearing preparation includes reviewing the court file and recent correspondence, preparing submissions or an outline of argument, conferring with the client (either in person or by phone) to discuss the hearing, and preparing any affidavit material that was not filed in advance. For a contested interim hearing, preparation time of four to eight hours is common. For a procedural mention or directions hearing, one to two hours is more typical.

Court attendance should record the actual time spent at court, including waiting time. Family law lists are notoriously subject to delays, and a matter listed for 10:00am may not be called until 2:00pm. The time spent waiting is legitimately billable — the lawyer cannot do other work during this period and is required to be present and ready. Record the time as a block entry noting the listed time, the time the matter was actually heard, and the outcome.

Post-hearing work includes writing to the client to report on the outcome, drafting or reviewing orders, arranging compliance with any directions (such as filing further evidence or obtaining valuations), and updating the file. This work is often done on the same day as the hearing or the following morning and should be recorded promptly.

Section 117 Costs Orders: When Costs Are Awarded in Family Law

One of the distinctive features of family law litigation in Australia is the general rule that each party bears their own costs. Section 117(1) of the Family Law Act 1975 provides that each party to proceedings shall bear their own costs unless the court otherwise orders. This is a significant departure from the "costs follow the event" principle that applies in most other civil litigation.

The court may make a costs order under section 117(2A) where it is satisfied that one party has conducted their case unreasonably. The factors the court considers include:

• Whether the proceedings were necessitated by the failure of a party to comply with previous orders
• Whether a party has been responsible for any unnecessary delay
• Whether a party has failed to comply with the duty of disclosure
• Whether a party has made a reasonable offer of settlement that was rejected by the other party
• The financial circumstances of the parties

For billing purposes, section 117 has several practical implications. First, when advising clients about costs, lawyers must explain that winning does not automatically mean recovering costs. This affects how clients view their legal spend and their appetite for litigation. Second, if a costs order is made, the party in whose favour it is made will need to have detailed time records to support a costs assessment. Vague or poorly documented billing entries will be reduced or disallowed on assessment. Third, when making or responding to offers of settlement, lawyers should record the time spent on this work separately, as the existence and timing of settlement offers is directly relevant to any future costs argument.

Maintaining detailed time records throughout the matter is therefore important regardless of whether a costs order is ultimately sought or made. For guidance on ensuring your billing practices meet professional conduct requirements, see our article on cost agreements and billing transparency.

Explaining Fees to Emotional Clients and Managing Expectations

The most common source of billing disputes in family law is not the amount charged but the gap between what the client expected to pay and what they actually paid. Managing this gap requires proactive communication at every stage of the matter.

At the outset, provide a detailed cost agreement that includes realistic fee estimates for each stage of the matter — not just the total. Break it down: initial advice and correspondence ($2,000 to $4,000), FDR preparation and attendance ($3,000 to $6,000), interim application if required ($8,000 to $15,000), final hearing preparation ($15,000 to $30,000 depending on complexity). These ranges will vary by jurisdiction and complexity, but providing them gives the client a framework for understanding how costs accumulate.

Update estimates regularly. After each significant event — an FDR that did not resolve, an interim hearing, a change in the other party's position — write to the client with an updated fee estimate. This is not just good practice; it is required under the disclosure obligations in the Legal Profession Uniform Law (for NSW and Victoria) and equivalent legislation in other states.

When sending invoices, use plain language descriptions that the client can understand. A billing entry that reads "Perusal of correspondence from respondent's solicitor; attending upon client by telephone to discuss same and advise re implications for property pool and proposed settlement position" is far more meaningful to a stressed client than "Letters and attendances." The client can see exactly what was done and why it was necessary.

Consider billing monthly or after each milestone event, rather than accumulating a large bill that arrives as a shock. Regular billing keeps the client informed about costs as they accrue and allows early intervention if the client is struggling to pay or questioning the amount of work being done.

How LexUnits Helps with Family Law Billing

Family law generates an enormous volume of communication — client meetings, phone calls, conferences with counsel, mediation sessions, and court appearances. Each of these interactions needs to be converted into accurate, detailed billing entries, and in a busy family law practice, the gap between the work done and the work recorded can be significant.

LexUnits is designed to close that gap. Record your client meetings and conferences directly in the app, and LexUnits will generate billing entries from the recording — with the correct duration in six-minute units, a detailed description of the topics discussed, and the appropriate task codes. Upload a lengthy client email and get a billing entry that captures the time spent reviewing and responding to it. After a mediation session, upload your notes and get separate entries for preparation, attendance, and follow-up work.

For family lawyers handling ICL matters or Legal Aid work, the detailed descriptions generated by LexUnits help satisfy the more stringent reporting requirements of these funding arrangements. Every entry includes enough detail to withstand scrutiny on a costs assessment or a Legal Aid audit.

The entries export directly to Actionstep, LEAP, Clio, Smokeball, and other practice management systems used by Australian family law firms, so there is no double-handling of data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a family lawyer recover costs against the other party in Australia?

Costs orders in family law are governed by section 117 of the Family Law Act 1975. Unlike other civil litigation, each party generally bears their own costs. Costs orders are only made in limited circumstances — typically where one party has acted unreasonably, failed to comply with court orders, or conducted their case in a way that unnecessarily prolonged proceedings. If a costs order is made, detailed time records are essential to support the amount claimed on assessment.

How should family lawyers bill for mediation and FDR sessions?

Record time in three phases: preparation (reviewing documents, drafting position statements, conferring with the client), attendance at the session itself (recorded as a single block with the total duration), and post-session work (writing up outcomes, advising the client, drafting consent orders if agreement is reached). Each phase should be recorded as a separate billing entry with a clear description of the work performed.

What is the best way to explain legal fees to family law clients?

Provide a detailed cost agreement at the outset with realistic fee estimates for each stage — initial advice, FDR, interim applications, final hearing preparation. Use fee ranges rather than fixed quotes, update estimates regularly as the matter evolves, and send itemised invoices that explain the work performed in plain language. Regular billing (monthly or after each milestone) prevents bill shock and allows the client to raise questions early.

How do you record time for Independent Children's Lawyer (ICL) matters?

ICL time recording requires careful tracking because fees are typically funded by one or both parties under a costs order, or by Legal Aid. Record time for interviewing the child, reviewing family reports, attending court events, and conferring with other parties. Entries must be detailed enough to satisfy the funding body's audit requirements, and time should be recorded against the correct fee scale if the matter is Legal Aid funded.