https://linktr.ee/awaflmediation, http://www.awynnelegal.com.au/, https://calendly.com/awalegal

Anna Wynne & Associates, WOTSO WODEN 2/7 Neptune Street, Phillip (2026)

07/10/2026

When I started practising law back in 2008, the legal profession looked quite different to how it looks today.

Back then, you’d see far fewer women in law firms. They were there, but at the senior levels, in the partnership ranks, in the rooms where decisions were made? It was predominantly men.

And women with young children were particularly rare. The structures simply didn't support it - and the culture, in many places, actively worked against it.

18 years on, women now make up the majority of practitioners in family law, and across the legal profession broadly, it’s getting close to fifty-fifty.

This matters because the profession reflects the values of the people in it. And as more women - particularly women who have navigated the complexity of careers and families and relationships - have moved into this space, I think something has shifted in how the work gets done.

There’s more attention to the human dimensions, more openness to collaborative approaches, more recognition that a good legal outcome and a good human outcome are not always the same thing.

To the women who were here before me and made space: thank you.

06/10/2026

Of all the situations that can arise after a parenting arrangement is in place, relocation is one of the most complex - and one of the most emotionally charged.

A parent wants to move. Maybe for a new job, a new relationship, a fresh start - and the move would significantly affect the other parent's ability to maintain their relationship with the children.

It's a situation where two entirely legitimate needs come into direct conflict, and there are no easy answers.

Here's what the law actually says:

If both parents agree to the relocation, they can formalise that agreement through a parenting plan or consent orders, and the move can proceed.

If they don't agree, the parent who wants to relocate cannot simply move with the children. To do so without the other parent's consent or a court order could constitute a breach of existing parenting orders, with serious legal consequences.

In that situation, the relocating parent needs to either reach agreement with the other parent or apply to the court for permission to relocate. The court will consider the best interests of the children as the primary consideration.

This is an area where mediation can be genuinely valuable - and genuinely difficult. Because both parents usually have real and understandable reasons for their position.

A skilled mediator can help both parties explore what the children actually need, what a workable arrangement might look like if the move proceeds, and whether there are creative solutions that neither party has yet considered.

It doesn't always resolve. But it's almost always worth trying before the matter goes to court.

If you're navigating this situation, please get legal advice early. The earlier you understand your options, the more of them you have.

Have questions? Drop them below.

05/10/2026

On the 15th of September 2008, I received my first practising certificate.

That means I've now been a lawyer for 18 years.

Eighteen years of showing up for people in some of the hardest moments of their lives. Eighteen years of learning, growing, and watching this profession - and the world around it - change in ways I never could have anticipated when I walked into my first office as a newly admitted lawyer.

To mark the occasion, I'm sharing a series of reflections - 20 things that have changed since I started practising in 2008.

Some of them are practical. Some of them are professional. Some of them are deeply human. All of them have shaped the practitioner I am today.

I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear what resonates with you along the way!

First up: emails. When I started practising in 2008, emails existed, but they weren't considered reliable for business purposes - certainly not for anything important.

So everything ran through the fax machine.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I spent a significant portion of my early legal career sitting next to that machine. It went all day. Contracts, correspondence, court documents - all of it, on thermal paper, curling at the edges.

If you wanted to confirm something had been received, you waited for the confirmation page to print. And if it didn't go through, you tried again. And again.

Technology changes faster than we expect. And slower than we realise - until suddenly it doesn't.

What's the piece of technology from your early career that feels most impossibly dated now?

30/09/2026

Own a business together? Here’s what you need to know:

➤ Get the business properly valued - and do it early.
Without it, any conversation about what should happen to the business is happening in the dark.

➤ Get your financial records in order.
Tax returns, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, loan documents - for at least the last two to three years.

➤ Understand the options for what happens next.
One party buying the other out is the most common outcome. A sale of the business with the proceeds divided is another option. Continued joint ownership is possible in some circumstances.

➤ Get specialist advice early.
A family lawyer, a business valuator, and a financial advisor who understands family law matters give you the best possible foundation for navigating this well. This is not a situation where general advice is enough.

➤ Consider mediation:
Business matters in a separation benefit enormously from a process where both parties can have a genuine conversation about what they need. The mediation table is often where the most workable outcomes for complex business situations are found.

If you’re looking to start the mediation process but want to know if it’s right for you, book a quick call with me at the link below and we can talk it over.

https://awynnelegal.com.au/bookings

29/09/2026

To the parent who is worried about being seen as difficult:

You know what you need but hesitate to ask for it in case you’re labelled as ‘unreasonable.’
You swallow your concerns because you’re afraid of how you’ll come across.
You keep asking yourself, am I too much?

This is for you.

Knowing what you need and asking for it is not the same as being difficult. Advocating for yourself and your children, setting boundaries, and holding your ground are not the same as being unreasonable.

Being easy to work with in mediation sessions doesn’t mean you have to make yourself small. Just be genuinely open to finding a solution and willing to listen.

But I also know that the habit of minimising your needs doesn't switch off the moment you walk into the room. So consider this your permission to take up the space you are entitled to.

You are not too much. Your needs are not unreasonable. And the right process will make space for them.

Have questions about what that process looks like? Drop them below.

https://awynnelegal.com.au/

28/09/2026

You don’t have to accept the first offer put forward by the other party.

I get it - it feels like such a hassle, and you just want it to be over with, but please don’t accept it until you’ve done a couple of things:

➤ Take your time. There is no legal requirement to respond to a settlement offer immediately. Anyone who tells you otherwise is creating pressure that isn't warranted.

➤ Get independent legal advice before you respond. This is non-negotiable. You need to understand what you're actually entitled to and whether the offer reflects a fair outcome given the full picture of your relationship and circumstances.

➤ Understand the full financial picture first. If you don't yet have complete financial disclosure from the other party, you are not in a position to properly evaluate any offer.

➤ Counter rather than accept or reject outright. In most cases, a counteroffer is more productive than a flat rejection. It keeps the conversation alive and signals that you're willing to negotiate.

The right settlement is worth the time it takes to find. Don't let the discomfort of the process push you into an agreement that doesn't actually serve you.

In the early stages of separation and not sure what to do next? The separation quiz is a good starting point.

It takes just a few minutes, and you can find it below:

https://awynnelegal.com.au/separation-quiz

23/09/2026

"I just want to put the children first."

It's one of the things I hear most often when I'm working with separating parents. And I believe, in almost every case, that the person saying it means it sincerely.

But I've also noticed that what people mean when they say it, and what genuinely child-focused decision-making actually looks like in practice, are sometimes quite different things.

Putting the children first does not mean prioritising their immediate happiness over their long-term wellbeing.

Children, understandably, often want things in the short term that aren't actually in their best interests - to avoid moving between homes, to not have difficult conversations, to have one parent rather than two simply because transitions are hard.

A child-focused decision isn't always the one that removes all difficulty. It's the one that serves them best over time.

It does not mean using the children's preferences to win an argument. When a parent says "the children want to live with me" in a way that's designed to score a point rather than genuinely centre the children's experience - that's not putting the children first. That's using them.

What it does mean is making decisions with the genuine question: what does this child, with their particular needs and personality and relationships, actually need right now and in the years ahead?

It means being willing to support the children's relationship with the other parent, even when that's hard. It means keeping conflict away from them, consistently and deliberately. It means being present and stable even when you're struggling.

It means, sometimes, doing something that costs you personally because it's the right thing for them.

That's what putting the children first actually looks like. And it's one of the hardest and most important things a parent can do.

Does this resonate? Share it with someone who needs to read it.

22/09/2026

Who gets the pets in a separation?

Well, under Australian law, the answer is relatively straightforward (in the legal sense at least):

Pets are treated as property, so any animal you share is considered an asset of the relationship to be allocated as part of the property settlement.

I know - it doesn’t feel right. Pets are part of the family, so reducing them to an asset feels callous, but legally that is how the law sees them.

There’s no concept of pet custody - they just go to one party or are rehomed, in the same way a car might be.

The law treats pets as property, but mediation doesn't have to.

In a mediated process, both parties can have a real conversation about what they actually want and need regarding their pet - including informal arrangements that go beyond what a court would ever order - shared care arrangements, agreed visiting, a transition plan if one party is relocating.

These arrangements aren't legally enforceable in the same way as formal orders. But when both parties have genuinely agreed to them, they tend to be honoured.

If your pet is part of what you're navigating in a separation, know that there is space to have that conversation properly - and to find an outcome that reflects how much they actually mean to you.

Have a question about how mediation handles this? Drop it below.

https://awynnelegal.com.au

21/09/2026

What does a ‘fair’ co-parenting arrangement actually look like?

Well, it depends. There’s no universal template for a fair co-parenting arrangement, and what works beautifully for one family may be completely impractical for another.

But there are some principles that tend to show up in the arrangements that work well:

➤ The children's needs drive the structure.
Not the parents' preferences. When both parents genuinely start from this place, the conversation changes.

➤ Both parents are meaningfully involved.
Arrangements that work tend to be ones where both parents have genuine, meaningful time with the children, in both quantity and quality.

➤ Communication between parents is clear and contained.
Functional co-parenting requires communication. The arrangements that work best are the ones where that communication has agreed parameters.

➤ There is enough flexibility to handle life.
A plan that works is one that has a strong enough base to provide consistency, but enough flexibility to accommodate the reality that life doesn't always go to plan.

➤ Both parents support the children's relationship with the other parent.
Speaking about the other parent with respect. Encouraging the relationship. Not using the children as messengers or an audience.

This is hard work. And it doesn't have to be perfect to be good enough.

Mediation can be a wonderful option to find a co-parenting agreement that genuinely works for all parties. If you’re looking to start the process, let’s have a chat first:

https://awynnelegal.com.au/bookings

16/09/2026

Anyone who has been through a separation knows that emotions run high.

And the idea of sitting in a room with the person you're separating from, trying to make significant decisions about your future, can feel like a recipe for things to go sideways quickly.

So what actually happens when they do?

I slow things down. My job is to create a pause, to lower the temperature of the room simply by changing the pace of the conversation.

I use the structure of the process. In moments of high conflict, returning to the structure provides a neutral framework to come back to. It's not about shutting the emotion down, but rather about channelling it somewhere productive.

I call a break when one is needed. Sometimes people need to step out, breathe, regroup. That's not a failure. A ten-minute break at the right moment can save an entire session.

High emotion doesn't derail a good mediation. It's part of it. And navigating it well is exactly what a skilled mediator is there to do.

Have a question about how mediation works? Drop it below.

Anna Wynne & Associates

07/10/2026

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30/09/2026

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