Legal Advice

Immediate access to Australian lawyers

At a minimum, every expatriate needs to have some working knowledge of two legal systems; that of his current “host” country and of his base country.  This website concentrates on providing Australian expatriates with access to legal advice in Australia in relation to Australian legal matters.  Host country legal issues, such as those relating to local contract and commercial issues, criminal and civil matters, will normally need to be referred to a, carefully selected, local firm. 

The range of issues that an Australian expatriate might need to seek advice in relation to is at least as wide as if he or she had remained in Australia – perhaps even wider because of the potential impact of dual jurisdictions. Issues include:

• Estate and Probate Law
• Family Law
• Immigration Law
• Employment Law
• Property and Conveyancing

The breadth of issues that might arise in the course of an assignment are so wide, and personal situations so varied, that it is difficult to provide specific information to expatriates in relation to legal matters. Instead, as mentioned above, direct access is offered to legal firms in Australia who are members, or affiliates, of the worldwide Meritas organisation via the Inquiry Form.

Australia exists as a federal system, with co-existing Federal and State legal systems.  For that reason, any inquiries made to the Meritas member firms, requires that you nominate the Australian State to which your inquiry relates.  Usually this will be obvious, for example in the case of estate or property matters, but in the event there are some complexities these will be resolved in the early stages of any inquiry.  In relation to some matters, Federal law applies, and in this case the inquiries are directed to the appropriate practice centre in the Meritas network – examples of these inquiries include Immigration and Family Law. 

Occasionally, matters may arise which are outside the expertise or jurisdiction of Meritas lawyers – an example is criminal law, inside or outside, of Australia.  The appropriate Meritas firm will inform you of this at the earliest opportunity.   

Complete the Legal Advice Inquiry form