Family Law Expert Valuation
An independent expert report prepared on written instructions, including joint instructions where a single expert is agreed or ordered. Conflict check first, an overriding duty to the Court, and a fixed fee for one reasonably straightforward business.
Conditions of engagement. Engagement is subject to an initial conflict and suitability assessment, review of the proposed instructions and acceptance by the appointed expert. The fixed fee applies to one reasonably straightforward business with complete and reliable records, and the scope is confirmed in writing before work begins.
For one reasonably straightforward business with complete and reliable records, the Family Law Expert Valuation includes:
The report is prepared to address the applicable expert-evidence requirements in the specific engagement. What those requirements are, and whether the report is admitted or relied on, are matters for the Court and for the parties' lawyers.
See an outline of what the report covers.
The Family Law Expert Valuation is for matters that need an expert report for court, including:
Where proceedings have started and a valuation of the business or ownership interest will be relied on as expert evidence.
Where the parties have agreed, or the Court has ordered, that one expert will value the business for both sides on joint instructions.
Where proceedings have not started but your lawyer anticipates that the business value will need to be established by expert evidence.
Where the parties disagree about facts that affect the value, such as the owner's role or a related-party arrangement, and the report needs to consider the alternatives the instructions set out.
Where the interest is held through a company or trust, or is a minority holding whose rights and restrictions need careful treatment. Where the business runs through several related entities, or the structure is complex, the additional work is priced at the published rates or quoted separately before work begins.
The delivery date is agreed with you before work begins, and runs from payment and receipt of all required information. Where the instructions or orders do not permit a draft, the date for the signed report is confirmed in the engagement. Urgent turnaround is available at a 25% surcharge. Tell us about any court timetable in your enquiry so it can be taken into account at the scope stage.
These conditions apply to every expert engagement. They protect the parties, the Court and the independence of the opinion.
Before any engagement we check for conflicts involving either party, their advisers, the business and its related entities, and consider whether the matter is one we can properly accept. Nothing is agreed until that assessment is complete.
The appointed expert's overriding duty is to the Court, not to the party or parties who pay the fee. The expert does not act as an advocate for either party and will not shape an opinion to suit the instructing side.
The engagement proceeds on written instructions, joint instructions where a single expert has been agreed or ordered, that define the valuation date, the interest being valued, the assumptions to be adopted and the questions to be answered. We review proposed instructions before engagement and raise anything that is unclear or that the expert could not properly answer.
The expert report will be delivered by a suitably qualified business valuer. They will have accepted the instructions. The identity of the appointed expert, and their qualifications and experience, are confirmed in the engagement.
The fixed fee of $4,495 + GST applies to one reasonably straightforward business with complete and reliable records. Anything beyond that is priced before it is done. Nothing beyond the initial assessment is done until the engagement is accepted.
Outside the fixed fee: Additional business or entity: from $1,500 + GST; Urgent turnaround: 25% surcharge; Formal questions, supplementary analysis and expert conferences: $650 + GST per hour; Remote court attendance: $650 + GST per hour, four-hour minimum; Interstate court attendance: $6,500 + GST per day, plus travel and accommodation at cost; Complex structures, forensic reconstruction, asset tracing and disputed financial records: quoted separately.
No valuer or firm is approved or accredited by the Court, and we do not claim to be. The report is prepared to address the applicable expert-evidence requirements in the specific engagement. Whether it is admitted, and what weight it is given, are matters for the Court.
Step by step
Complete the confidential enquiry with the names of both parties and their solicitors, so we can check for conflicts before anything else is discussed. Submission of the form does not create an expert engagement.
We review the draft letter of instruction or, where there is none yet, discuss with the instructing lawyers what the report needs to address: the valuation date, the interest being valued, the assumptions and the questions. We identify the documents required and any gaps we can already see.
We confirm the scope, the fixed fee, any additional work, the expected delivery date and the identity of the appointed expert in writing. Work begins when payment is received and the instructions are settled.
The instructing parties provide the documents. The expert reviews the structure, normalises the earnings, considers the competing factual assumptions the instructions set out, selects and explains the methodology, and values the interest with supporting schedules.
The delivery date is agreed with you before work begins, and runs from payment and receipt of all required information. Where the instructions permit a draft, one round of factual corrections is included. The signed expert report, with its declaration of independence, is delivered as the instructions direct.
Formal questions, supplementary analysis, expert conferences and court attendance are charged at the published rates as they arise.
The expert report is a separate engagement, subject to the same conflict and suitability assessment as any other. The appointed expert independently reviews the material, may ask for further information and forms their own opinion.
Start with what you need. Keep the full credit.Upgrade within three months and your $2,495 + GST settlement fee is credited in full. The standard upgrade is the $2,000 + GST difference, subject to expert acceptance and any additional scope. How the credit works →
Common questions
A single expert is a valuer appointed jointly by the parties, or by order of the Court, to give expert evidence on the value of the business for both sides rather than each side engaging its own expert. We accept single expert instructions subject to conflict checking, scope review, suitable instructions and acceptance by the appointed expert. Whether a single expert is required, agreed or ordered in your matter is a question for your lawyer.
The expert report will be delivered by a suitably qualified business valuer. They are identified in the engagement, together with their qualifications and experience, so that the parties and the Court know who is responsible for the opinion. Nobody else signs, and no report is issued in the firm's name alone. How reports are prepared and signed is described on the About page.
No valuer or report is approved by the Court, and any firm that says otherwise is overstating its position. The report is prepared to address the applicable expert-evidence requirements in the specific engagement, including the declaration of independence and the duty to the Court. Whether it is admitted, and what weight it is given, are matters for the Court.
One operating business or ownership interest that is reasonably straightforward, with complete and reliable records. For that scope, $4,495 + GST covers the review of the company, trust and loan arrangements, detailed earnings normalisation, the valuation methodologies with sensitivity analysis, the expert declaration, the report and one round of factual corrections. We confirm the scope in writing before work begins. Work outside that scope is priced at the published rates on the fees page.
Only work outside the fixed scope: an additional business or entity, urgent turnaround, formal questions and expert conferences, court attendance, and complex structures or disputed records. Each item has a published rate, listed under Additional work on this page and on the fees page, and is priced before it is done. The fixed fee covers the analysis, the expert declaration, the report and one round of factual corrections.
That depends on the rules that apply to your matter and on what the Court has ordered, and your lawyer will advise. We can accept instructions from one party or from both, subject to conflict checking and scope review. The expert's duty to the Court, and the way the analysis is done, are the same whoever instructs.
Where the parties give different accounts of a fact that affects the value, for example the hours the owner works or whether a family member's wage is at market rates, the instructions can ask the expert to value the business on each set of assumptions. The report then shows the effect of each and explains why it matters. The expert does not decide which account is true; that is for the Court.
Yes, where required. Court attendance is charged separately: remote attendance at $650 + GST per hour, four-hour minimum, and interstate attendance at $6,500 + GST per day, plus travel and accommodation at cost. The report is written with the expectation that it will be tested, whether or not the matter reaches a hearing.
The delivery date is agreed with you before work begins, and runs from payment and receipt of all required information. Urgent turnaround is available at a 25% surcharge. If a date has been set by the Court, tell us in the enquiry so it can be considered at the scope stage.
Business documents only at first: financial statements and tax returns for recent years, current management accounts, and the documents that show who owns what, such as a company extract, trust deed or partnership agreement. We send a checklist once the scope is confirmed. Please do not send affidavits, court documents, personal correspondence, medical records or other personal evidence until we have completed the conflict check and asked for them.
Neither. Our role is to determine a supportable value from the available evidence, not to produce the highest or lowest number for either party. The same analysis applies whoever instructs us, and every conclusion must be capable of being explained, tested and defended. If you want a valuer who will argue for a particular figure, we are not the right firm.
Yes. If you first obtain a Settlement Valuation and later require a Family Law Expert Valuation, the full $2,495 + GST settlement fee will be credited when you upgrade within three months. You pay only the $2,000 + GST difference. The expert report is a separate engagement, subject to the same conflict and suitability assessment as any other. The appointed expert independently reviews the material, may ask for further information and forms their own opinion. A matter that settles at negotiation or mediation needs nothing further. Where an expert report was always going to be required, starting there is usually the better path, and we will say so.
$4,495 + GST, fixed fee. Subject to conflict checking, scope review, suitable instructions and expert acceptance. Or call 0433 475 518 or request a call back. Phone hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (Sydney time).
Submission of the enquiry form does not create an expert engagement.