Mark MacDiarmid, Family Law Specialist

Sometimes one of the parties to a relationship needs assistance with living and other expenses after separation. The Family Law Act provides for the payment of spousal maintenance in circumstances where one party has the required level of need and the other party has sufficient means to pay. The availability of spousal maintenance is in addition to the availability of child support payments, so it is possible that a party with sufficient means may be required to pay both child support and spousal maintenance to their former partner.

Spousal maintenance orders tend to be relatively short term, and are often focussed on assisting the recipient to retrain so that they can re-enter the workforce.

About Mark

Mark MacDiarmid is accredited as a specialist in family law by the Law Society of NSW, having become a lawyer in 1986 after graduating with degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma of Psychology from Charles Sturt University, a Graduate Diploma in Family Dispute Resolution from the Australian Institute of Social Relations, and is a member of the NSW Legal Aid Commission’s Independent Children’s Lawyer and Mental Health Advocacy Panels. He is a member of the Law Society of NSW, the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, a practitioner member of LEADR and a member of the Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators (AIFLAM). Mark is accredited by the Federal Attorney General’s Department to provide compulsory Family Dispute Resolution and to issue s60I Certificates under the Family Law Act for disputes involving children. He is also an Accredited Mediator under the National Mediator Accreditation System, a member of the Law Society of NSW's Mediator Panel and the NSW District Court panel of Mediators.