Women in missing middle struggle during divorce process
There has been a surge in demand for services for women and families in the 'missing middle' - those ineligible for Legal Aid but still unable to afford a lawyer.
Many who do go through divorce are forced to accept unfair settlements because they cannot afford to fight for what they are entitled.
It's a story familiar to Kathy, who asked that AAP withhold her full name for privacy reasons, after spending years in a de facto relationship with a man who subjected her to financial, physical and emotional abuse.
Despite having her own money and assets when she entered the relationship, her ex took over the couple's finances.
But when she tried to leave he launched a calculated campaign to exhaust her financially and emotionally, locking her out of their bank accounts, refusing to hand over documents and hiding assets in secret accounts.
"He was a vicious and vexatious litigator and kept firing his legal team so (the case) would be constantly deferred," Kathy told AAP.
Many perpetrators are able to weaponise the court system by using delaying tactics that make legal fees soar, psychological counsellor Naomi Pearce said.
Through her firm TFA Legal, she and other psychologists along with lawyers and social workers provide a trauma-informed service that addresses not only legal outcomes but also the emotional and financial wellbeing of women navigating high-conflict separations and abuse.
"What we are trying to do is remove the ability for someone to use the system of the family court to ruin someone's life," she said.
"We help women cope and hang in there, just to get everything done in the legal process, maintain their rights and move forward in their lives."
Kathy was advised to contact JustFund, an organisation that provides a flexible line of credit based on a person's expected family settlement rather than their income, credit score or employment status.
"The court system is an unfair playing field ... by the time I got help from JustFund, I was totally broken," she said.
Since launching, JustFund has unlocked more than $1 billion in settlements and helped more than 2300 Australians get access to legal representation.
Co-founders Jack O'Donnell and Andy O'Connor started their careers as lawyers but saw too many clients turned away by their firm.
"I remember one single mum leaving a relationship who had assets but didn't have the financial resources to pay our fees and it stood out as being really unfair," Mr O'Donnell said.
"We wanted to leverage our legal experience to design a solution that didn't exist but we knew could be life saving for individuals."
JustFund clients are overwhelmingly women and many earn just 35 per cent of their former partner's income.
Mr O'Connor said the service aimed to level the playing field in the legal system.
The service isn't exclusively for DV survivors but more than 64 per cent of their clients have experienced financial abuse or coercive control.
"Navigating a divorce is really challenging emotionally and financially," Mr O'Donnell said.
"We see a real problem in Australia that there are hundreds of thousands trapped in really unhealthy relationships because they can't afford to leave."
"At its core we are trying to empower people get through something really difficult," he said.
"To be shackled by a lack of funding to get through a divorce; it shouldn't be that hard."
Women are consistently falling through the gaps in under-resourced legal aid and the high costs of legal services, Ms Pearce said.
"We see women who are legally entitled to support or assets but are so traumatised by what they've been through.
"They just don't have the emotional capacity to keep going and without support, they walk away from everything they're owed."
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