Melbourne Family Law Firm Halves File Prep Time
A 4-solicitor suburban Melbourne family law firm uses Quillio to analyse financial disclosure, calculate property pools, and map s79 factors under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). The firm halved the time spent preparing property settlement files, enabling solicitors to take on 40% more matters without compromising advice quality.
What they were trying to solve
Property settlements are the firm's highest-value work, but each file requires hours of financial analysis — reconciling balance sheets, superannuation valuations, trust distributions, and contributions across marriages lasting 10-30 years. Solicitors were spending 6-8 hours per file on financial analysis before even drafting the s79 submission. The firm was capped at roughly 25 active property settlement files across 4 solicitors.
Why Quillio
Quillio ingests the full financial disclosure (Form 13 Financial Statements, bank statements, superannuation statements, trust deeds, and company accounts), produces a structured property pool summary, and maps the s79 factors — contributions, future needs, and the "just and equitable" requirement — against the disclosed assets. It flags disclosure gaps and inconsistencies that the solicitor should investigate.
Implementation
The senior partner tested Quillio on 15 recently completed property settlement files, comparing Quillio's property pool calculations against the actual figures. After confirming accuracy within 2% on all 15, the firm deployed it for all new property settlement instructions. The paralegal team was trained in a single 90-minute session.
Measurable outcomes
Average time from full disclosure to draft s79 submission halved
40% more active property settlement matters across the same 4 solicitors
Quillio flags inconsistencies in financial statements that manual review missed
Higher file count at the same fee level lifted revenue per head
Post-matter survey scores improved due to faster turnaround and thoroughness
"Property settlements live or die on the financial analysis. Quillio gives me a property pool summary in minutes that used to take half a day. I still check everything — but I start from a structured analysis instead of a stack of bank statements."
How it works in practice
Form 13 financial statement analysis, property pool calculation, superannuation valuation review, trust and company structure mapping, s79 factor analysis, disclosure gap identification, and draft property settlement submissions.
What they avoided
Hiring two additional solicitors at $130K+ each, turning away property settlement instructions in favour of simpler parenting-only matters, or accepting longer turnaround times that risked client attrition to competing firms.
Case study FAQs
Does Quillio understand s79 factors?
Yes — Quillio maps the four-step approach to property settlement under s79 of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth): identifying and valuing the property pool, assessing contributions, evaluating future needs under s75(2), and checking the overall result is just and equitable.
Can it handle complex asset structures?
Yes — Quillio analyses discretionary trusts, corporate structures, self-managed super funds, and cross-held assets to produce a consolidated property pool summary with source references.
How accurate are the property pool calculations?
In this firm's pilot of 15 historical files, Quillio's property pool figures were within 2% of the manually calculated amounts on every file.
Does it draft consent orders?
Quillio produces the financial analysis and s79 submission. Consent orders drafting is a separate workflow that the solicitor handles, but the structured analysis significantly speeds up that process.
Run the same pilot.
Family law firms handling property settlements should trial Quillio on their next 5 financial disclosure packs and compare the property pool analysis against their manual calculations. Start a free trial.
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