Family Law includes legal matters about relationships, children and property. Generally, family law matters can be separated into four areas: parenting, separation, divorce, and property.
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Migration law is the law about people entering and remaining in Australia. You might need to seek help with migration law if you have questions about your visa or want to know if your visa will be affected by separation, family violence, or other changes to your family situation.
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Employment law is the law around going to work – it sets rules about workplace rights and obligations, including how employers must treat employees and how employees must act in the workplace. Every person working within a workplace has rights about how they should be treated, including experiences of sexual harassment.
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Having or needing a home is an important part of our lives. Whether you live in public housing, community housing, or are renting through a private landlord (including if a real estate agent is involved), you will have a “tenancy” – an agreement for you to live in your house in exchange for the payment of rent, among other things. Renting a home means you have legal rights and responsibilities.
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When someone dies, they might leave things behind, such as property, money, debts, superannuation, or other items. These things together are called a deceased estate. People sometimes leave behind a will that states what they want to happen with their deceased estate. If no will is made, then there are laws that decide who gets the deceased estate.
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Domestic and family violence is when someone who is in a ‘domestic relationship’ with you, including a partner, ex-partner, family member, or housemate, hurts you or makes you feel afraid, powerless, or unsafe. Sexual violence is being forced, pressured or tricked into doing sexual things when you don’t want to. Sexual violence can be a form of domestic and family violence, but it may also happen outside a current or previous relationship.
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Compensation is something given to someone in recognition of a loss, suffering, injury, or experience of a violent act. Compensation is usually money (known as “financial compensation”), but can also be a replacement item or service. In the NT, the three most common types of compensation are Victims of Crime Compensation, Motor Accident Compensation, and Workers Compensation.
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A complaint is a statement that you can make about something that has been unacceptable or unsatisfactory for you. Complaints can be about someone not following the rules, someone being treated unfairly, or other things. If you have been treated unfairly because of a certain characteristic, such as your race, gender, age, sexuality, pregnancy and/or an experience of domestic, family, and sexual violence – you can make a complaint of discrimination.
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A debt is where a person owes money to another person or organisation. Some debts come from an agreement that allows a borrower to get money, products, or services immediately from a lender and then repay them later (‘credit’). Common types of debt include loans, credit cards, phone bills, and money owed to Centrelink or another government organisation. Fines are also a type of debt.
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The Top End Women’s Legal Service (TEWLS) is a not-for-profit, specialist women’s legal service focused on advancing the rights of women and non-binary persons. Located in Darwin, we support women across the Top End of the Northern Territory (NT) to access integrated, trauma-informed, and culturally secure free legal and support services. TEWLS advocates to achieve justice for women, to promote women’s human rights, and to redress inequalities experienced by women.
TEWLS’ vision is a community in which women enjoy and are entitled to legal and social justice.
Our work includes:
TEWLS provides services across the areas of civil, family, and migration law, and holds specialist expertise in domestic, family, and sexual violence. Critically, our client-centric service model means that a client can access legal assistance from one legal practitioner in multiple areas of law. TEWLS is able to provide free legal advice and information to all women and non-binary persons, regardless of their circumstances.
TEWLS is currently funded by the Commonwealth Departments of the Attorney General, Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Social Services, with additional contributions received from the Northern Territory Government and via pro bono partnerships
TEWLS is a gender-specialist community legal centre that provides free legal help to all women and non-binary persons in the Greater Darwin region. TEWLS is also a domestic, family, and sexual violence specialist service.
TEWLS can provide free once-off legal advice in most areas of civil, migration, and family law. TEWLS also provides casework and representation services on a case-by-case basis.
As a small team, we can provide ongoing casework or legal representation where there is hardship and/or other barriers to accessing justice. When making this decision, TEWLS will take into consideration many different factors such as health and disability barriers, experiences of domestic, family and sexual violence, cultural and/or linguistic barriers, financial hardship, and homelessness, as well as TEWLS’ capacity to assist at that time.
Please note that as a legal service, we are not able to offer second opinions when you already have a lawyer.
Our services are free. For information about how we can help, see Our Services.
TEWLS provides casework and legal representation services on a case-by-case basis. This means that TEWLS can represent clients as required, including at Court or within a mediation setting.
As a small team, we can provide ongoing casework or legal representation only where there is hardship and/or other barriers to accessing justice. When making this decision TEWLS will take into consideration many different factors such as health and disability barriers, experiences of domestic, family and sexual violence, cultural and/or linguistic barriers, financial hardship, and homelessness, as well as TEWLS’ capacity to assist at that time.
If we are not able to provide you with legal representation, we will provide you with appropriate referrals for other legal and support services, including private legal practitioners, in your local area.
You appointment will be completely confidential, including any booking information, unless we are required by law to share information that you provide (such as under Mandatory Reporting laws).
We can organise interpreters free of charge for all appointments, including Auslan interpreters. Please let our staff know at the time of booking if you would like the assistance of an interpreter.
TEWLS acknowledges that we work on Aboriginal land, including the lands of the Larrakia people, who are the traditional owners of the land where our office is located. We acknowledge the Larrakia people as the Traditional Owners of the Darwin region and pay deep respect to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We are committed to a positive future for the Aboriginal community. Always was, always will be.
