Don Macpherson

Don Macpherson has been one of the Premier Specialist Family Lawyers in Brisbane and North Lakes for more than 20 years.

He was one of the very first lawyers in Qld accredited as a Family Law Specialist in 1996, and was the first Lawyer to be accredited as a Family Law Specialist in both NSW and Qld in 1999.

Prior to starting his own firm, Macpherson Family Law, in 2017, Don was the Family Law Partner for a leading Qld Law firm, heading a family law team of 10 across 3 offices. Starting Macpherson Family Law has allowed Don to focus directly on the needs of clients, assisting and advising them during what is often the most challenging time of their lives. Don sees clients at all our offices ( In Brisbane – Newstead, Milton, and Murrarie, and at North Lakes) for the convenience of clients.

Don’s practice involves complex property settlement disputes, children’s matters, and mediation. His business experience and qualifications give him particular insight in relation to the business and commercial issues that often arise in complex family disputes between couples and families.

Don’s Approach

“My function and focus is to help people deal with what is often the worst thing that has happened to them in their lives. As well as giving expert family law advice people need and are entitled to receive common sense, practical guidance and leadership in very challenging times, and that’s part of the role I see myself providing”.

Outside the Law

Don is married and father to two girls. His interests include virtually every type of sport, and he remains a rather inactive member of the Australian Lawyers Surfing Association. In an earlier life (last century) he represented Queensland and Australia in Touch Football. He is a member of the Assembly of Catholic Professionals, and he and Lesa are actively involved in a charity in the Brisbane Catholic Archdiocese.

Areas of Practice

• Property settlement and financial issues between divorced or separated couples
• Parenting issues such as equal shared parenting and parental responsibility (also known as child custody, residence or contact issues)
• Mediation

Experience

Don Macpherson is widely known as one of the leading specialist family lawyers in Brisbane and Queensland and has been an Accredited Family Law Specialist for over 20 years.

He has often chaired or presented at seminars for other Family Lawyers, and has provided evidence as an expert witness in relation to family law practice.

He was a member of the Queensland Law Society Family Law Committee for 5 years. The Committee liaises with the State and Federal Government, as well as the Judiciary, in relation to new legislation and court procedures relating to the practice of family law.

He also qualified as a mediator in 2013.

Don’s experience in dealing with family law matters has given him considerable expertise in relation to the challenging issues that arise in relation to difficult children’s disputes in which he is regularly assisted by psychiatrists, psychologists, and other child welfare specialists, when the need arises. He works closely with Queensland’s premier counselling and mediation service, Centacare, to ensure his clients are provided with a total suite of services appropriate to their needs and to that of their family.

Cases

Having practised in family law for over 30 years, Don has been involved in a wide variety of matters involving family and relationship law including:

• Property settlement disputes involving asset pools varying in range from $100,000 to $250 million;
• Contested spousal maintenance applications acting for both the applicant seeking spousal maintenance and the respondent seeking to reduce or avoid a spousal maintenance payment;
• Injunctions restraining dealing with real estate, businesses or business assets;
• Valuation disputes involving expert evidence from accountants or real estate valuers in relation to business or real estate assets;
• Trials in relation to which parent a child or children should live with, and the extent to which the other party should have time with that child;
• Applications by grandparents for orders that children reside with them in lieu of either of their parents;
• Urgent applications in relation to the issuing of passports for children wishing to travel overseas;
• Applications under the Hague Convention with respect to children removed from their country of domicile to another country;
• Urgent interim residence and contact orders in relation to children;
• Urgent recovery orders in relation to children taken by one of their parents from the other;
• Appearing in the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court in relation to property, maintenance and children’s disputes.

Articles Published

Don has published a number of articles on a range of family law issues in the Queensland Law Society Magazine “Proctor”:

• “Bankers Beware! The Family Court Can Rewrite Your Contracts”
• “Financial Agreements under the Family Law Act”
• “Relocation”
• “Spousal Maintenance – An Ongoing Problem”
• “Spousal Maintenance – A Never Ending Obligation?”

Qualifications and Memberships

• Accredited as Family Law Specialist, (Qld.) 1996, NSW 1999.
• Admitted as a Solicitor of the High Court of Australia, 1985
• Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland, 1983
• Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, 1999
• Nationally Accredited Mediator 2013
• Bachelor of Laws with Honours, University of Queensland, 1981
• Bachelor of Commerce, University of Queensland, 1979
• Member Queensland Law Society
• Member, Queensland Family Law Practitioners Association
• Member, Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia
• Member, Assembly of Catholic Professionals
• Member Australian Lawyers Surfing Association