Collect information and conduct initial party checks

Collect the party’s details at their first contact with you. You need to:

• explain to the party why you need to collect their correct details (see the Privacy Act 1993 principles in the Key Points section below)
• explain that you will store the information in RMS
• obtain the party’s legal first and last name
• obtain the party’s date of birth
• obtain the party’s contact phone number
• obtain any additional contact information such as the party’s address and email
• obtain the name(s) of other party/parties in the dispute, and a contact number for them.

Key points!

• The Privacy Act 1993 principles state that when you collect personal information from a party you must explain why it is being collected. There is a Privacy Statement in RMS (generated from the party record) that you need to read or provide to the party before collecting their information.
• The other party in the dispute has a right to privacy of their information. Therefore the only information you should collect about them from the initiating party is their name and contact number.

Ask the following questions to give you an indication about the party’s eligibility for the fully funded Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) service (if the party is eligible and the dispute is eligible then they won’t pay anything).

• Has another FLAS provider or FDR provider already completed the funding eligibility assessment for them?
• Do they have a current grant of Civil Legal Aid or have they received legal services covered by a grant of Civil Legal Aid in the last 12 months? If they have then they may be able to use this as evidence of eligibility if their financial circumstances have not changed since they were granted Civil Legal Aid.
• Has the party already had access to any FDR services? If yes, what FDR services has the party accessed and when?
• Have they checked their eligibility using the funding eligibility table on the Family Justice website?