Lisa Soljan
Lisa’s terms of engagement are available upon request.
Lisa Soljan has practiced law since 1995 and has extensive experience in family law. She works exclusively in her chosen specialty of family law, including relationship property, child support, maintenance, parenting and guardianship matters, care and protection of children, international family law and child abduction. She also has experience with cases involving protection of personal and property rights as well as estate litigation under the Family Protection Act. She appears regularly in the Family Court and High Court and has appeared in the Court of Appeal.
Lisa has considerable skill as a litigator. She is a confident and astute advocate in court, and has gained the respect of other counsel and members of the judiciary for her hard work, talent and professionalism.
Lisa has gained considerable experience in child abduction cases involving the Hague Convention, and is regularly instructed by the NZ Central Authority in such cases. Lisa has given expert evidence in the United States District Court as to the applicable New Zealand law on a Hague Convention case. Lisa is on the list of counsel approved to represent children involved in family court litigation. She is counsel on a number of reported cases in the New Zealand Family Law Reports and Family Reports of New Zealand.
Lisa is a member of the New Zealand Family Law Section and has previously undertaken a role on the Section's child support and maintenance standing committee. Lisa has previously been a member of the Auckland District Law Society's family law committee. Lisa has written submissions to the law commission in relation to the Care of Children Act legislation in 2004 and in 2013 appeared before the government select committee considering reforms of the family justice system. Lisa is an author for Thomson Reuters child law commentary.
Lisa does not undertake legal aid or Family Legal Advice Services.
Areas of Practice
Lisa works in all areas of family law including:
Care of Children Lisa’s work covers all aspects of parenting orders, day to day care, guardianship, relocation and contact. This includes navigating clients through the family dispute resolution process and other aspects of the family justice system. Lisa appears regularly in the Family Court and (on appeal) in the High Court. She is regularly appointed by the Court to represent children.
Hague Convention (International Child Abduction) Lisa has a particular interest and expertise in Hague Convention cases. She is regularly appointed by the NZ Central Authority to assist litigants in such proceedings but will also take private instructions to represent litigants faced with or wishing to make an application for return or to enforce access rights under the Hague Convention.
Care and Protection Lisa provides advice and assistance to parties who are involved with the Ministry of Social Development including appearing as counsel in proceedings under the Children Young Persons and their Families Act . Lisa regularly receives appointments to represent children who are the subject of care and protection litigation.
Spousal Maintenance Providing advice on spousal maintenance entitlements/obligations, negotiating settlements and appearing as counsel in spousal maintenance litigation.
Child Support Providing advice on child support entitlements/obligations. Lisa will also assist to draft voluntary agreements, applications for administrative review and Family Court appeals.
Relationship PropertyAdvice on property entitlements and settlements. Drafting and providing advice on property settlement agreements as well as "prenuptial” agreements under the Property (Relationships) Act. Her work includes filing Court applications and appearing as counsel in such court proceedings.
Dissolution of Marriage or Civil UnionObtaining a dissolution of your marriage or civil union.
Professional Memberships
New Zealand Law Society
Family Law section of the New Zealand Law Society
New Zealand Bar Association