Geoff Mazengarb

Geoff is a solicitor with decades of experience in the field of family law. He was admitted as a Legal Practitioner to the Supreme Court of the ACT in 1983 after completing a Bachelor of Economics with Honours at Flinders University (1975) and a Bachelor of Laws at the Australian National University (1982). He has also been admitted as a Legal Practitioner of the High Court of Australia. He began to practice family law soon after his admission and has been regarded as a specialist since 1989.

In 1983, Geoff began practicing in civil litigation, criminal law, and conveyancing and, two years later, opened his first firm. Since then, Geoff has been both a solicitor and partner of various law firms in Canberra. He became the Principal of Mazengarb Family Lawyers in 2011.

Geoff completed his accreditation as an independent children’s lawyer in 1996 and has been a registered family dispute resolution practitioner since 2009. He regularly appears in the Federal Circuit Court and Family Court of Australia, as well as the ACT Magistrates Court. He is a qualified and experienced mediator and conducts private mediations. Geoff has an intricate understanding of family law as well as complementary areas of law, involving family violence, wills, and estates. Of equal significance is his understanding of the emotional consequences of the breakdown in a relationship and the need to find an effective and efficient outcome for his clients.

Complex property matters are of particular interest to Geoff, especially when they involve family companies, partnerships, sole trading, family trusts and the need to identify and track property entitlements through various entities. This ca involves locating and valuing property existing in Australia and sent overseas and protecting this property until negotiations or court proceedings are completed.

Commonwealth Superannuation entitlements are a feature of many property settlements in Canberra which requires a clear understanding of the value of these entitlements, how the entitlements grow over time and how they be divided or setoff in a property settlement. Binding Financial Agreements, whether they are put in place or set aside, is another area of speciality for Geoff.

Another interest is matters which involve family violence and its significance in parenting and property matters. This is often contentious and underrated. Geoff also has extensive experience in appearing in family violence proceedings in the ACT Magistrates Court, usually representing the respondent.

Fashioning a parenting plan or parenting orders is often simple but can be difficult when infant children, or abused children, are involved, or a party wishes to relocate overseas or interstate. Geoff has dealt with many matters of this kind and has ridden the roller coaster of social and psychological trends of what is or is not in the child’s best interests.

Geoff’s clients benefit greatly from his more than 40 years of experience as a solicitor. Throughout this time, he has practiced in Canberra. He knows, and is known, by the most senior family law practitioners in Canberra which he usually facilitates a quick, full, and frank discussion with his legal opponents.

Geoff is not a one-dimensional character, his passions include wondering the mountain streams flyfishing for trout, walking his greyhounds, and working his farm located in the Monaro region.