Jodylee Bartal

Jodylee Bartal: A Leading Family Law Specialist in Australia

Experience

Jodylee Bartal has dedicated over 25 years to advising couples on various family law matters. Her extensive experience encompasses separation and divorce, parenting arrangements and disputes, binding financial agreements, and the intricacies of property settlements, including cross-jurisdictional settlements.

Specialty

Jodylee is an accredited family law specialist with a specialization in all issues involving married and de facto couples, including same-sex couples. Her practice covers a wide range of family law matters, including:

• Children’s Matters: Relocation applications, disputes over where children live or spend time, passport      applications, paternity disputes, name changes, child support, child maintenance for over 18s, and medical  treatment including vaccination.

• Binding Financial Agreements: Agreements in contemplation of marriage or cohabitation, during a marriage or relationship, and post-separation to document an agreed settlement.

• Divorce: Including objections and ensuring that all aspects of the divorce process are handled with care and precision.

• Family Violence and Intervention Orders: Providing assistance and guidance in cases involving family violence, intervention orders and related offences.

• Family Law Settlements: Achieving settlements through negotiation and mediation, as well as handling litigation and defended matters.

• Generational Family Wealth Protection and Family Business Succession Planning: Ensuring the protection of family wealth and planning for the succession of family businesses, often in collaboration with the family’s accountant and/or other advisors.

• International Property and Parenting Disputes: Handling disputes related to international property/financial (including spouse maintenance), parenting and child support matters.

• Spousal Maintenance: Advising on spousal maintenance and ensuring that clients receive fair and practical outcomes.

• Superannuation Splitting: Including the splitting of Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs).

Education

Jodylee graduated from Monash University with an Arts/Law degree in 1999. She was admitted to practice in 2020 in the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia. Jodylee has worked exclusively in Family Law for 25 years and attained specialist accreditation in 2013. Her membership in the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) further underscores her expertise and commitment to the field.

Achievements and Recognition

• Awards:

• Recognised by Best Lawyers in Melbourne in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 for Family Law, Alternate Dispute Resolution and Mediation
• Lawyer of the Year in the Family Law Category in the Best Lawyers Guide (2019/2020)
• Recognized by Doyles Guide for Family Law in Sydney in 2016

• Industry Rankings:

• Named “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers for Family Law, Melbourne (2020)

• Leadership Roles:

  • Partner at Schetzer Papaleo Family Lawyers, Melbourne
  • Partner at Gadens, Melbourne
  • Special Counsel at Lander & Rogers, Melbourne and Sydney

• Major Case Successes:

• Known for advising on complex family law matters including separation, divorce, parenting disputes, IVF, binding financial agreements, and property settlements

• Contributions to Award-Winning Projects:

• Regular speaker and author on family-law-related issues, regularly quoted in the media (including television, radio and print media)