VIC Confidential Documents Between Solicitor and Client Under Family Law?

[SamanthaJay]

On having provided most of the discovery documents (finanacial statements) to my ex's solicitor last week, I'm aware that my ex has received them as I've been told by a mutual friend as well as my ex's sister-in-law that the ex has shown them (and I assume others), and is pointing out what he feels are relevant transactions to support his claims that I've taken funds without his permission and been on spending sprees.

As such documents are what I would consider of a private nature, am I in a state of delusion to think that these documents would be kept between my ex and his solicitor? Or is there no such thing when it comes to family law?

 

[Sophea]

The solicitor can't disclose information or documents to others as he or she is under client - solicitor privilege / confidentiality obligations however if its just evidence, your ex (a party to the litigation) can generally share the evidence with whoever they want, unless the court has directed that information be kept confidential.

 

[Rod]

Note that if they say anything that harms your reputation and is not truthful then you potentially have a claim for defamation.

 

[AllForHer]

Not sure defamation is relevant here. It would be hard to argue the contents of your own affidavit are untruthful as required by a claim for defamation.

 

[Rod]

Thinking more along the lines of people twisting the contents of your affidavits to something toxic. A lot of mean spirited things get said during break-ups and while most are not defamatory, some can be.

I'm not suggesting defamatory remarks have been made in this instance, just pointing out that some remarks and comments may be actionable.

 

[SamanthaJay]

Oh, he says all kinds of defamatory things about me, but I'm concerned that he is showing others my financial documents such as bank statements. The fact is that it is his spending and withdrawals of cash as he only had a business account and we used my account for personal use and he still has possession of most of the items the money was spent on.

This information is in our affidavits but of course he is not showing the others the affidavits, only the financial documents.