Nicole Evans is the Author of Lesbians and the Law: A Guidebook for Australian Families. She is the non-birth mother to her 13-year-old daughter and birth mother to her 12-year-old son.

 

When Nicole set out to have children in 2008, she realised there was limited legal information available to lesbians around having children. Over the past 15 years, she has accumulated knowledge of the gay and lesbian parenting process, and has acquired specific expertise in the law around same sex couples, their children, and donor rights.

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Nicole is passionate about the law. She loves writing and has been published in The Huffington Post Australia. Nicole is also an avid cook and appeared on Season One of Come Dine with Me Australia and Season One of Masterchef Australia.

 

In 2017, Nicole was voted by her peers in the Doyle’s Guide as a ‘recommended’ estates litigation lawyer http://doylesguide.com/leading-wills-estates-litigation-lawyers-new-south-wales-2017/.

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Nicole established Sydney law firm Barker Evans and decided to dedicate her career to educate and assist LGBTQIA people who are in the legal system for whatever purpose and in launching this website, she hopes that all those who choose to venture on the path to parenthood are fully informed of their legal rights and responsibilities.

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Extract from Nicole's book Lesbians and the Law: A Guidebook for Australian Families.......

 

"I‘VE ALWAYS KNOWN THAT I WANTED TO BE A MOTHER.

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Around the world, we now have cultural images of lesbians and gay men creating families in various ways, so coming out didn’t deter me in my dream. After a commitment ceremony in the UK followed by a big wedding here in Australia with my partner at the time, we decided to move forward with having children. It was 2008 and as a lawyer, I was quite surprised by the number of special laws governing same-sex families and the ignorance around those laws. Although my former partner and I managed to find our way, I was struck by the fact that there were few resources available to same-sex Australians interested in marriage and children. I then sadly went through a “divorce” and other situations in which I had to familiarise myself with another set of laws; I also began working with same-sex individuals seeking legal advice in my professional life. I decided I was in the ideal position to write the book that I never had to help LGBTQIA people with their family plans.

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I’m inviting you to have a peek into the legal and social realities relevant to same-sex Australians in the 21st century and to think of me as your guide. Each chapter has information about a different aspect of same-sex family life. I’ve also shared some stories both from my life, from friends’ experiences, and discussed recent cases. At the end of the chapter, you’ll find a summary of key points. Chances are you won’t need all the information at once so feel free to skip around and take what’s most pertinent to your circumstances.

Although we know that “love makes a family”, I also know that the law is an incredibly powerful force in how we make and maintain those families as lesbians.

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It is my hope that all those who choose to venture on the path to parenthood have access to the necessary information so that they will feel fully informed of their legal rights. The more knowledgeable we are, the more able we’ll be to advocate for what’s best for us and our children and to work to change the laws that don’t serve our families and communities."

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