Dorothy Kovacs signed the Bar roll in November 1987.

She practises principally in the areas of Family Law/De Facto and equity and trusts and in matters involving deceased estates. She also takes briefs in bankruptcy and insolvency matters.She practices in the Family Court as well as the County Court and Supreme Court.

Cases which have been reported in which she was involved include:

Re Patrick (2002) FLC 93-096;

B and J (1996) 21 FamLR 185; (1996) FLC 92-716;

R v B (1996) FLC 92-658;

State Trust Corporation v Taylor [1993] 1 VLR 282;

Stone v Hallam (No 1) (1992) DFC 95-119;

Stone v Hallam (No 2) (1992) DFC 95-122; and

Hallinan v Director-General CSV (1992) FLC 92-302.
For many years Dorothy held an appointment at the Law Faculty at Monash University where she was an Associate Professor of Law.

She has an extensive record of publications which include two books, Family Property Proceedings in Australia, Butterworths 1992 and De Facto Property Proceedings in Australia, Butterworths 1998. She has numerous refereed publications in journals including the Australian Law Journal, the Monash Law Review, the Melbourne University Law Review and the Australian Journal of Family Law. They cover many topics including matrimonial property, the law of trusts,the law relating to defacto cohabitants and the third party jurisdiction of the Family Court, Testators family maintenance and deceased estates, proceedings in relation to children and cross-vesting of jurisdiction issues. She has contributed several chapters in books and published on numerous occasions in the Law Institute Journal on current matters pertaining to legal practice.

Dorothy has made submissions to law reform bodies on topics including the reform of Family Law, reform of the law of domestic partners and on the law pertaining to medically assisted conception. She has presented many conference papers including at Monash University, the University of Melbourne, the Law Institute of Victoria, the Leo Cussen Institute, BLEC, and Lexis Nexis.

She received the Rogers Legal Writing Award for best original contribution to the Law Institute Journal for 1994.


Victorian Bar Committee Memberships

Applications Review Committee




The information referred to above has been supplied by the barrister concerned. Neither Victorian Bar Inc nor the barrister's clerk have independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the information and neither accepts any responsibility in that regard.