The Anglican Church faces a compensation bill of up to $63 million from 70 alleged victims of child sexual abuse.
Lawyers acting for the alleged victims in their class action told The Advertiser yesterday that detailed financial analysis had now been completed.
The claim, due to be heard in court next month, includes about $500,000 for each child due to lost past and future earnings and up to $400,000 each for pain and suffering.
The new details come as the church's acting administrator, John Collas, will today announce plans to resolve claims outside of the court process.
But Duncan Basheer Hannon lawyer Peter Humphries, who is acting for the alleged victims, said the church had told him the new system would only allow for some payment for counselling.
"They are not even on the same page. They are so far removed from the real world," he said.
"This is Alice in Wonderland for them to think that is going to resolve the claims of people who have been abused."
Mr Humphries said accountants hired by his firm had analysed the hardship suffered by victims.
"In pure economic loss terms, the quantum will be in excess of half a million dollars per claim," he said.
"In addition, common law damages at large for pain and suffering would be in the range of up to $400,000 for each claim."
The suffering included the development of severe psychological disorders, dysfunctional family lives and inability to maintain relationships, he said.
Mr Humphries yesterday also issued an ultimatum to the church, which he said had never adequately responded to the class action.
"Either they agree to the terms of the class action or we go ahead with proceedings," he said.
The Anglican Church's new independent adviser, Fay Marles, who is Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, will today join Mr Collas in launching what is being described as a "new Anglican approach to resolve sexual abuse claims".
As part of its "concerted response to the report of the independent board of inquiry into the handling of sexual abuse claims", the church says "the model offers those who have been abused an alternative to seeking redress through the courts".
The opportunity for victims not to have to face the difficult court process was a key recommendation of the church's independent report released in June. The report detailed church inaction over widespread child sex abuse and led to the resignation of Archbishop Ian George.
Mr Collas yesterday refused to comment on the detail of the victim's financial claims.
Mr Humphries said: "It is just rubbish. What the church said was it may provide some financial assistance. They would never commit to the detail of what financial assistance and it turned out that all they were talking about was a bit of counselling for the people involved."
Mr Humphries said some months ago he had already complied with a church request to write to the then 50 claimants asking if they wanted to pursue their claim outside the courts – and only one had made further inquiries.
"It seems to me the church has still got a long way to go before it appreciates the enormity of the damage that has been done," he said. Mr Humphries said the only limited way in which the church's out-of-court system may work is for future cases involving victims of adult sexual abuse.
"It is never ever going to deal with abused children because firstly the issue would have to be reported to police," he said.
Mr Collas has expressed concern that most church assets are held by individual parishes, with the governing body, the synod, and administrative office owning few assets.
Since an original class action of 40 victims, the claim being handled by Mr Humphries now totals 70. These include 30 victims of pedophile Robert Brandenburg, who committed suicide in 1999, and 40 alleged victims of other pedophiles.