Publications
Overview of changes in the law
How will Family Law relocation cases be decided in 2024?
A “relocation case” arises when a parent wants to move to a place far away enough from their current location that it will impact the time that the other parent spends with the children, resulting in a disagreement on the children’s future living situation and arrangements to spend time with each parent. Disputes about whether...
Evolving ‘Best Interests’ Factors For Post-Separation Parenting – What You Need To Know About Family Law Reforms in 2023
Australia's family law landscape is undergoing significant changes that may impact separated parents. The Family Law Amendment Act 2023 (FLAA) is at the centre of these reforms, aiming to streamline and clarify certain aspects of family law. These changes will impact parents, children, and legal professionals alike. Please...
Is “fault” back? – Proposed property reforms to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)
The Federal Government has proposed changes to those parts of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (FLA) which direct how property settlements between separated couples are determined. Primarily the proposed amendments aim to clarify the process followed by the courts to determine the parties’ property entitlements and codify...
Will de-federation of the Family Court fix fragmentation of family law? An analysis of the ALRC’s final report on family law
Family law never stagnates. Legislative reforms since the introduction of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) have often either followed societal developments or, more frequently, led or accompanied them. However, the next 12 months has the potential for even greater change for family lawyers, the family law courts and parties...
Family Violence – changes to the Family Law Act
The Family Law Amendment (Family Violence & Other Measures) Act 2018 ("Family Violence Act") commenced operation on 1 September 2018. Its changes will impact on the law, practice and procedures in family law matters, not only where there are family violence orders. Although the Bill received considerable attention when it...
The Family Court: Restructure, Destruction or Fade Away?
"Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot" "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell The Family Court of Australia (FCofA) was established in 1976 as a best practice model offering in-house alternative dispute resolution such as mediation and...
Australian Law Reform Commission discussion paper
The Australian Law Reform Commission Discussion Paper on the Review of the Family Law System was released on 2 October 2018. The Discussion Paper is over 300 pages, asks 33 questions and makes 124 proposals for changes to the family law system. Many other proposals and suggestions are embedded in the Discussion Paper and are...
Hot Cases in family law – 2018
The most important cases in 2018 have been diverse. This paper looks at some of these. Financial agreements continue to raise new legal issues, and defining a de facto relationship continues to be far more problematic than one would expect. An unusual case involved the ability of an adult child to access the court file of his...
But wait – there are more amendments to the Family Law Act in 2018
The two Bills restructuring the Family Law Courts have been delayed by Parliament for further consideration in 2019. This gave family lawyers hope that 2018 would be a quiet legislative year. But, we were mistaken. Instead, the floodgates have opened. First we had the Family Law Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures)...
Introduction to Wolters Kluwer Australian Family Law Act 1975 book
Introduction Foreshadowed major legislative changes to financial agreements and other aspects of the Family Law Act 1975 did not eventuate in the past 12 months, but the changes to that Act and the Family Law Rules 2004 were sufficient to mean that there have been many changes to this Book. The most significant amendments...
