Family Law

The Lighthouse Project is an initiative of the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia (“the Courts”) to better protect parties and children involved in family law proceedings who are experiencing family violence and/or other safety risks.   How does it work?  The Lighthouse Project involves the following process:  Screening  When a party files an Initiating … Read more

The Legislative reforms in 1996 removed the words ‘custody’, ‘access, and ‘guardianship’ from the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“the Act”) to further discourage parents to view children as possessions and to encourage them to focus not on legal intervention but on the fundamental need for children to develop a close and meaningful relationship with both parents whenever … Read more

A primary carer in family law is the person with whom the child spends the most time with. Most often, this is a parent, however, a primary carer can also be a child’s grandparents, aunts, and uncles.   In some parenting matters, the court may need to assess who a child’s primary carer is as this may assist the court in determining … Read more

The case of Biondi & Koen [2020] FamCA 201 was urgently listed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Background The Mother was an international student who arrived in Australia from Brazil in 2015. The parties had a brief and casual sexual relationship in April 2016. The Mother fell pregnant with the parties’ child. The … Read more

The Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia have recently introduced the National Arbitration List, where family law matters in the Courts will be sent to an external Arbitrator to be finalised. This is good news for parties in the Court system, as preparation for and attendance at an arbitration can often … Read more

In the case of Ritter & Ritter and Anor [2020] FamCAFC 86 the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia allowed an appeal after finding that the husband had not been afforded procedural fairness. In 2012, Mr Ritter and Ms Ritter obtained consent orders resolving their property settlement matter. In 2018, the husband made … Read more

Long & Peng Case Note Recently, the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia at Brisbane (“Family Court”) decided an interesting case involving property matters. In this case, the Family Court dismissed an appeal from the Federal Circuit Court on the basis that there was not sufficient evidence to sustain the appeal, the original … Read more

COVID-19 has certainly thrown parents some ‘curve-balls’. Amongst these are an increased need for separated parents to negotiate on temporary alterations to parenting arrangements, in what might otherwise have been a settled situation. For other parents, COVID-19 has been used an excuse to stop children from spending time with their other parent, or for one … Read more

I’ve been served with a Protection Order Application or a Temporary Protection Order. What should I do? It’s important to take the matter seriously and make an appointment to see a lawyer.  Domestic Violence Applications are treated seriously by the Courts in Australia. Once an Order is in place (temporary or final), the terms set … Read more

In the breakdown of a relationship, the first thing to consider in the process of determining your entitlement to a property settlement is determining what property is available to be split. This property is called the “net asset pool”. A detailed article about what assets are included in a family property settlement can be found here.  … Read more