If you are considering commencing any family court process or action, seek formal advice from an experienced family law solicitor first. This is to ensure you understand the pre-action procedures in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFOA) first.
The following guide has been extracted and summarized from the Family Law Rules 2004. This information is provided to help you understand the general intent of the Rules.Â
Each prospective party to a case in the Family Court of Australia is required to make a genuine effort to resolve the dispute before starting a case by:
Unless there are good reasons for not doing so, all parties are expected to have followed these pre-action procedures before filing an application to start a case. There may be serious consequences, including costs penalties, for non-compliance with these requirements.
The circumstances in which the court may accept that it was not possible or appropriate for a party to follow the pre-action procedures include urgent cases, or cases where family violence are involved, or where there are allegations of fraud.
The pre-action procedure applies to:
The main objectives of the Pre-action procedures will be met by:
The objective of Pre-Action Procedures is:
At all stages during the pre-action negotiations the parties must have regard to the need to protect and safeguard the interests of any child and the continuing relationship between a parent and a child.
The Duty of Disclosure can be found of the FCFOA website.Â
Pre-action procedure is not required for applications:
The Commonwealth Courts Portal is the Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia’s point of contact with applications for Divorce, Parenting Orders and Financial Orders. Once you have been assigned a case number, it will appear in this portal for you to access at any stage through the process. Signing up is easy and can be done on the FCFOA website. Instructions on what to do are given on the website also.
All application forms, that is, divorce, parenting and financial applications are available on the FCFOA website. Instructions on what to do are also available on the website.
AussieLegal offers a range of family law services, including the preparation of Divorce applications, Binding Child Support Agreements and Consent Orders.
We can also help you prepare your separation agreement using our Binding Separation Agreement Plus service, which includes legal advice from experienced family lawyers for both parties. Thus, you can amicably divide your assets and complete property settlement.
Call us on 1300 728 200 to discuss your situation with one of our consultants.
