What is Australian Family law?
Australian Family Law is the set of rules and regulations which govern the family in Australia. There are a number of important pieces of legislation which relate to family law, but the operation of the Marriage Act (Cth), the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and the defacto legislation in some of the States of Australia are the key pieces of legislation in relation to the operation of family law in Australia. There is also the common law which is used to interpret legislation and apply it to the the specific situations which emerge from the operation of family law. However because the common law tradition did not to any large extent engage in determinations about the operation of family law before the introduction of family law legislation in the late 1970s. This means that the legislation is now largely the driving force between shaping the family law and it is not as influenced by the common law as it has been in other jurisdictions.
Some interesting facts about Australian family law are that in 1975, when the no fault divorce system was introduced, there was a surge of divorce cases heard because it was no longer necessary to prove adultery in relation to a divorce. It was simply done for the reason of irreconcilable differences. It is still necessary to wait one year from the date of separation before filing for a divorce and the court must be satisfied that any children of the marriage are being cared for appropriately at the time of the divorce. However, apart from these requirements, divorce is relatively simple compared to what it was in the past.
The two major issues that tend to dominate people’s concerns in relation to family law in Australia now are the settlement of property in relation to a divorce and the custody of children. In the language of family law, this is known as a parenting order. Our lawyers are available to chat anytime about any of these issues. You can chat online or drop us a line using the contact form or post your legal question into the question box below.
