Blog
Duty of Disclosure: Dealing With Delinquent Litigants
Surridge & Surridge [2017] FamCAFC 10 Parties to a property dispute are required to provide full and frank disclosures of their financial circumstances. They are bound by this obligation both before, and after, proceedings have commenced. Where a party has failed...
How Does the Court Deal With Property Acquired After Separation?
Calvin & McTier [2017] FamCAFC 125 Ordinarily, the first step that the court takes in determining a property application is identifying and valuing the property of the parties. In this particular context, “property” has a broad definition and would typically...
Property Settlements Under Australian Family Law
The court has the power to re-distribute matrimonial property between the parties to a marriage. This power is set out in s 79(1) of the Family Law Act (“FLA”). Section s 79(2) of the Family Law Act limits the use of this power to circumstances where making such order...
The Best Interests Principle in Detail
Whenever the court makes a parenting order, it must regard the child’s best interests as the paramount consideration. This is the paramountcy principle. Section 60CC of the Family Law Act sets out two categories of consideration that the court must take into account...
Spousal Maintenance Considerations in Australia
In Australia, courts must have regard to the spousal maintenance considerations set out in s 75(2) of the Family Law Act when hearing such applications. These considerations specify the factual matters that the court must take into account in determining what...
Spousal Maintenance and Child Support
“Maintenance” refers to virtually any form of material provision enabling an adult or child to live above mere subsistence. Under s 80(1) of the Family Law Act, a court is empowered to make such orders as it considers proper for the provision of spousal maintenance....
Custody and Parenting Orders
The parenting regime of the Family Law Act is set out in Pt VII. Its purpose is to: ensure that children have the benefit of both parents’ involvement in their lives to the extent that this is consistent with the their best interests; protect children from physical or...
Divorce and De Facto Separation in Australia
Marriage A “marriage” is "the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.” In light of this definition, then, there are 4 requirements for a valid marriage: the marriage in question is a voluntary union; it is between...