The Family Court of Australia

In Australia, there are two Commonwealth Courts where family law matters are heard: the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

The Family Court of Australia is considered to be a superior court which has original jurisdiction to hear family law matters and which also acts as an appeal court from decisions of single judges of the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

The number of cases that are now dealt with in the Family Court represents a small percentage of all family law cases as the majority of family law cases are now dealt with in the Federal Circuit Court. Since the establishment of the Federal Circuit Court (formerly known as the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia) in 2000, there has been a shift in the balance of filings between the two courts, with the majority of all family law cases now filed in the Federal Circuit Court. The objective of the establishment of the Federal Circuit Court was to provide a simple and more accessible alternative to litigation in the Family Court and to relieve the workload of those courts.

The Family Court deals with the most complex and intractable parenting disputes requiring substantial court time. These cases often involve allegations of physical or sexual abuse of children; family violence; mental health issues; and substance abuse. Other areas of family law affecting children that the Family Court deals with include domestic and international relocation; international child abduction and the Hague convention; and medical procedures requiring court authorisation.

The Federal Circuit Court on the other hand has jurisdiction to hear cases about family law and child support and the following areas of general federal law: administrative law, admiralty law, bankruptcy, consumer law (formerly trade practices), copyright, human rights, industrial, migration and privacy. The Court shares these jurisdictions with the Family Court (in respect of family law and child support) and the Federal Court (in respect of general federal law).

In the family law area, the Federal Circuit Court has jurisdiction in the following matters:

• applications for divorce
• applications concerning spousal and de facto maintenance
• property disputes
• all parenting orders including those providing for where a child lives, who a child spends time and communicates with, maintenance or specific issues
• enforcement of orders made by either the Federal Circuit Court or the Family Court.
• location and recovery orders as well as warrants for the apprehension or detention of a child.
• determination of parentage and recovery of child bearing expenses.

In the Family Court, there is a case management program known as the Magellan programme. The Magellan programme was developed to deal with Family Court cases involving serious allegations of physical and sexual child abuse. As these cases involve the most vulnerable children, the Family Court has implemented this fast-track programme in all of its registries.

Magellan involves:

• rigorous judicial management including the imposition of strict timeframes
• an early ‘front loading’ of resources such as the appointment of an independent children’s lawyer
• requesting information from the relevant state or territory welfare authority early in the trial process, and
• close liaison on case management between external information providers and a small team of judges, registrars and family consultants.

Before you file an application for divorce, parenting orders and/or property and financial orders, you should seek advice as to which of the two Commonwealth courts you should file in, as a transfer of matters between each Court can add cost and delay to your matter.

Due to matters in the Family Court involving a higher level of complexity, it is important to seek the services of an experienced family lawyer if your matter is likley to be in the Court’s jurisdiction.

Family Court Locations

The Family Court has eight locations in NSW, being Albury, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Lismore, Newcastle, Parramatta, Sydney and Wollongong.

Prime Lawyers have several office locations, with three of them only walking distance from three major Family Law Courts.

Our Sydney office is located at Level 3, 137-139 Bathurst Street, Sydney, which is only 500m from the Court.

Our Parramatta office is located at Groud Floor, 11 George Street, Parramatta, which is in the same street as and only 150m from the Parramatta Family Court.

Our Wollongong office is located at 70 Market Street, Wollongong, which is only 700m from Wollongong Family Court.

In addition to the above, we also have family lawyers located in Sutherland and Chatswood, for your convenience.

If you have a matter before the Family Court of Australia or if you require legal advice for a complex family law matter, we invite you to contact our family lawyers at one of our convenient locations.