Bart Janowski

Merger of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and Family Court of Australia

The Commonwealth Parliament has passed the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2020 and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act 2020,  in February 2021 and it awaits Royal Assent. The new Acts create one court, that is an amalgamated Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia …

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How to Cite the Family Law Act

The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) is the is the main law on matters involving divorce, property settlement after marriage breakdown or de facto relationship breakdown, spouse maintenance for a party to a marriage, de facto partner maintenance for a party to a de facto relationship that has broken down and issues relating to parenting …

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Going to Court: The Importance of Disclosure

The duty of disclosure requires all parties to provide the court and each other party all information relevant to an issue in the case. This includes information and documents that the other parties may not know about. Parties can request that certain documents be exempt from disclosure on the basis of privilege or relevance to the dispute.

Child Custody

Introduction Most people will understand the terms “child custody” and “contact”, yet in the family law, these are outdated terms. The terminology changed as a result of changes to the legislative framework brought about by the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 that came into operation on 1 July 2006. The old terminology …

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Less Adversarial Trial

The Family Court has developed a trial process aimed at minimising the negative impact that an adversarial trial can have on the parties involved, especially the children. The Family Court takes a less adversarial approach to trials in child-related proceedings. This means a trial in a child-related proceeding. Is focused on the children and their …

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Child Support

Child support The child support scheme aims to ensure that children receive an appropriate level of financial support from parents who are separated. The Department of Human Services (DHS) delivers the scheme and provides services to parents and carers. DHS assists parents to apply for a child support assessment and facilitates the collection and transfer …

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Can Algorithms Give Legal Advice?

This article originally appeared in the publication Medium. Lawyers and AI If you have no interest in the legal system, the law, access to justice, public policy, regulation, the future of human work and professions, or in lawyers for that matter, then please save yourself some time and click away now. Algorithms and Conditional Logic An …

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Superannuation Splitting in Divorce

When a marriage or de facto relationship breaks down property can be divided between the parties. Superannuation is treated as property under the Family Law Act 1975 but it differs from other types of property because it is held in a trust. Superannuation splitting laws allow superannuation to be divided when a relationship breaks down. This is …

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