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 arrangements after separation.
When citing the Family Law Act remember:
Titles of Acts are ALWAYS italicised when listed in full, therefore we write Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
Titles of Acts are NOT italicised when they are abbreviated e.g. Family Law Act.
Titles of Regulations e.g. Family Law Regulations 1984, and all other documents e.g. Initiating Application, are NOT italicised in the body of the document.
The jurisdiction before or after an Act’s title is NOT italicised e.g. Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). The abbreviation used for ‘Commonwealth’ is ‘(Cth)’.
The year MUST be added to the full title of the Act and it is italicised e.g. Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) NOT Family Law Act (Cth).
You can abbreviate commonly used Acts, but you must list the Act in full in the first instance (with date and jurisdiction) and add the abbreviation you will use after it (e.g. Family Law Act, the Act, FLA, etc.). These abbreviated forms are NOT italicised and there’s no need for the year or the jurisdiction.