The significant changes to family law parenting applications have been incorporated into the By Lawyers Family Law – Children guide.
The amendments to the Family Law Act 1975 and to the Court’s procedure arise under two separate pieces of legislation that commenced on 6 May 2024.
Family Law Amendment Act 2023
The amendments to how parenting orders are dealt with under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), include:
- a refined list of factors for the court to consider when determining the best interests of the child, the emphasis now being on safety and the needs of individual children;
- a new subsection requiring the court to consider the right of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child to connect with their family, community, culture, country, and language;
- provisions that allow the court to consider any views expressed by the child to the independent children’s lawyer;
- the repeal of the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility and the related equal time and substantial and significant time provisions;
- codification of the rule in Rice & Asplund that requires a court to be satisfied that a significant change in circumstances has occurred before varying final parenting orders; and
- a mechanism for the court to address repetitive filing of applications by one party to oppress another party.
Family Law Amendment (Information Sharing) Act 2023
- establishes a new regime for information about domestic violence, children at risk, and firearms licensing to be shared between the relevant State authorities and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia;
- makes such material admissible in parenting matters, subject to exceptions and safeguards, for example legal professional privilege.
Publication updates
The Family Law – Children publication has been updated accordingly. To assist firms in understanding and transitioning to the changes a heading Changes effective 6 May 2024 has been added under the Overview in the commentary and on the matter plan, with a concise summary of the amendments and a Comparative table detailing the changes to the Family Law Act effective 6 May 2024 has been added as an Appendix to the commentary, with a link on the matter plan.
101 Family Law Answers has also been updated. Summaries and links to Rice & Asplund and related cases remain available.
Our family law authors and our in-house team will continue to monitor developments and update the publications further as the jurisprudence around these amendments develops.