ByLawyers News and Updates

Family Law Act – FED

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Changes to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) under the Family Law Amendment Act 2024 have effect from 10 June 2025.

The bulk of the amendments relate to property matters, including:

  • significant changes to s 79 of the Act by codifying the four-step process and bringing the s 75(2) considerations into s 79;
  • introducing a new s 79(5) concerning material wastage of assets by one party and the treatment of liabilities;
  • new principles for conducting proceedings;
  • adding the pre-action disclosure obligations in the FCFCOA’s rules into the Family Law Act;
  • requiring greater consideration of the impacts of family violence on property division, including introducing a new 79(4)(ca) relating to the effect of family violence on a party’s ability to make contributions to the marriage, and adding examples under the definition of family violence of economic or financial abuse;
  • a new s 79AA making property orders enforceable against the estate of a deceased party;
  • a new definition of companion animals and the ability for the court to make orders about ownership of them, including transfer to a third party;
  • extension of the Less Adversarial Trial process to property cases in certain circumstances;
  • expanding the court’s power to order arbitration.

Amendments that are not specific to property cases include:

  • repealing ss 44(1B) and 44(1C) to remove the limitation on divorce orders within 2 years of marriage;
  • the requirement for an appearance at a divorce hearing by a sole applicant where there are children under 18 years;
  • updating the costs provisions in the Act by introducing a new Part XIVC and repealing ss 117, 117AA, 117AC, 117C(2);
  • more comprehensive regulation of children’s contact services;
  • introducing a new Division 1B in Part XI, being a scheme to protect sensitive information held by professional service providers.

The By Lawyers Property Settlement and 101 Family Law Answers publications have been updated accordingly.

Some changes under the amending Act commenced on 11 December 2024. They related to Commonwealth Information Orders in children proceedings, and separation declarations relevant to financial agreements. The Children and Financial Agreements commentaries have already been updated for those changes.

In the course of these updates, all the By Lawyers Family Law publications have been thoroughly reviewed and enhanced. Subscribers will notice new and revised commentary, re-ordering of content in the commentaries and on the matter plans, new and amended precedents, new cases, and updated links to legislation and other useful resources. As always, we welcome feedback from our users about these publication updates to: askus@bylawyers.com.au

Priority Property Pool – FED

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From 30 October 2023, under a new Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia practice direction, special procedures apply for property matters that qualify as Priority Property Pool (PPP) Cases.

Some registries of the FCFCOA have operated special arrangements under the PPP500 pilot since February 2020. The arrangements will now apply to proceedings in all registries.

Priority Property Pool Cases are those where the net value of the asset pool is, or appears to be, less than $550,000 excluding superannuation interests, or not significantly greater and the court considers it appropriate to include the matter as a PPP case.

Previously, under the pilot program, the cap was $500,000.

Priority property Pool cases can include matters involving applications for property settlement, spouse maintenance, or urgent spouse maintenance.

Cases will not qualify as a PPP Case if:

  1. they involve entities such as a family trust, company, or self-managed superannuation fund the value of which is contested and requires valuation or expert investigation,
  2. only parenting orders are sought,
  3. both parenting and financial orders are sought, or
  4. child support is the issue.

The new Family Law Practice Direction – Priority Property Pool Cases applies. It revokes and replaces the previous Family Law Practice Direction Priority Property Pools Under $500,000, and must be read in conjunction with:

PPP Cases proceed differently to standard cases. The Guide for practitioners in PPP Cases sets out the applicable procedure. Important differences from standard case procedures include:

  • At each court date the parties’ lawyers must inform the judicial registrar of the costs their client has incurred to date, their estimated costs to the conclusion of a final hearing, and the source of the funding for representation.
  • Adjournments are discouraged and will be granted only in exceptional circumstances.

The By Lawyers Family Law Property Settlement publication has been updated accordingly.

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