Family Law – must include
The types of cases that can be heard by the family court
The Family court is a superior court which was established by the parliament in 1975. The Family court has the jurisdiction to hear cases which concern Family law. For example the cases heard in Family court can be the validity of marriage, divorce, parenting cases, property disputes and maintenance. The Family court has specialist judges and experienced staff to resolve family disputes. Some cases can be very emotional for both children and parents. Although staff are experienced and have heard many cases some can be quite difficult to hear which leads to staff bringing the issue home. The Family court have counselling session which families and staff can attend
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There are four common law requirements for a valid marriage, these being a monogamous union, a heterosexual union, a union for life and a voluntary union. These are requirements that are identified in Marriage Act (Cth) 1961 (‘MA’) ss 46(1) and 69(2). Other legal requirements imposed by the Marriage Act is the person at least 16 years of age and is proposing to marry a person of at least 18 years of age.
Are marriages and de facto relationships protected in the same way?
How does divorce work in Australia?
Until 1961, each state had its own law to deal with divorce and related issues such as property, maintenance, custody and access. Then the Matrimonial Causes Act was introduced and for the first time there was one law throughout Australia covering divorce. The FLA (Family Law Act) replaced the Matrimonial Causes Act. The Family Law Act 1975 has the power to make laws with regards to marriage, divorce and “matrimonial causes”.
The Family Law Act has rules and regulations to work with disputes at early stages. People who can use Family Law Act are: People wishing to divorce, obtain a property settlement, spousal maintenance or an order for protection;
People wishing to obtain a parenting order for their children or orders in relation to the protection of their
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A divorce may be applied for under the Family Law Act by a party to the marriage if they fit the criteria they have to be an Australian Citizen or domiciled in Australia. To apply for a divorce there must be grounds that have to be met the ground for divorce is the unrecoverable breakdown of the marriage. This is proven by showing that the parties have separated and lived separately and apart for a continuous period of 12 months after filing the application. The court must be satisfied that the parties have been separated for 12 months and that it is unlikely that cohabitation will begin
A century ago, divorce was nearly non-existent due to the cultural and religious pressures placed upon married couples. Though over time Canadians have generally become more tolerate of what was once considered ‘mortal sin’, marital separation and divorce still remain very taboo topics in society. Political leaders are frowned upon when their marriages’ crumble, religions isolate and shun those who break their martial vows and people continue to look down on those who proceed to legally separate their households. With that being said, couples do not just decide to get a divorce for no particular reason. There must be something driving them towards marital dissatisfaction and further, driving them towards divorce.
The areas in which these reforms should occur are twofold. One argument that Judge Ross raises repeatedly is that measures should be taken to insure the sustainability of Family Court employees through more manageable caseloads. The necessity of this change is evident in countless examples of children suffering as a result of constantly changing, thin-spread, staff. In one particular instance, a six month child abuse case is adjourned because they “don’t have the medical records” in time (128). The second argument that can be implicitly made based off of Judge Ross’s expressed frustrations is that, if given the proper time for consideration, there should be more room for consideration of circumstance in Family Court. From a legal standpoint, there is substantial evidence for the validity of a common law approach to Family Court over the traditional civil law. Judge Ross establishes that ideally “In each case to protect children, to assure due process, to remain neutral until the facts are established, to apply common sense and sound judgment within the framework of the law in making decisions—the Family Court judge’s charge lies quite outside the arena of public policy, comment, and debate” (104). However, as seen in many of his cases, the combination of the overflowing workload and an inability to apply proper consideration to any given circumstance makes it impossible for the pre-existing
The main case that will be discussed in this paper is Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. Walsh. This paper will argue that Bastarache J delivers the significant argument due to the recognition that individual’s choice to marry or not to marry must be respected; benefits arise from both married and common law relationships therefore, the Matrimonial Property Act does not discriminate unmarried heterosexual couples. This essay will address the facts, the legal issues, the decision, and an analysis of the decision.
The merits of both the adversarial and inquisitorial system will be explored throughout this paper. The Australian rule of law best describes as all law should be applied equally and fairly. The five vital operations of the rule of law includes fairness, rationality, predictability, consistency, and impartially. The adversarial system adopts these operations by having a jury decide on the verdict and the judge being an impartial decision maker. In contrast, the inquisitorial system relies heavily on the judge. This can result in abusive power and bias of the judge when hearing evidence and delivering verdicts. The operations of the rule of law determine why the rule of law is best served by the adversarial system in Australia.
Under Australia’s current marriage laws, only persons of opposing sexes are allowed to get married. In other words, only a man can marry a woman under current law. The plebiscite will ask Australians whether they want to change that definition of marriage.
C. Cobley & N. Lowe, ‘Interpreting the Threshold Criteria Under Section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 – the House of Lords Decision in Re B’ (2009) Modern Law Review 72 (3)
Throughout the years there has been limitless legal cases presented to the court systems. All cases are not the same. Some cases vary from decisions that are made by a single judge, while other cases decisions are made by a jury. As cases are presented they typically start off as disputes, misunderstandings, or failure to comply among other things. It is possible to settle some cases outside of the courts, but that does require understanding and cooperation by all parties involved. However, for those that are not so willing to settle out of court, they eventually visit the court system. The court system is not in existence to cause humiliation for anyone, but more so to offer a helping hand from a legal prospective. At the same time, the legal system is not to be abuse. or misused either.
The Family Law Act was first considered for change as the Government felt that the original act did not deal well with family violence, this led to a National Plan being developed to reduce violence against women and their children . This plan came from an enquiry conducted by the Australian Law Reform Commission in 2010 which produced a report that provided information on Family Violence and the legal response; this included a section within this report that informed the reader on 187 recommendations for possible future reforms of the Family Law Act . The report concluded to show the need for an Amendment for the Family Law Act through research that had been conducted around violence within the home showing that men and women exper...
The dissolution of a marriage, or ‘divorce’ as it is known, was once an infrequent occurrence and often considered the failure of a wife to maintain a happy marriage (Lewis, 2013). Following a change in legislation in the 1960s that allowed partners to end their marriage without having to provide justification, in conjunction with the sexual liberation movement, the incidence of divorce more than doubled (Wilcox, 2009). According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012), the number of marriages ending in divorce has continued to rise, however, despite an increase in social acceptance, the negative impact divorce has on children has remained prevalent (Kelly & Emery, 2004). It is imperative for researchers to assess the repercussions of divorce in order to learn how to efficiently minimise the negative impact it has on those involved. Studies have shown that children of divorce often experience high levels of psychological distress due to the alteration of family dynamics, as well as the experience of loss, grief and the fear of abandonment (Kelly, 2000). Such powerful disruptions within a child’s microsystem can result in ongoing behavioural difficulties, as the child may have developed destructive schemas during the times of considerable stress (Kim, 2011). An increase in stress can be detrimental to the child’s social and academic performance, which could contribute to lifelong complications (Potter, 2010). Despite this, it is important to remember that whilst the process of divorce and its aftermath can create significant emotional disturbance for some, it also marks the dissolution of an unhealthy relationship, which can result in the cessation of exposure to negativity, such as arguments and fighting, for others (Strohs...
In the Commonwealth of Australia’s Constitution Act s 51, powers of the Commonwealth Parliament to legislate on family law subjects is laid out, it states:
A person living in Australia can be removed in two ways: through deportation or removal.
Family Law Key Cases, by Helen L. Conway, edited by Jacqueline Martin & Chris Turner, Published by Routledge 2013
The divorce act demands the sole grounds for divorce as breakdown of marriage, and provides for three basic ways of proving it:
Divorce, in history, has always been considered as a deviance of society. However, in the modern world, where people have senses of individualism, divorce has become a phenomenon. There are numerous reasons for divorce, from not knowing each other well enough before marriage, lack of money, long distance relationships, frequent disagreements to partners...
divorce much easier than before, without having to prove adultery or violence. The Matrimonial Family Proceedings Act of 1985 is also another new law which affected the rate of divorce, this allowed. people to get divorced after being married for only one year, whereas before in 1985 married couples had to wait at least three years before they could get divorced. This act increased divorces as people split up. at a faster rate if they had problems in their relationship and didn’t.