Divorce

Divorce law advice in Australia, the divorce process and divorce lawyers, Sydney Australia

Armstrong Legal are Australian divorce law advisors and Family Law specialists. Armstrong Legal also provides related services including divorce lawyer, child custody and child residence advice, and offer property division advice from some of Sydney's top family lawyers.

In Australia, a divorce may be obtained in either the Family Court of Australia or the Federal Magistrates Court. Further Australian divorce advice is also available online from the Family Court website.

The requirements for obtaining a divorce in Australia are as follows:

Marriage - You must first satisfy the court that you have a valid marriage. A marriage certificate, with a sworn translation into English, if necessary, will suffice. If you do not have a copy of a marriage certificate or require translation, our divorce lawyers can usually arrange that for you. If no marriage certificate is available, the court may require you to give some alternate evidence of the marriage prior to granting divorce.

Jurisdiction - The court only has power to grant a divorce if the applicant has one of the following attributes:

• Regards Australia as home;
• Intends to live in Australia indefinitely;
• Has lived his or her whole life in Australia;
• Is an Australian citizen; or 
• Ordinarily lives in Australia and has lived in Australia for the 12 months prior to the making of the application for divorce.

Divorce and the break down of relationships

The court must be satisfied that the relationship has broken down irretrievably. A period of separation of 12 months immediately before filing the application satisfies the court of this fact. A couple may be separated and still live together provided they satisfy the court that they are not living as husband and wife. That is to say, their relationship has reduced to sharing accommodation. If a couple reconcile during the period of separation, the separation does not have to recommence provided any reconciliation or reconciliations do not total more than a total of three months and those three months do not count as part of the period of 12 months of separation. The Court is normally satisfied that separation has taken place by the applicant swearing as to the separation on the application for divorce.

Satisfactory arrangements for the children in divorce law

The court will not grant a divorce in Australia unless it is satisfied that appropriate arrangements for any children are in place. That does not mean those arrangements are formal, nor does it mean that there is no dispute, but rather that at the time of the divorce hearing, the children are being appropriately cared and provided for. We have provided further information and advice on Australian child custody and divorce information here.

Filing and payment of divorce fees

An application for divorce is required to be completed, sworn by the applicant before a divorce lawyer or justice of the peace and filed with the correct filing fee paid. Some applicants may qualify for a waiver of the filing fee.

Service and notice

Upon filing the application form, in triplicate, a hearing date will usually be allocated approximately eight weeks from filing. On filing of the divorce application, a sealed copy is returned by the court. That copy must be personally given to the respondent, by someone who is over the ager of 16 years other than the applicant, at least 28 days before the divorce hearing. That person must then swear an affidavit to the effect that the application was given to the defendant, when and what was said. The reason for this is so that the court can be satisfied that the respondent is aware of the application and the hearing date.

After being satisfied of the above matters, the court will generally grant a decree nisi which is stage 1 of a divorce. Stage 2 is the decree becoming absolute. A decree will generally become absolute 1 month and 1 day after the decree nisi was granted. Service can be affected by other methods, however, personal service as described above, is the most common.

At Armstrong Legal we have specialist divorce lawyers to assist people through the difficulties associated with the breakdown of relationships and issues in relation to marriage breakdown and divorce.

Armstrong Legal - Divorce Lawyers | Family Law Advice | Divorce Law | Sydney Australia