DIVORCE LAWYER

No. All the communication happens from us to your partner or their solicitor, if they have one.

We work closely with reputable service companies to ensure your partner receives the documents. We initiate a job request with the server company and one of their workers attends your partner’s address to serve the documents. Your partner will need to sign certain documents to prove to the Court that they have received the documents.

$1,650 (inc. GST). This amount does not account for document process server fees and attendance at Court (if required).

Australian Family Law does not require a person’s consent to get divorced. Provided certain requirements are met, for example 12 months’ separation and at least one of the parties is resident in Australia, the divorce will go through. A party may object to the Divorce and file a Response, however it will not be upheld simply because they do not want to get a divorce. They must prove to the Court that one of the requirements for divorce are missing. Commonly, it will be when a party asserts that 12 months’ separation has not yet occurred.

Think of Family Law cases as having three heads: Divorce, Parenting and Property. The Divorce head is the legal termination of the marriage. It permits the parties to re-marry as polygamy is unlawful in Australia. In how it relates to Parenting, at the Court divorce hearing the Court wants to be satisfied that proper arrangements are in place for the care, welfare and development of the children. In the Divorce Application, there is space to describe the parenting arrangements in place. In terms of its interaction with Property, parties have 12 months to initiate a Property Settlement claim in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia from the date on the Divorce Order. There will be no in-depth exploration of Parenting and Property matters at the Divorce Hearing. These are explored in separate cases which require the filing of separate documents.

All reasonable attempts need to be made to serve documents on the other party. However, if a party is clearly avoiding service then evidence will need to be shown to the Court of attempts made. It may mean that a Court dispenses with the need for service, meaning service will not need to occur.

The Court will want to see that all reasonable attempts have been made to locate your partner. For example, searching the electoral roll, asking friends and family, reviewing social media. If the search fails, the Court can grant a variety of Orders such as a Substituted Service Order and Dispensation of Service Order. The former permits the Divorce Application to be served on your partner other than by hand, for example their last known email address or social media account. The latter allows the Divorce to be processed without service needing to occur, though this is less common.

Yes. Provided there is a valid copy of a marriage certificate, the divorce can proceed.

All reasonable attempts will need to be made to locate the marriage certificate, such as making inquiries with public record institutions such as Births, Deaths and Marriages. If a marriage certificate cannot be obtained, you will have to give evidence of a marriage ceremony taking place. This may require leading evidence from witnesses present at the ceremony, such as friends, family and/or marriage celebrants.

Yes, this is called a “Joint Divorce Application”. It is in fact a smoother process since both parties are in agreement and does not require us to arrange a process server to serve documents on your partner. It will require the ordinary Application to be completed and signed by both parties.