You are separating or separated and there is a disagreement about children, money or property, and you cannot afford a lawyer for the whole of it.
The court, the steps required before filing, the time limits, and the eight guides on this site that matter most for a family matter.
An accredited family law specialist.
What is different about a family matter
- The court expects you to have tried to agree first. For parenting, you generally need a certificate from a family dispute resolution practitioner before you can apply for parenting orders, unless an exception applies, such as urgency or family violence. For property, there are pre-action steps too. Filing without them can see the application sent back.
- The best interests of the children decide parenting questions, not fairness between the adults. Documents that argue about the other parent's conduct rather than the children's arrangements land badly.
- Interim orders are common and urgent applications exist. The court can make short-term parenting or financial orders while the case runs, and can hear genuinely urgent matters quickly. The law on parenting was amended in 2024; do not rely on older material about "equal shared" arrangements.
- Disclosure is a continuing duty. Both sides must give full and frank disclosure of finances. Hiding an account is the fastest way to lose credibility with a family court.
- Much of it is decided on affidavits and short hearings, so the affidavit and evidence or submissions guides carry more weight here than anywhere else.
- The tone matters more. Family judges read a great deal of anger. Calm, factual, child-focused writing stands out. That is about tone, not content: evidence of violence, abuse or risk must still be preserved and put before the court, factually. The Calm Spine guide was written for this.
Court, time limits, first steps
The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, in every state and territory except WA, which has its own Family Court applying largely the same law. Not a state court, so the NSW-labelled rules pages on this site do not apply here.
Parenting: family dispute resolution and a certificate, unless an exception applies. Property: the court's pre-action procedures, including a genuine attempt to resolve it and exchange of documents. Check the court's current requirements; they change.
A property or spousal maintenance application must generally be made within 12 months of a divorce order taking effect, or within 2 years of the end of a de facto relationship. Leave to file late is possible but not assured. Parenting applications have no equivalent limit. Confirm the current rule before relying on it.
Separate from everything else. You need 12 months' separation, and the divorce application does not decide children or property.
Parenting plans, consent orders and binding financial agreements can record what you agree. A parenting plan is a written agreement but is not enforceable as an order; consent orders are made by the court without a hearing and are enforceable; a binding financial agreement requires each party to have independent legal advice. Get the release wording checked: the mediation guide explains why.
If there is violence or fear
Family violence changes the process: it is an exception to the dispute-resolution requirement, it is relevant to parenting orders, and the court has safety arrangements for hearings. Say so early, to the registry and in your documents, factually. 1800RESPECT and the state services on the Get help page are for tonight; the court's own family violence pages are linked below. A protection or intervention order is a state court matter and runs separately from the family case.
Which guides apply
Every method guide applies. These eight matter most, in this order.
- The first 48 hoursWhen the letter or the application arrives.
- Clean, confidential or compelled?Disclosure material and the children's information need the sorting rule before anything goes near an AI tool.
- Build a living chronologyFamily matters run on dates: separation, care arrangements, payments, incidents.
- What is an affidavit?Yours will be read closely. Facts, no argument, never AI-drafted. The form and rules are the federal court's, not the NSW ones described on that page.
- Cut what you cannot stand behindAn overstatement about the other parent can damage your credibility.
- Mediation without dependenceFamily dispute resolution is generally required before a parenting application, with exceptions; go in prepared.
- Limited consentInterim arrangements get read as agreements. Say the limit in the sentence.
- Say the helpful thing earlySame-day written confirmation of handovers and conversations, where contact is safe and not restricted by a protection order.
The NSW-labelled pages on directions hearings, notices to admit and court orders describe state civil courts. The concepts transfer; the rule numbers and time periods do not. Use the federal court's own pages for procedure.
Official resources
- FCFCOA: representing myself and family law forms and kits
- Family Relationships Online and the Family Relationship Advice Line, 1800 050 321
- amica, the government's online tool for separating couples who can agree
- Family Violence Law Help
- Family Court of WA handbooks if you are in Western Australia
- The full list, by state, on the resources page