New South Wales registries (including Albury and Lismore) and the Australian Capital Territory have joined an expanded Webex pilot. During the pilot some electronic court events will be conducted using the Webex platform.

The expansion of Lighthouse means that risk screening, triage and differentiated case management, including the Evatt List, is now available in 15 family law registries and offered to any party filing parenting only, and parenting and financial orders.

It has been two years since the Courts implemented Lighthouse to address both the legal and wellbeing needs of families experiencing family violence in the context of relationship breakdown.

Court proceedings should be a last resort. The Courts expect people to make genuine attempts to engage in dispute resolution, to avoid the time, cost and stress associated with litigation.

Where it is safe to do so, you can take ownership of your dispute. Whether you agree, partially agree or don’t agree at all. You can mediate at any stage, as many times as you need. It is time we started thinking differently about family law disputes.

The Courts place children, litigants and their safety at the heart of the process.
For some families, it may be unsafe to resolve their disputes without the help of the Courts process and Court orders. Remember, there are people who can help you.

For those matters that need to proceed to trial parties can be confident in the process which has integrity, the expertise of judges, judicial registrars, court child experts and staff, delivering a world-leading federal law system.