Resources

This Practice Direction applies to family law applications made in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (the Court) which are filed in circumstances where no parent is available to care for a child or children and orders are sought for parental responsibility to enable appropriate arrangements to be made for the child or children

This Practice Direction establishes the pilot of a Major Complex Financial Proceedings List, which applies to any Initiating Application (Family Law) seeking financial orders pursuant to the Family Law Act 1975, that is a Major Complex Financial Proceedings List case (MCFP List Case) in the Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane registry or if appropriate to be managed electronically, a MCFP List Case in any other registry of the Court. The pilot of the MCFP List commenced on 1 October 2021.

This information notice provides the profession with information about jurisprudential and other developments that relate to Applications for Review of registrar decisions, since the commencement of the new case management pathway in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (the Court).

This information notice establishes the manner in which files in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia may be constituted.

This Information Notice applies to all proceedings filed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1) and (Division 2) (Courts) in the Courts’ family law, migration and general federal law jurisdictions.

This information notice outlines the information sharing protocols between the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and the Department of Fairness, Families and Housing, Victoria, which provide an important mechanism for gathering evidence in parenting proceedings.

The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia has developed new rules of court for all proceedings in the Court with effect from 1 September 2021. Various new Practice Directions and Information Notices have been issued to accompany the new rules. This Practice Direction formally revokes a number of outdated or superseded Practice Directions and Information Notices issued by the Family Court of Australia or Federal Circuit Court of Australia prior to the commencement of the operation of the Court on 1 September 2021.

The Chief Justice/Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia has made new rules of court for all proceedings in the Court with effect from 1 September 2021. The new rules apply to all proceedings in the Court commenced before 1 September 2021 but not finally determined before that date in accordance with the transitional arrangements described at Part 2 of this PD. The Court retains the discretion to dispense with compliance with any provision of the new rules at all times, including where application of the new rules would operate unfairly or cause injustice.

This Special Measures Information Notice sets out arrangements for the continued operation of subpoena inspections in the Dandenong, Dubbo, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Sydney and Wollongong registries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This protocol will apply to all hearings and other court events in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1) and (Division 2) (the Courts) from 7 November 2022.