Property Start

Before you begin, have you read the OVERVIEW page yet? It’s a good idea to read this first to understand the overall process.

In this section you will be given particular information and asked a specific question about whether that applies to you. Links to extra detailed information are also available for each question.

You answer by clicking the YES or NO buttons under the question.

There are no more than 12 questions in this process (some need even less).
Once answered, you will be provided with a clear, step-by-step path to follow to complete your divorce.
Each step includes the correct Court forms, Court information, instructions on how to complete them and worked examples of the forms to help you see what is expected.
All the relevant sections of the Family Law Act, the Family Law Rules, the Federal Circuit Court Rules and more are available at the click of a button where needed if you want to see what the legislation actually says.
We have also included links to specific external resources to help you along the way.
Any time frames that apply are also highlighted so you know when you have to do things by.

We strongly recommend that you work your way through this section on a computer, rather than a smart phone as you may need to read some PDF documents that cannot be easily read on a small screen. You will also be needing to fill in Court forms which can be awkward without a keyboard.

You will no doubt want to print out your tailored plan to complete your divorce along with several of the Court forms and resources provided, so access to a printer is a must.

So grab a coffee, find somewhere comfortable and let’s begin!

APPLICANT

If you wish to file an Application for Divorce, you will be the Applicant. START HERE

RESPONDENT

If your spouse has already filed an Application for Divorce, you are the Respondent. START HERE

BEFORE COMPLETING YOUR ORDER YOU MUST CONFIRM TO HAVE READ AND AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Disclaimer, Privacy, Data Protection and Terms and Conditions

GENERAL DISCLAIMER

IMPORTANT: Family Law Tool Kits do not offer legal advice. Family Law Tool Kits provides a general information service. This is not intended to be an alternative or substitute for professional legal advice. All our Tool Kits are intended to assist self-represented parties to understand family law as it applies to them and follow the correct procedures to resolve their matters. In all circumstances we recommend that parties seek professional legal advice, but recognise that this is not always possible. However, we strongly urge our customers to see a lawyer after using our Tool Kits for independent legal advice to confirm their legal position and prepared documents before signing or filing anything. We are committed to improving access to justice for all people involved in family law situations.

PRIVACY and DATA PROTECTION POLICY

Family Law Tool Kits and this website https://fltk.com.au are wholly owned and operated by Carolyn Reid Pty Ltd ACN 003 031 418, established 1985. This Privacy and Data Protection Policy is effective from August 2018. Changes to our policy will be published on this web site, noting the date that the change takes effect. Data Collection The only data we collect is strictly that required to process your payment and make our Tool Kits available to you for the specified term of access. Family Law Tool Kits will never sell, share or otherwise disclose any of your collected data with any third party, except as compelled to by law. Confidentiality Due to the nature of some family law situations, Family Law Tool Kits will not contact you for any reason unless you specifically opt-in and authorise contact when purchasing our Products and/or signing up for our information emails. How long we retain your data For users that register on our website, we store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information. If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/ . After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. Media If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website. What rights you have over your data If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes. At any time, you have the right to contact us directly on car@fltk.com.au to update your data or confirm what data we currently hold regarding your use of our products. Where we send your data Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Family Law Tool Kits and this website https://fltk.com.au are wholly owned and operated by Carolyn Reid Pty Ltd ACN 003 031 418, established 1985. Family Law Tool Kits provide education, information and procedural guidance for parties in family law matters. Our Tool Kits (also referred to as “Products”) use and refer to resources from the Family Court of Australia, the Federal Circuit Court, the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department and other authoritative sources, automatically filtered according to customer responses to key questions. We do not provide legal advice. Throughout our web site and within our Tool Kits, we strongly urge customers to seek independent legal advice, before, during or after using our Products and before signing anything. Indemnity Family Law Tool Kits takes no responsibility for how customers might use our Products, or any liability for adverse outcomes. Our customers are wholly and solely responsible and liable for any decisions or actions they might take based on the education, information and/or procedural guidance provided in our Tool Kits. By using our Products customers agree to indemnify Family Law Tool Kits and Carolyn Reid Pty Ltd from any liability whatsoever. Rights of Use of Products Purchase and payment of a Product secures access to the selected Product for the period specified in the Product description page(s). Our products are only available for personal use by individuals for their own family law matters. No license or authority is granted for the use of Family Law Tool Kits by a business, education institution or company. Family Law Tool Kits monitors customers’ access and use of the Products and reserves the right to terminate a customer’s membership access should improper or unauthorised use of the Products be detected. Refund Policy Family Law Tool Kits recommend that you consider carefully whether our Products are appropriate for your needs before purchasing. Should you be unsure of the suitability of any of our Products, please enquire at car@fltk.com.au prior to purchase. Family Law Tool Kits reserves the right to refuse refunds for Product purchases where the Product has been accessed or otherwise used for a period of three (3) days or more. Third Party Links Family Law Tool Kits provides links to third party websites which are not under the control of or maintained by Family Law Tool Kits. These links are provided only for our customers’ convenience and to the maximum extent permitted by law, Family Law Tool Kits will not be responsible for the content of such websites nor do we endorse or recommend any products or services displayed or offered on any linked websites.

Family Law Tool Kits uses cookies to provide you with a better user experience when using our web site and our Products. If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed. If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day. If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. Embedded content from other websites Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Part V—Jurisdiction of courts

Division 1—Jurisdiction in matrimonial causes

39 Jurisdiction in matrimonial causes

(1) Subject to this Part, a matrimonial cause may be instituted under this Act:

(a) in the Family Court; or

(b) in the Supreme Court of a State or a Territory.

(1A) Subject to this Part, a matrimonial cause (other than proceedings of a kind referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii) or paragraph (b) of the definition of matrimonial cause in subsection 4(1)) may be instituted under this Act in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

(2) Subject to this Part, a matrimonial cause (other than proceedings of a kind referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii) or paragraph (b) of the definition of matrimonial cause in subsection 4(1)) may be instituted under this Act in a Court of summary jurisdiction of a State or Territory.

(3) Proceedings for a divorce order may be instituted under this Act if, at the date on which the application for the order is filed in a court, either party to the marriage:

(a) is an Australian citizen;

(b) is domiciled in Australia; or

(4) Proceedings of a kind referred to in the definition of matrimonial cause in subsection 4(1), other than proceedings for a divorce order or proceedings referred to in paragraph (f) of that definition, may be instituted under this Act if:

(a) in the case of proceedings between the parties to a marriage or proceedings of a kind referred to in paragraph (b) of that definition in relation to a marriage—either party to the marriage is an Australian citizen, is ordinarily resident in Australia, or is present in Australia, at the relevant date; and

(b) in any other case—any party to the proceedings is an Australian citizen, is ordinarily resident in Australia, or is present in Australia, at the relevant date.

(4A) In subsection (4), relevant date, in relation to proceedings, means:

(a) if the application instituting the proceedings is filed in a court—the date on which the application is so filed; or

(b) in any other case—the date on which the application instituting the proceedings is made.

(5) Subject to this Part and to section 111AA, the Supreme Court of each State is invested with federal jurisdiction, and jurisdiction is conferred on the Family Court and on the Supreme Court of each Territory, with respect to matters arising under this Act in respect of which:

(a) matrimonial causes are instituted under this Act; or

(b) matrimonial causes are continued in accordance with section 9; or

(d) proceedings are instituted under regulations made for the purposes of section 109, 110, 111, 111A or 111B or of paragraph 125(1)(f) or (g) or under Rules of Court made for the purposes of paragraph 123(1)(r); or

(da) proceedings are instituted under Division 4 of Part XIIIAA or under regulations made for the purposes of section 111CZ; or

(e) proceedings are instituted under section 117A.

(5AA) Subject to this Part and to section 111AA, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia has, and is taken always to have had, jurisdiction with respect to matters arising under this Act in respect of which matrimonial causes (other than proceedings of a kind referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii) or paragraph (b) of the definition of matrimonial cause in subsection 4(1)) are instituted under this Act.

(5A) Subject to this Part and to section 111AA, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia has jurisdiction with respect to matters arising under this Act in respect of which proceedings are instituted under:

(a) regulations made for the purposes of section 109, 110, 111, 111A or 111B; or

(b) regulations made for the purposes of paragraph 125(1)(f) or (g); or

(d) proceedings are instituted under Division 4 of Part XIIIAA or under regulations made for the purposes of section 111CZ.

(6) Subject to this Part and to section 111AA, each court of summary jurisdiction of each State is invested with federal jurisdiction, and jurisdiction is conferred on each court of summary jurisdiction of each Territory, with respect to matters arising under this Act in respect of which:

(a) matrimonial causes (other than proceedings of a kind referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii) or paragraph (b) of the definition of matrimonial cause in subsection 4(1)) are instituted under this Act; or

(b) matrimonial causes (other than proceedings of a kind referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii) or paragraph (b) of the definition of matrimonial cause in subsection 4(1)) are continued in accordance with section 9; or

(d) proceedings are instituted under:

(i) regulations made for the purposes of section 109, 110, 111, 111A or 111B; or

(ii) regulations made for the purposes of paragraph 125(1)(f) or (g); or

(iii) standard Rules of Court made for the purposes of paragraph 123(1)(r); or

(iv) Rules of Court made for the purposes of paragraph 87(1)(j) of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999; or

(da) proceedings are instituted under Division 4 of Part XIIIAA or under regulations made for the purposes of section 111CZ; or

(e) proceedings are instituted under section 117A.

Note: Under section 39A of the Judiciary Act 1903, the jurisdiction conferred by this subsection on a State court of summary jurisdiction may only be exercised by certain judicial officers of the court.

(7) The Governor-General may, by Proclamation, fix a day as the day on and after which proceedings in relation to matters arising under this Part may not be instituted in, or transferred to, a court of summary jurisdiction in a specified State or Territory.

(7AAA) Without limiting the generality of subsection (7), a Proclamation under that subsection may be expressed to apply only in relation to one or more of the following:

(a) proceedings of specified classes;

(b) the institution of proceedings in, or the transfer of proceedings to, a court of summary jurisdiction in a specified part of a State or Territory;

(c) the institution of proceedings in, or the transfer of proceedings to, a court of summary jurisdiction constituted in a specified way.

(7AA) A court of summary jurisdiction in a State or Territory shall not hear or determine proceedings under this Act instituted in or transferred to that court otherwise than in accordance with any Proclamation in force under subsection (7).

(7A) The Governor-General may, by Proclamation, declare that a Proclamation made under subsection (7) is revoked on and from a specified date and, on and after the specified date, this Act (including subsection (7)) has effect as if the revoked Proclamation had not been made, but without prejudice to the effect of the revoked Proclamation in respect of the jurisdiction of courts before the specified date.

(8) Jurisdiction with respect to a matter arising under this Act in respect of which a matrimonial cause is instituted under this Act is not conferred on a court of a Territory unless at least one of the parties to the proceedings is, at the date of the institution of the proceedings or the date of the transfer of the proceedings to the court of the Territory, ordinarily resident in the Territory.

(9) The jurisdiction conferred on or invested in a court by this section includes jurisdiction with respect to matters arising under any law of the Commonwealth in respect of which proceedings are transferred to that court in accordance with this Act.