Family Court Merger

On 1 September 2021, the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia merged into the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court of Australia (FCFC).

What Does This Mean?

The amalgamated court has two divisions: Division One and Division Two.

Division One hears appeals and deals with the most complex matters relating to families and children.

Division Two replaces the Federal Circuit Court and receives all initiating cases meaning that all cases will enter into the Court system from one single entry point, thereby eliminating the need to consider where to commence proceedings.

Once proceedings have been received into the Federal Circuit Court, they can be transferred to the Family Court if assessed as being eligible for that jurisdiction.

What Type of Matters Will Be Heard?

There will be no change as to the types of matters that will be heard in these Courts, that is, they will continue to specialise in family law and the current specialist judges will continue in their roles.

In fact, under the new structure, more judges are appointed to the two courts.

The Courts will continue to focus on key case management too.

The Personal Property Pool 500 (PPP500) was recently introduced as a 2-year pilot program with the aim to provide a simplified way of resolving property disputes.

This will minimise risk, legal costs, and try to preserve the parties’ assets, particularly when the asset pool is less than $500,000.

As of yet, it is unclear exactly how the merger will affect families and pending cases.

The practitioners at Bambrick Legal are following this matter closely and will keep our community updated on changes and any actions they may need to be taken.