DIVORCE LAWYERS SYDNEY

Divorce

A divorce is the legal end of a marriage and allows for either party to remarry. In Australia, we have a “no fault” divorce system, which means that the Court does not need to know why the marriage has ended.

To be eligible to make an Application for Divorce, section 39(3) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) requires one of the parties to be able to satisfy the following criteria:

• Be an Australian citizen;
• Permanently live in Australia; or
• Be an ordinarily resident in Australia or have been for one year prior to the filing of the application.

Once it is determined that one or both parties satisfy these criteria, the parties are eligible to make an application either solely or jointly.

In order to grant the parties’ application for Divorce, the court must first be satisfied that the parties are legally married. This is usually proven by filing a copy of the marriage certificate with the Court. Once this is established, in accordance with Section 48 of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), the parties must satisfy the Court that:

1. The marriage has broken down irretrievably;
2. They have been separated for a period of at least 12 months;

1. a) If the couple are separated but living under the one roof, they must provide evidence, by way of, affidavits outlining their living arrangements;

1. That there is no reasonable likelihood of the parties reconciling.

The Court sometimes has further requirements and may request further information before granting the Application for Divorce. This can include:

• If you have been married for less than two years, both parties must attend marriage counselling and obtain a certificate of counselling.
• If there are children who are under 18 years old, the Court will request information as to whether consideration and arrangements have been made regarding the care of the children.