The Australian family law system is undergoing significant changes, with new laws commencing on 6 May 2024 and a further round that followed just over a year later. These updates, introduced under the Family Law Amendment Act 2023 and the Family Law Amendment Act 2024, bring about important changes to how courts handle parenting orders, property division, family violence, and the decision-making process concerning children’s best interests.
Whether you are currently involved in a parenting dispute, a property settlement, or thinking about initiating one, understanding these changes is crucial to ensure you navigate your family law matters effectively.
Many separating parents and couples assume family law changes happens rarely and changes little in practice. In reality, these amendments touch almost every part of a separation, who a child lives with, how decisions get made, how property is divided, how family violence is weighed, and even what happens to the family pet.
Getting the details wrong, or relying on outdated information from before 6 May 2024, can lead to real setbacks in your case. At Collective Family Law Group, our experienced family law solicitors on the Gold Coast are here to help you comprehend and manage the impact of these new laws on your family dynamics.
Changes to the Family Law Act from May 2024
From 6 May 2024, the Family Law Amendment Act 2023 affects all new parenting cases as well as those already before the court but not yet concluded. Key changes include:
- New laws about how the courts will make parenting orders in the best interests of a child
- Decision-making for long-term issues
- Time spent with each parent
- Reopening concluded parenting cases
- An expanded definition of “relative” and “family” that better reflects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander concepts of family
These amendments represent a shift in focus away from the legal presumptions that previously shaped decisions, placing greater emphasis on ensuring that all decisions made by the court reflect the child’s wellbeing. As the Attorney-General’s Department factsheet for parents explains, the reforms are designed to make parenting matters and the best interests of the child easier for everyday families to understand, not just family lawyers.
What Is in the Best Interests of My Child?
The new laws significantly alter how courts determine what is in a child’s best interests. Under the amendments, the court will consider six key factors when making decisions about parenting arrangements.
1. The Safety of the Child
The safety of the child and the safety of each person caring for the child is paramount. Protecting children from harm, including physical, emotional, and psychological harm, is now a clear priority. This includes any history of family violence involving the child or a person caring for the child, and any family violence order that has applied, or currently applies, to them.
2. The Child’s Views
Children’s views play a more prominent role in the court’s decision-making process, particularly as they grow older. The court will take into account the child’s ability to form and express their own opinions.
3. Developmental, Psychological, Emotional, and Cultural Needs
The court will carefully assess the child’s overall developmental, psychological, and emotional needs, as well as their cultural upbringing. This ensures that decisions promote the child’s mental and emotional wellbeing.
4. The Capacity of Each Parent
The court will evaluate the capacity of each parent to meet the child’s needs, focusing on each parent’s ability to provide for their child’s developmental, psychological, emotional, and cultural needs.
5. Relationships with Parents and Significant Others
The court will consider the benefit of the child maintaining relationships with both parents, siblings, and other significant people in the child’s life, such as grandparents.
6. Cultural Considerations
For children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, the court will place specific importance on how the parenting arrangements help the child experience aspects of their culture, community, family language, and Country, fostering a connection to their cultural identity.
This is now a standalone requirement rather than being folded into a general list, giving Aboriginal families greater recognition of their cultural values and concept of family in the decision-making process.
Understanding how these new factors influence the court’s decisions is essential for parents seeking to create arrangements that are truly in the best interests of their child. If you are unsure about how these changes will affect your case, consulting with an Australia family lawyer, such as one of our family law solicitors on the Gold Coast, can provide you with clarity.
Equal Shared Parental Responsibility Changed in 2024
One of the most talked-about reforms is the removal of the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility. Before 6 May 2024, section 61DA of the Family Law Act 1975 created a presumption that applied in almost every parenting matter, unless there were reasonable grounds to believe a parent had engaged in family violence or child abuse.
Where that presumption applied, the court was then required to consider whether the child should spend equal time, or substantial and significant time, with each parent under section 65DAA.
In practice, this presumption was widely misunderstood. Many separated parents interpreted it as a personal right to equal time with their child, regardless of the actual circumstances, which often led to prolonged litigation and outcomes that were not necessarily in the child’s best interests.
Following extensive consultation with the Australian Law Reform Commission, the Family Law Council, and family violence stakeholders, the presumption was repealed entirely.
How Are Decisions About Long-Term Issues Made?
A significant change under the new law is the removal of the presumption of equal shared decision-making responsibility. From 6 May 2024, the court no longer presumes that parents should share decision-making responsibilities equally unless this arrangement is in the child’s best interests.
This applies to decisions about long-term issues such as healthcare, education, and religion.
Parental Responsibility
While the presumption of equal shared decision-making no longer applies, parental responsibility remains unless a court order says otherwise. This means that both parents may still be required to work together to make joint decisions about major long-term issues unless the court determines that it is in the child’s best interests for one parent to hold sole decision-making responsibility.
Joint Decision-Making and the New Guidance Provisions
If the court orders joint decision-making, both parents must make a genuine effort to consult with each other on long-term matters related to the child. The amendments introduced specific new provisions to support this:
- Section 61CA encourages parents to consult each other on significant long-term decisions affecting their child, provided it is safe and feasible to do so. While not strictly enforceable, it acts as a guide for cooperative parenting after separation.
- Subsection 61D(3) and section 61DAA clarify that while courts can still make orders for joint decision-making, those orders require that parents genuinely attempt to make decisions together rather than simply having the label applied on paper.
Parents can also agree on parenting arrangements outside of court through a parenting plan or consent orders, which can be a faster and less stressful path than litigation. These changes highlight the importance of collaboration between parents when making decisions that impact their child’s future.
Working with an Australia family lawyer at Collective Family Law Group can help ensure that you make informed decisions that reflect your child’s best interests, including how you approach a new partner being introduced to your children, or how to handle a request to change your child’s school without the other parent’s consent.
When Can I Spend Time With My Children?
One common misconception is that parents are automatically entitled to equal time with their children. Under the previous provisions of the Family Law Act 1975, the court was required to consider equal time in certain circumstances under section 65DAA, but with that section now repealed, this presumption no longer applies.
Best Interests of the Child, Not a Default Timetable
From 6 May 2024, the court focuses entirely on what is in the best interests of the child, without any automatic assumption that equal time with each parent is the default solution. Instead, decisions are based on individual circumstances, including the child’s safety, emotional wellbeing, and the capacity of each parent to meet the child’s needs.
In practice, the requirement for courts to consider equal or substantial time arrangements only arises once shared parental responsibility has first been found to be appropriate for that family.
This is where age plays a genuine, practical role, even though it is not a legal presumption. Arrangements for infants and toddlers usually look very different from those for school-age children or teenagers, who may want more say in their own routine.
If you have questions about how much time you will be able to spend with your child after these changes, or want to understand how child custody schedules by age in Australia tend to be structured, speaking to family law solicitors on the Gold Coast can provide you with valuable guidance.
Protecting Women and Children From Family Violence
A major driver behind the 2024 reforms was a growing body of evidence that the old presumption of equal shared parental responsibility could place children and victim-survivors of family violence at risk. Several changes were introduced specifically to address this.
Courts Must Consider a History of Family Violence
As outlined above, the safety of the child and their carers is now one of the six primary factors the court must weigh, including any history of family violence and any family violence order that applies. This closes a gap that previously allowed a history of violence to be treated as a secondary consideration in some cases.
New Powers to Stop Systems Abuse
Courts now have greater powers to protect women and children from the harmful effects of protracted and vexatious litigation. They can make Harmful Proceedings Orders to stop proceedings the court considers will be harmful to the respondent or to a child, a direct response to the pattern sometimes referred to as “systems abuse,” where an abusive party uses repeated court applications as a form of ongoing control.
Independent Children’s Lawyers Must Meet With the Child
Independent Children’s Lawyers, appointed to represent a child’s interests in more complex or high-conflict matters, are now required to meet with the children they have been appointed to advocate for so that they can hear the children’s own views directly, rather than relying solely on reports.
Minimum Standards for Family Report Writers
A new power allows the Government to create minimum standards for Family Report Writers. This is intended to make the Family Report process more trauma-informed and culturally safe, particularly for Aboriginal women who have experienced family violence and systems abuse.
If you are navigating a parenting matter alongside a family violence order, it is worth understanding both sides of that process, including the circumstances and reasons a court may consider revoking an intervention order once safety concerns genuinely change, and our domestic violence services if you need support now. Aboriginal women experiencing family violence can also find dedicated support through Djirra’s Aboriginal Family Violence Legal Service.
A Simpler, Safer, and More Accessible System
According to Victoria Legal Aid, the overarching goal of the reforms is to make the family law system simpler, safer and more accessible for separating families and their children, with the changes centred around the needs of children and adult victim-survivors of family violence, who are predominantly women. Part of this simplification includes removing confusing legal jargon, such as the previously used term “equal shared parental responsibility,” which was so often misread as a guarantee of equal time.
Will These Laws Affect Existing Parenting Orders?
The new laws do not automatically alter existing parenting orders. If you already have legally binding orders in place, whether they were made before or after 6 May 2024, you must continue to comply with them unless there is a significant change in circumstances or a fresh court order.
If your parenting orders were made before the amendments and involve equal shared parental responsibility or equal or significant time arrangements, they remain legally binding.
The court will not automatically apply the new law to past cases, but it can reassess your parenting orders if there has been a significant change in circumstances, such as changes in your child’s developmental needs, family dynamics, safety concerns, or practical issues affecting how the orders work day to day.
If you believe that the changes in family law could affect your current parenting arrangements, you may need to revisit your orders. Our guide on how to change final parenting orders explains the legal test involved, and seeking advice from family law solicitors can help clarify whether your circumstances warrant reopening a concluded case.
Can a Concluded Parenting Case Be Reopened?
Under the Family Law Amendment Act 2023, reopening a concluded parenting case is only possible under specific conditions:
- Significant Change in Circumstances. The court must find that a significant change in circumstances has occurred since the original parenting order was made.
- Best Interests of the Child. The court must be satisfied that reopening the case is in the best interests of the child.
If you believe that your parenting case needs to be reconsidered due to a change in circumstances, consult with family law solicitors on the Gold Coast for professional advice, and browse our family resolution articles for more on out-of-court options before you commit to reopening litigation.
The Second Wave of Reform: Property, Pets, and Disclosure from 10 June 2025
The May 2024 changes were only the first stage of reform. A further set of amendments under the Family Law Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) came into effect on 10 June 2025, and this round is arguably just as significant, because it reshapes how property settlements, spousal maintenance, and financial disclosure work. If your matter started before 10 June 2025 and has not yet reached a final hearing, these new laws still apply to you.
Codifying the Four-Step Process to Clarify How Property Is Divided
Previously, the approach for dividing assets after separation came largely from case law rather than the Family Law Act itself. From June 2025, this process is written directly into legislation, which helps to clarify how property is divided for everyday couples, not just lawyers reading old judgments. The court now works through four steps:
- Identify property and liabilities. The court starts by identifying each party’s legal and equitable interests, what they own and what they owe, including real estate, cars, investments, superannuation, mortgages, and car loans.
- Assess contributions. The court then assesses what each party contributed to the relationship before, during, and after the relationship, including both financial and non-financial contributions, and assigns a percentage to each party based on those contributions over time.
- Adjust for current and future needs. The court considers whether one party has greater future needs, for example due to health issues, age, lower earning capacity, or ongoing parental responsibilities.
- Make just and equitable orders. Finally, the court decides how to divide the property to reach a fair outcome, and will not make an order unless it believes doing so is genuinely just and equitable.
This is the same four-step framework that can lead to an even split, or to a different division such as a 70/30 divorce settlement, depending on each person’s contributions and future needs. It is also worth understanding how this framework applies to property settlements after a long separation, where the timing of the split can change how contributions are assessed.
Pets Now Have Their Own Category in Property Settlements
Until this reform, the law treated pets like furniture, an asset to be allocated with no real consideration of the bond involved. The new laws create a separate category for companion animals, defined as pets kept primarily for companionship.
Courts can now make specific orders about companion animals, including awarding sole ownership, transferring ownership, or ordering a sale, though shared ownership of a pet will not be ordered by the court. In deciding what happens to a pet, courts must consider factors like who has cared for the animal, any history of abuse, and the attachment between the pet and either party or a child.
Family Violence Recognised in Property and Spousal Maintenance Matters
The new laws formally allow the court to consider the economic effect of any family violence a party was subjected to or exposed to, on their current and future circumstances. This matters because family violence can severely affect someone’s ability to contribute during a relationship, financially or otherwise, and can also impact their future needs.
Courts can now also factor in the economic effects of family violence when determining a spousal maintenance application, for example where violence prevented someone from working or caused them to leave the family home.
A Less Adversarial Approach to Hearings
Courts now have clearer powers to manage cases using a less adversarial approach, especially where family violence is involved.
This can include allowing evidence of the occurrence and effect of family violence that might not otherwise have been permitted under strict evidence rules, and allowing remote attendance in matters involving family violence allegations. This approach previously applied mainly to parenting matters and can now extend to financial cases as well.
A Stronger, Now Legally Binding Duty to Disclose Financial Information
Previously, the duty to disclose financial documents in a family law matter existed mainly as a court rule. It is now written directly into the legislation as a legal obligation. If you are involved in a financial or property dispute, you must provide the other party and the court with full and frank disclosure of your finances, from the very beginning of proceedings until the matter is resolved.
Lawyers and dispute resolution practitioners now also have a legal obligation to make parties aware of this duty and to explain the consequences of failing to comply, which can include fines, cost orders, or in serious cases even imprisonment.
This reform gives real teeth to a problem many separating couples already worry about: a partner who understates their income, hides assets in someone else’s name, or fails to disclose the full picture.
Our guide to hidden or undisclosed assets in divorce explains what to do if you suspect this is happening in your matter, and it now applies just as much to less conventional income sources as it does to a bank account or an investment property.
If a former partner has income from a platform like OnlyFans, our explainer on whether OnlyFans is illegal covers why that kind of income still needs to be disclosed under this same legal obligation.
Children’s Contact Services Are Now Regulated
The law now allows the Australian Government to establish national accreditation rules to govern Children’s Contact Services, the supervised handover and contact centres used in some higher-conflict matters. Once in place, only accredited services can be used, and penalties will apply to providers that do not comply.
There are also new protections around safety, including preventing the disclosure of travel arrangements, such as public transport details, that could place someone at risk.
The Divorce Process Itself Has Been Simplified
Couples married for less than two years no longer need court permission or mandatory counselling before applying for divorce. All couples, regardless of how long they were married, are now subject to the same requirement: a 12-month period of separation before applying.
The requirement to attend court in person has also been eased, even for sole applicants with children under 18, who were previously required to attend a hearing in most cases.
Parenting Applications and Family Dispute Resolution
Before making most parenting applications, parties must attempt family dispute resolution and file a certificate confirming either that they attended, that one party refused, or that family dispute resolution was deemed inappropriate, for example due to family violence.
Without this certificate or a valid exemption, the court can now refuse to file the application outright. Exemptions include situations involving urgency, family violence, or a serious risk to a child.
New Powers for Commonwealth Information Orders
The Family Law Act already provided powers for a court to make Commonwealth Information Orders requiring Commonwealth departments to provide information about the location of a missing child.
The amendments clarify that courts can now access relevant information even where it does not directly relate to a child’s location, such as reports of violence against a child or family member, or risk-related information about broader family connections including siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, step-relatives, and foster relatives.
Confidential Records Can Now Be Protected
Sensitive records from psychologists, doctors, or family violence support services may now be classified as protected confidences.
The court can restrict or prevent access to these documents where disclosure would likely cause emotional or mental distress, harm to a child or caregiver, or risk to someone’s ability to parent, weighing that potential harm against the importance of the evidence.
Clarified Rules Around Legal Costs
The changes also simplify how courts handle legal costs, including clearer guidance on when costs can be awarded, rules about parties who received legal aid or assistance, and cost liability for Independent Children’s Lawyers in certain cases.
Other Notable Changes
Arbitration rules have been consolidated and simplified, state courts have clarified powers to make parenting orders under federal law, superannuation valuation rules are being reviewed and modernised, and outdated separation declaration requirements for superannuation splits have been removed.
Rising Separation Rates Behind the Push for Reform
Part of why these reforms have moved so quickly is the changing shape of Australian relationships and families. Marriage rates have fallen, de facto cohabitation has risen substantially, and family structures now include far more blended families, step-families, grandparent-headed households, and shared care arrangements than they did a generation ago.
Our overview of shifting trends in Australian marriages and our guide to evolving family structures in Australia both look at how the law is adapting to keep pace with these changes, including how full financial disclosure applies just as much in a blended or shared care family as it does in a traditional one.
How Collective Family Law Group Can Help
The changes to family law that took effect across 2024 and 2025 are significant, but you do not have to face them alone. At Collective Family Law Group, our expert team of family law solicitors on the Gold Coast, including Director Hayder Shkara, founder Caralee Fontenele, and Special Counsel Julie Fotheringham, is ready to help you navigate these new laws and work toward the best outcome for your family.
Whether you are dealing with issues related to parental responsibility, time spent with your children, property division under the new four-step framework, spousal maintenance, or other complex family matters, our solicitors will guide you through every step of the process.
With our comprehensive understanding of the family law amendments, we are committed to ensuring that your rights are protected and that the best interests of your children remain the top priority.
Contact us today to book a consultation with our team and learn how these new changes might impact your family law matters.
Conclusion
The family law changes that took effect on 6 May 2024, and the further reforms that followed on 10 June 2025, mark a significant shift in how parenting orders are determined and how property is divided in Australia.
By focusing on the child’s best interests, clarifying how property is divided, and giving family violence a formal place in both parenting and financial decisions, these reforms aim to create fairer and more thoughtful outcomes for families.
If you are facing a parenting dispute, a property settlement, or need advice on how these changes may impact your current arrangements, the team at Collective Family Law Group is here to help.
Our experienced family law solicitors on the Gold Coast can provide expert guidance tailored to your unique circumstances, ensuring that your rights and your child’s wellbeing are prioritised throughout the process.
Disclaimer: This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For personalised guidance on your family law matters, please consult with family law solicitors on the Gold Coast at Collective Family Law Group.
FAQs
What are the changes to the Family Law Act?
From 6 May 2024, the Family Law Amendment Act 2023 removed the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility, introduced six clear factors for deciding a child’s best interests, gave courts new powers to stop harmful or vexatious litigation, and strengthened protections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s cultural needs. From 10 June 2025, the Family Law Amendment Act 2024 went further, writing the four-step property division process into legislation, formally recognising the economic effects of family violence in property and spousal maintenance matters, creating a separate category for pets as companion animals, making financial disclosure a legal obligation rather than just a court rule, and simplifying the divorce application process.
Do I have to pay spousal maintenance in Australia?
Spousal maintenance is not automatic. It may be payable where one former partner cannot adequately support themselves and the other partner has the financial capacity to help, taking into account factors such as age, health, income, care of children, and the standard of living during the relationship. Since the 2025 reforms, courts can also factor in the economic effects of family violence when assessing a spousal maintenance application. Our guide on whether alimony is a thing in Australia explains how this differs from the American concept of alimony and what actually applies here.
Can a mother deny a father access Australia?
A parent cannot unilaterally and permanently deny the other parent time with their child without a valid safety-based reason and, ideally, a court order or agreement in place. Doing so without proper grounds can be viewed unfavourably by the court and may affect future parenting proceedings. Where there are genuine safety concerns, such as family violence, the appropriate step is usually to seek urgent legal advice and, if necessary, a family violence order or interim parenting orders, rather than informally restricting contact. If circumstances later change, it may also be relevant to understand the reasons a court may revoke an existing intervention order.
How much does a family lawyer cost in Australia?
Costs vary widely depending on the complexity of the matter, whether it involves parenting issues, property, or both, and whether the matter is resolved through negotiation and mediation or proceeds to court. Many firms, including Collective Family Law Group, offer a free initial consultation so you can understand your options and likely costs before committing to representation, along with flexible fee structures and legal funding options for clients who need support to access justice. Speaking with an Australia family lawyer early is usually the most cost-effective step, since it can help you avoid mistakes that are far more expensive to fix later.
