Divorce
We are experienced in assisting you through this transition in your life, keeping the process as swift and as efficient as possible.
You must be separated from your partner for 12 months and 1 day if you are looking to apply for a Divorce - which is a formal and legal ending of your marriage. It is important to keep in mind that a divorce is separate process and differs to a property settlement.
-
We can guide you through what documents you need to support the Application for Divorce to make sure you have everything ready for when the 12 month and 1 day has lapsed from when you separated.
-
Nowadays the the Application is filed online on what is called Comcourts. It can be a confusing and daunting process to set up and use and that is where we can assist as we have done hundreds (understatement!) of Application for Divorce's and so are pretty familiar (another understatement!) with the process
-
Sometimes it is an easy task when you know where they are, however when you have lost contact or they are in an overseas country or you just cannot locate them - we can help with contact tracing and applying for substituted or dispensing with service.
-
We have been able to assist people locate their former spouse to be able to serve them - even in overseas countries. And if they cannot be located, we know what information and attempts need to be made to seek either substituted service or to dispense with service.
We can help with :
Things to keep in mind
Once you are Divorced - it will mean that there is a time limitation that begins to run for you to undertake and complete a formal property settlement (12 months after the date the Divorce Order becomes effective) and it can void any previous Will you have made.
That is why it is important for you to revisit and change your Estate Planning Documents - such as preparing a new Will, changing any Binding Death nominations for your superannuation funds, changing the beneficiary of your insurance policies and revoking any Enduring Power of Attorney’s that appoint your former spouse!
There are other things that you should consider doing as well - we can help guide you through what they are.
So, how is a Divorce Obtained?
You do need to be separated for 12 months and 1 day before you are able to get a Divorce. You obviously also need to be married first!
There are basically a 4 step process to obtain a Divorce.
Let’s go through those steps.
Step 1.
Prepare and submit the Application for Divorce online
The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia is the Court to file the Application in and this can all be done online! This is done through the Commonwealth Courts Portal (Comcourts).
Some things you should know about this step:
You will need to Register to use Comcourts and you can find out how to do that here.
If you are doing the Divorce jointly (i.e. your spouse is going to sign the Application) then you will need them to sign the Application before it is submitted online.
Your signature will need to be witnessed by a Justice of the Peace or such other eligible witness.
You will need a copy of your Marriage Certificate, and if someone was born overseas, a copy of their citizenship certificate. These do not need to be original or certified - however they do need to be in English.
Step 2.
Serving the Application for Divorce
If the Divorce is a joint application (i.e. your former spouse has signed the Application before it was submitted) then there is no need to serve the Application.
If you are doing a sole Divorce (i.e. without your spouse signing) then you can submit the Application online and then you will need to personally serve your spouse with the filed Application, as well as a copy of the Court brochure Marriage, Families and Separation.
You cannot personally serve your former spouse as that is against the Rules, however you can get someone you know to do it or get a Process Server to do it. Either way, they need to properly identify your former spouse and then sign an Affidavit of Service.
Step 3.
Divorce Hearing
If it is a joint divorce, or a sole application without children under 18, then no one needs to attend the Divorce Hearing.
However if it is a sole application and there are children under 18 then someone will need to attend the Divorce Hearing.
Divorce Hearings are all conducted via telephone and in Comcourts you will receive the dial in details after you have submitted the Application for Divorce.
Step 4.
Obtaining the Divorce Order
The Divorce Order will not be issued at the Divorce Hearing.
It will take 1 month and 1 day for the Divorce Order to issue and become effective. You won’t be notified that it has been uploaded to Comcourts - you will need to diarise the date, then login to Comcourts and download the Divorce Order from there if you want or need a copy.