Family law initiating application is used by people who are seeking to start a family law court case to obtain binding court orders. The court orders could either be final orders, or interim orders.
Family law initiating application can be found online in the form of an initiating application kit. People who are in the midst of a family law matter could be seeking final or interim court orders for a variety of different matters.
This can include:
- Property/financial matters
- Parenting
- Maintenance
- Nullity
- Medical procedures
- Validity of marriage
- Passports
- Child support
In this article, we discuss various points in relation to family law initiating application. Importantly, the family law initiating application is only used to start a court case. Therefore, it will come up only when the matter has reached a point where parties think that court intervention is necessary.
Parties who are seeking a final or interim court order should file the family law initiating application online through the Commonwealth Courts portal. Additionally, parties can file the application in the Family Court of Australia, now also known as the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
Family Law Initiating Application and Parenting Matters
When discussing parenting matters, the family law initiating application is one among other important documents. Parties who are in the process of filing a family law initiating application for parenting disputes should also keep a note of the documents given below.
Initiation Application
Through this form, parties set out the details regarding their relationship. Moreover, they provide details about kinds of orders they are seeking and reasons behind seeking such an order.
For instance, parties can specify that they are seeking final court orders in relation to the welfare, care and well-being of the child. This could be for parenting orders notifying parents about their parental responsibilities and custody arrangements, among others.
Notice of Risk
Any party that is commencing family law proceedings must complete the Notice of Risk form. The Notice of Risk form provides family courts with information regarding a child in the family who was abused or exposed to violence.
It helps the court to identify if any party in the family had exposed the child to family or domestic violence. Moreover a Notice of Risk form also allows notification to child authorities if it is relevant.
Affidavit
Parties write out evidence on the affidavit, including reasons why courts should make orders in their favour. They need to file affidavits for both final and interim orders.
Section 60I Certificate
A Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) practitioner issues a Section 60I certificate after parties have attended Family Dispute Resolution. The parties then need to attach this certificate along with the family law initiating application.
Family Law Initiating Application and Property Matters
While the previous section mentions the documents required to proceed with a parenting-related family law matter in the court, here we explore documents required for property-related family law matters.
Initiating Application
Applicants set out details regarding the kinds of orders they are seeking in relation to division of assets following the breakdown of a relationship. Moreover, it can be used to provide details when seeking orders for spousal maintenance payments as well.
Financial Statement
The financial statement form is an extremely important part of the process when seeking court orders. The financial statement form is basically the Form 13 in family law.
This form details information about income, financial resources, assets, property and liabilities. When filling out this form, it is very important for the parties to fully and frankly disclose all information regarding their financial conditions.
Affidavit
As always, an affidavit is also important as it provides courts with all necessary information. Parties must include all written evidence in the affidavit.
Family Law Initiating Application and Section 60I Certificate
In family courts, it is very important to first attend Family Dispute Resolution and mediation in case of disputes. Regardless of whether this is for parenting matters or property matters, attending mediation is compulsory before approaching family courts for final orders.
Therefore, the Section 60I certificate is very important. Parties will need to show proof that they attended Family Dispute Resolution before approaching the court. The court must be satisfied that FDR did not have satisfactory results, and that’s why the parties have approached the court.
However, in some scenarios, there are certain exemptions. This means that in some cases parties will not need to obtain a Section 60I certificate before approaching family courts.
- In case of urgent applications for instance if the court is satisfied that there’s a risk that a parent may expose a child to harm or abuse, or any other form of family or domestic violence.
- If a party is unable to attend FDR due to incapacity or geographical inaccessibility.
- In case a party has breached and continues to breach previous parenting orders, and they are not concerned about their obligations.
- Any other reason because of which the court feels that FDR and Section 60I certificate is not necessary.
Family Lawyers For Your Legal Needs
Firstly, as mentioned throughout this article, mediation is extremely important in family law. Before taking your matter to the court, you will need to speak with family lawyers who offer mediation services.
At JB Solicitors, we have an award-winning team of lawyers who are experts in handling disputed matters within family law. If mediation is not the solution for you, we can also use our legal prowess to help you with all court procedures.
Moreover, it is very important to provide accurate information when making court applications. For instance, when filing out the financial statement, you need to ensure that you have disclosed all information related to your finances.
Our lawyers can help you with all these steps and more. The wealth of experience we have enables us to provide tailored advice to all our clients. For more questions, feel free to contact our friendly lawyers.
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