Which court?

Over 80% of all family law matters commence in the Federal Circuit Court as a result of the protocol agreement which limits the Family Court to exercising its jurisdiction to complex factual matters. In Western Australia, all applications are made to the Family Court of Western Australia (WA).

It should be noted that there is currently before Parliament a Bill to merge the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court of Australia together to create a single unified court for family law matters in all states and territories except Western Australia. At the time of writing it was not clear if this Bill would pass but practitioners should be mindful as if passed it will significantly change the practice and procedure of family law matters at the Commonwealth level.

It should be noted that the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court have different rules but often use the same documents. Therefore court procedures will differ between the two courts. The process in the Family Court of WA more closely mirrors that of the Family Court of Australia and, by and large, most of the Family Law Rules 2004 (Cth) are adopted for use in WA with some minor differences.

To see the court procedure, see the Family Court of WA website.