Attorney-General Robert McClelland last week released a report and discussion paper on recommended improvements to current Federal Court Family Law services in Australia.
Family Law Changes
The report, entitled “Future Governance Options for Federal Family Law Courts in Australia” presents proposed recommendations that are intended to ensure Australia’s Federal Courts are actively committed to helping couples and families resolve their differences in a timely and cost-effective manner.
According to the report, current Family Law services in the Federal Court are not financially viable and have been even the cause of some confusion amongst litigants. It states that the existing arrangements also cause conflicts over resources and inefficient administration operations. The report highlights that all of these factors are currently impeding the delivery of services to Australians in the Family Law system.
The report put forward a number of recommendations. Among the key recommendations was the suggestion to create one single Federal Family Law Court. This would come about through the combination of the existing Family Court and the Federal Magistrates Court. It is also intended to move towards streamlining current administration procedures. It is seen that the new uniform processes will reduce costs and in turn allow for the savings to be passed on to further improve the existing delivery of Family Law services.
Both the report and discussion paper have been released for public comment. It is the intention that any resultant changes to current operations will assist those who use Federal Family Law services to resolve their disputes as quickly and as pain-free as possible.
The Attorney-General and his Department recognise that any court proceedings can potentially be extremely draining on everyone involved. That includes not only being a drain on time, money and resources but also a drain on emotion.
It is through the introduction of reformed procedures such as those put forward in this latest report that the Family Law cases can be resolved as easily as possible for the parties involved as well as the legal system that supports them.
At The Quinn Group we have experience with the Australian Family Law system. We look forward to the introduction of the proposed changes so that we can, in turn, pass them on to you, our clients. If you need assistance with Family Law or have an enquiry regarding any other legal matter please contact on 1300 QUINNS or click here to submit an online enquiry form.
