Your Top 5 Divorce Questions Answered

Divorce is never easy, but it can be less difficult if you understand what needs to happen and you have support throughout the process. We’ve noticed most people ask the following five questions when they start thinking about divorce.

Most people want to know how soon they can apply for a divorce. You must be separated for one year and one day before you can apply to the court for a divorce. You cannot apply on day 364 or day 365: it must be one year and one day. If you try to apply before time, the court will reject your application, and you’ll have to do the whole thing all over again. Even if you both agree to divorce, everyone has to wait for one year and one day.
Your date of separation is the day that you’ve had that conversation where you’ve said, “You know what? We are done, move out of the bedroom. The marriage is over.”

That is the day you should note in your diary if you want to get a divorce as quickly as possible. There is no reason to rush a divorce, unless you want to be clear of the marriage for your own reasons. There are some people who have been separated for twenty years before making the decision to get a divorce, others apply on day 366. It’s important that you understand that filing for divorce only means that you can legally remarry. A divorce doesn’t divide your assets, and once you are divorced, you will have a set amount of time to apply for property settlement. Property settlement is usually more complex and is a separate matter to divorce.

This is a fair question. We have fixed fee divorce rates, plus outlays. The outlays are things like filing, and the court changes them regularly. You’re welcome to call us for an up-to-date fee schedule. If you want an idea of outlays, jump onto the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia website to view the current fee schedule.

You don’t need permission from both parties to get a divorce in Australia. It is perfectly legal to file an application on your own, but there is a process. You must serve the other party with a copy of the documents, swear on affidavit that you’ve served the papers and that they’re unnoticed of the application. Once that happens, you can proceed with the matter.

If you do a joint divorce, and there are no children involved, you do not have to go to the court. If you file on your own and the other party’s been served, you technically don’t have to go to court if there are no children, but you do run the risk that the other party could turn up at court and object or dispute the day of separation. If there are children involved, then yes, you need to attend court. And as a rule of thumb, if you’ve been separated, but have remained under one roof, you should always turn up to court, because the court may want to know a few extra facts from you to establish that you are actually separated.

This does happen a lot, and you may need the assistance of a lawyer. We undertake substituted service – if we can’t find the physical location of a person, we will send the divorce application to their email or social media accounts. Alternatively, we can ask family members for assistance, do an electoral roll search or hire a private investigator to find them.
If you can make substituted service, you can put that application to the court, and the court will deem that they have been given a copy and are aware of the proceedings. This process can sometimes take more than one court appearance to finalise.

If you have any questions about divorce, reach out and have a chat with us. We’re here to help.