3 Amendments Impacting Separated Couples – 2023

The Family Law Amendment Bill was passed and read for the 3rd time back on May 11th 2023, in the House of Representatives. People can easily find updates on this Bill’s progress in the text of the Bill on the authorised site of the “Parliament of Australia.

This Bill was referred for inquiry on May 11th 2023, to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee. The committee will provide a report on this Bill by August 24th 2023.

Furthermore, the committee accepts all submissions from various enterprises and individuals for the inquiry till June 23rd 2023.

Amendments That Have an Effect on the Separated Couple

The Australian Federal Government issued three bills at the Parliament back on March 29th 2023. These bills will have a massive impact on all the separated couples, and they are:

• FLAB [Family Law Amendment Bill 2023]

• Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 [Information Sharing Bill]

• Social Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 [Child Support Bill]

The process of tabling these bills has been sped up by the Australian Federal Government. The process of community consultation taking place on FLAB, which carries the widest effect on separated couples, was 28 days and was completed by February 27th 2023.

But the “Family Law Amendment Bill” is only the 1st tranche of the judicial modification, which speeches the concluding report of the Australian Law Reform Commission.

This is the final report No 135 – “Family Law for the Future: A Review into the Family Law System” [ALRC Report]. It will devise all the components of the Government Response towards the Joint Select Committee on the Family Law System of Australia.

Also, the report for ALRC was issued by the previous Federal Government at the Federal Parliament back on April 10th 2019, which was 4 years ago.

The Family Law Amendment Bill of 2023: Things to Know 

The Family Law Amendment Bill consists of all the amendments under the Family Law Act of 1975 [Cth] [FLA]. It also has the amendments of the “Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 [FCFCOA Act] [Cth].

Based on the explanatory memorandum. The FLAB can:

1. Amend All the Parent Orders Framework to:

• Make all the things clear in which situations the court will vary a current parenting order. Refine the entire list of factors on “best interests” to reduce the repetition and complexity. It also improves the focus on the requirements of all the children.

• Contains a standalone factor for best interests where the court needs to consider all the rights of the Torres Strait Islander or Aboriginal children so that they can enjoy their respective culture. 
• Deter all the belief of the equally communal parental duty and also the equal time and noteworthy and extensive time necessities. 

2. Fortify The Obedience With The Execution Of The Parent Orders By:

• It will ensure that the registrars create compensatory time orders. 
• Redraft the provisions mentioned in DIV 13A of Pt VII to make them easier and simple to apply. 

1. Gives courts a chance to protect people and their children from the negative effects of the litigation by:

• Gives courts the power to restrain repeated filing of all new applications. 
• Management provisions for all the new cases.

2. Clarifies the limitations for the periodical of the family law records

3. Improves the voices of all the children in the family law proceedings by:

• Eliminating the limitation on the legal decision to employ the ICLs in the family law proceedings under the Hague Pact.
• Collecting the necessity for all the ICLs to see and pursue all the opinions of the children.

4. Create the regulatory power for the Australian Government to establish all the regulations that can offer needs and standards which should be met by the writers of family reports.

5. Make all the small administrative amendments in the FCFCOA Act to improve the administrational aspects of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australian Act 2021.

What Amendments are Included in the Child Support Bill? 

There are several changes that are made in the Child Support Bill. This particular bill also alters both the “Child Support [Registration and Collection] Act of 1988” and Child Support [Assessment] Act 1989”.

Based on the explanatory memorandum, the Child Support Bill contains the following changes:

• The bill introduces a new default income for all the parents where they don’t have to lodge the tax returns. This will surely make the entire income reporting work a lot more easier for the payees and payers.
• This bill will provide the Registrar the right to reject the issuing of the Departure Authorisation Certificate where a r small security will be provided. But there is a high chance that the parent will make all the arrangements to pay up the outstanding liabilities.
• The bill will extend the application for the employer of the Child Support Resgistrar and also hold back their collection powers.

What Exactly is an Exposure Draft?

The exposure draft contains the 1st tranche of the ALRC report. Besides that, it also consists of various other revisions that help clarify different factors of family law.

These factors will also offer support for the new tactic towards case supervision of Australia’s Federal Circuit and Family Court. Besides that, this exposure draft also has 8 schedules.

These schedules present all the planned modifications thematically. These schedules are:

• Schedule 1:Changes towards the framework for making all the parenting orders
• Schedule 2:Enforcement of all the child-related orders
• Schedule 3:Definition of “relative” and the “member of the family.”
• Schedule 4: Self-governing children’s lawyers
• Schedule 5:Case Procedure and Management
• Schedule 6:Protecting all the sensitive data
• Schedule 7:Communication of information on the family law proceedings
• Schedule 8:Creating regulatory schemes for all the family law experts

Please remember that the exposure draft might not reflect the scope of the final Bill, which the Government of Australia will introduce at the Parliament subsequent to this discussion process.

How Can the Separation Lawyers Help?

Separated couples who wish to gain more information on FLAB must speak with a reliable and trusted separation lawyers in Perth. They are well aware of the points present in the Bill, which will help him/her have a proper understanding.

Our separation lawyers go through the contents of the Bill to learn what things included and changed and how exactly they will affect the separated couples. It’s advised that one gets to know all the sections of this new Bill.

That way, he/she can proceed with the court-related proceedings related to their separation.

Ending Note 

All three amendments’ bills contain many changes in the family law scheme that all the parents, divorce lawyers and courts need to grapple with.

When the courts make parenting orders, there is a high chance of uncertainty about the process that should be adopted and the wide range of outcomes. One can gain more information on this bill from the best divorce lawyers in Perth.

They are experts in dealing with all the areas of separation law, so explaining all the points about the three amendments to their clients will not be that difficult.