Many people find themselves in a situation where they don’t have an agreement with their partner and they haven’t commenced Family Court proceedings either.

This page contains useful information about your options and possible next steps in relation to dividing the assets of your relationship and making parenting arrangements for your children.

DIVIDING ASSETS

In most cases, the Family Court of WA requires you to make a genuine attempt to resolve your property and financial dispute before you apply to the Family Court. There are exceptions to this, such as if there is urgency or allegations of fraud or family violence.

The main ways of trying to resolve a property and financial dispute before going to court are mediation and negotiation. Less common dispute resolution options are arbitration and counselling.

Property mediation involves you and your ex-partner sitting with a mediator and having discussions that will hopefully lead to an agreement.

Negotiation usually involves sending a negotiation letter to the other party. You can either prepare this negotiation letter yourself, or instruct a lawyer to prepare it on your behalf.

A negotiation letter needs to set out the issues in dispute, what the assets and liabilities of the relationship are (to the best of your knowledge), and it also usually contains your proposals for settling the matter. It might include other things too, such as a request for disclosure documents, or proposals about obtaining valuations of certain assets such as the family home.

GOING TO COURT AS A LAST RESORT

If you have made a genuine attempt to resolve your property and financial dispute with your ex-partner and there is still no agreement, then, as a last resort, you can apply for property and financial orders in the Family Court of Western Australia.

This involves filing specific documents in the Family Court, serving them on your ex-partner (i.e. arranging for someone, usually a process server, to personally hand them over to your ex-partner), and attending the first court hearing.

The first court hearing is usually what is called a Directions Hearing. At this hearing, the Court considers procedural matters such as whether the other party has been served with your application, whether the other party has filed their responding documents, and what orders need to be made to progress the matter. For example, the Court will consider whether an interim hearing needs to be programmed, so that the parties can present their competing arguments about what interim orders need to be made.

When you apply to the Family Court of WA, you can apply for interim orders and final orders. Interim orders are orders that the court makes pending its final decision in your case. Examples of interim orders include: orders about who needs to pay the mortgage pending the sale of the home or the final hearing; orders for a person to retrieve their personal belongings and furniture from the family home; and who gets to live in the family home pending the final hearing.

Examples of final orders include: orders about how the assets and liabilities of your relationship are to be divided, such as an order that there be a 50/50 split of the net assets of the relationship, or an order that one person retains the family home and gives a cash payout to the other person; orders for a person to roll over some of their superannuation to the other person; orders for the sale, auction or transfer of the family home; and orders as to who is responsible for debts of the relationship, such as mortgages, home loans, personal loans, business loans, and credit cards.

Parenting Arrangements - Family Dispute Resolution

If you can’t reach an agreement with your ex-partner in relation to the parenting arrangements for your children, your next step will most likely be attempting a type of mediation called Family Dispute Resolution (“FDR”).

Every parent must attempt FDR before they can apply for parenting orders in the Family Court of Western Australia, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

If there are exceptional circumstances in your case, such as family violence, child abuse or urgency, then you can apply to the Family Court of Western Australia to be exempt from mediation and apply for parenting orders.

To attempt FDR, you need to contact a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner (“FDRP”). There are many different organisations and individuals that offer FDR services. It is always a good idea to phone around as fees and waiting lists vary. On average, the waiting list for FDR is about 3 months. To find a FDRP, a good place to start is the FDR Register: https://www.fdrr.ag.gov.au/

Once you find a FDRP you are happy with, you need to book your intake interview with them and also provide them with your partner’s address and telephone number.

If you do not know your partner’s address or telephone number, then you cannot proceed with FDR and you may have to go directly to the Family Court. Legal advice is recommended if you find yourself in this position.

If FDR goes ahead and you and your partner reach an agreement, then you can take steps to make that agreement legally binding.

If you and your partner don’t reach an agreement in FDR, or if your partner fails or refuses to participate in FDR, then the FDRP will issue you with what’s called a Section 60I Certificate.

A Section 60I Certificate confirms that you have attempted FDR and is valid for 12 months from the date of the last attempted FDR. You cannot apply for parenting orders in the Family Court of Western Australia without a current Section 60I Certificate (unless you are seeking to be exempt from mediation because of exceptional circumstances).

INDEPENDENT CHILDREN’S LAWYERS AND SINGLE EXPERT WITNESSES

An Independent Children’s Lawyer, or ICL, is a lawyer who is funded by Legal Aid and whose role is to represent the best interests of your children.

The Family Court of Western Australia does not appoint an ICL in every parenting case. It is only appropriate to do so when serious allegations have been made about things such as family violence, child abuse, neglect, mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse.

An ICL attends every court hearing and court event and plays a vital role in assisting the court and gathering evidence, such as by subpoenaing documents. A subpoena is a request for the provision of written or oral evidence, and is directed to organisations such as the WA Police, the Department of Child Protection, schools and medical centres.

An ICL can also apply for the appointment of a Single Expert Witness. In a parenting case, a Single Expert Witness is usually a clinical psychologist or social worker, depending on the nature of the issues and allegations raised in the case. A Single Expert Witness assesses all the evidence – contained in court documents and subpoenaed documents – and interviews the parents, children, and any other relevant parties, and prepares a detailed expert report which sets out their findings and the basis for those findings.

INTERIM AND FINAL ORDERS

When you apply to the Family Court of WA, you can apply for interim orders and final orders. Interim orders are orders that the court makes pending its final decision in your case. Examples of interim orders include: who the children are to live with pending a final decision; the children’s contact arrangements with the other parent pending a final decision; what school the children go to; care arrangements for the children during Christmas and school holidays; and orders for the obtaining and safekeeping of the children’s passports.

Examples of final orders include: who has parental responsibility in relation to the children (parental responsibility means who makes decisions in relation to major long-term issues affecting your children, such as their education and schooling, their health and medical issues, and their religion and culture); who the children live with; how much time the children spend with the parent with whom they are not living; the requirements and procedures for a parent who wants to travel interstate or overseas with the children; and where the children are to live if one parent seeks to relocate with them interstate or overseas.

HOW YOU COULD SETTLE THE CHILDREN'S ISSUES

Even if you end up in the Family Court, this does not mean that your matter cannot or will not settle. The good news is that the vast majority of cases in the Family Court settle before they ever get to a final hearing or trial.

You and your partner can reach an agreement at any time during the child-related proceedings. For example, you and your partner might come to an agreement after an interim hearing, or after the release of the Single Expert Witness’s report.

You and your partner can formalize your agreement by filing a Minute of Consent Orders in the Family Court.