There are various online and e-filing services offered by the Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia which you might find helpful in relation to your family law matters. These services are available via the www.familycourt.gov.au and www.federalcircuitcourt.gov.au websites and their related Commonwealth Courts Portal, www.comcourts.gov.au.
While there are plans to introduce more and more e-services, at present the family law e-services available on the courts’ websites are limited to obtaining Proof of Divorce and paying family court fees as well as filing limited types of applications, and affidavits.
Both these features are accessible via the “Online Services” tab on the websites without first registering or logging onto the Commonwealth Courts Portal. If you have received a statement of fees for hearings or conferences from the Family Court of Australia, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia or the Family Court of Western Australia, you can now easily pay your fees online. Similarly, Proof of Divorce is easily obtained using the e-services option.
If you are a party to a current case, you can also access various web-based services of the Family Court of Australia, Federal Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia by registering with the Commonwealth Courts Portal. Once registered, you can file or gain access to your family law files. You can view and organise files that you are linked to as a party, view recent activity (such as a document being lodged by another party) and see the court events that are happening for you, and view a court diary of your files showing events up to two weeks ahead of a selected date.
You can also view subpoena permissions and a list of documents. You can e-file certain supplementary documents, and opt-in to receive activity notifications (such as for divorce applications, an option to “Notify me by email after the divorce is granted”).
Certain applications can be filed on the Commonwealth Courts Portal, including Application for divorce. Some restrictions do apply which prevent e-filing, for example, individuals filing for divorce who have been married less than two years, among other situations. In those circumstances, you need to file in person or by post, though forms can still be downloaded from the court’s website.
Please see the court websites for more detail or to register for the Commonwealth Courts Portal; and if you need legal advice in regard to a family law matter, please contact Cristina Huesch or one of our solicitors here at Alliance Family Law on (02) 6223 2400–your first no-obligation conference is free.
