Family Law Amendment Act 2024: What Changed for Divorce

The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 commenced on 10 June 2025 and made the most significant changes to Australian divorce law since the original Family Law Act 1975. If you filed for divorce before mid-2025, the process you went through no longer applies in several important respects.

Three changes matter most for people filing today: the abolition of the two-year rule, relaxed hearing attendance requirements, and the codification of property settlement principles. Here's what each means in practical terms.

The Two-Year Rule Is Gone

Before the amendment, couples married for less than two years faced an extra hurdle: they had to attend mandatory counselling and obtain a reconciliation certificate from an approved family counsellor before the court would accept their divorce application. This added weeks or months to the process and created a barrier for people in short marriages who had clearly made their decision.

The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 abolished this requirement entirely. The duration of your marriage is now irrelevant to the filing process. Whether you were married for six months or thirty years, you satisfy the same test: 12 months and one day of continuous separation, plus the standard residency requirements.

If you married recently and separated quickly, you no longer need to schedule counselling sessions or wait for a certificate before filing.

Hearing Attendance Is Now Largely Optional

Under the old rules, applicants with children under 18 were generally required to attend the divorce hearing (either in person or via video link) so the registrar could ask about child welfare arrangements. This created logistical headaches — people had to take time off work, arrange childcare, and navigate court technology for what was often a five-minute procedural check.

The amended rules under Rule 15.15 of the FCFCOA (Family Law) Rules have significantly relaxed attendance:

• Joint applications: No attendance is required for either party, regardless of whether there are children under 18. The registrar reviews the application in chambers.
• Uncontested sole applications: No attendance is required unless a party formally requests to attend in writing, or the registrar identifies issues with Part F (the child welfare section) that need clarification.
• Contested proceedings: Both parties (or their lawyers) must still attend if the respondent has filed a Response to Divorce.

This means the vast majority of divorces — where both parties agree or where the respondent simply doesn't respond — are now processed without anyone appearing before the court.

Property Settlement Is Now Codified

The 2024 amendment codified the four-step property settlement test directly into the Family Law Act, replacing what had previously been judge-made law. The four steps are now statutory:

1. Identify all assets and liabilities held by either party
2. Assess each party's contributions — financial, non-financial, and as a homemaker or parent
3. Assess future needs — age, health, earning capacity, and care of children
4. Apply the justice and equity test — ensure the overall outcome is fair

Two practical changes stand out. First, the court can now explicitly consider the impact of family violence (including economic and financial abuse) on a party's ability to contribute to the asset pool. This was possible before under case law, but the statutory backing gives it more weight.

Second, the elevated duty of disclosure means both parties must provide full, frank disclosure of all financial resources — including assets held in trusts or overseas. Hiding assets was always sanctionable, but the codified rules make the obligation clearer and the consequences for non-compliance more predictable.

What Stayed the Same

The core architecture of Australian divorce hasn't changed:

• 12 months and one day of separation is still the sole ground for divorce
• No-fault remains the principle — the court doesn't consider who caused the breakdown
• The Commonwealth Courts Portal is still the filing mechanism
• Filing fees are still $1,170 standard or $390 with a concession
• The one-month-and-one-day finalisation period after the hearing still applies
• The 12-month post-divorce deadline for property and spousal maintenance claims is unchanged

What This Means for Your Filing

If you're filing for divorce now, the process is simpler than it was before June 2025. You don't need to worry about the two-year rule regardless of how long you were married. You're unlikely to need to attend a hearing unless your case is contested. And if you have a property settlement ahead of you, the rules governing it are now written in the legislation rather than scattered across decades of case law.

The Queensland Divorce Filing Process Guide reflects all post-amendment procedures, including the updated hearing attendance rules and the current portal workflow.

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