Separation Checklist for Australia: 15 Things to Do When You Separate

The day you separate starts a legal clock most Australians don't know about: you can't file for divorce until you've been separated for 12 continuous months. What you do in the first few weeks determines how smooth that filing is a year from now.

This checklist is written for Australians separating with divorce on the horizon — whether you're in South Australia or anywhere else, since divorce law is federal.

1. Record the separation date — in writing

This is the single most important item. Text or email your spouse something unambiguous: "I consider us separated as of today." If you later disagree about the date, that message is your evidence. Keep a copy somewhere your spouse can't delete.

2. Tell people

Separation must be demonstrated, not just felt. Tell close family and friends you've separated — their knowledge corroborates your separation date if it's ever challenged, and it's essential evidence if you end up separated under one roof.

3. Decide on living arrangements

Moving out is cleanest, but not required. If you stay in the same house for financial reasons, start behaving as separated immediately: separate bedrooms, separate shopping and cooking, no socialising as a couple. You'll need affidavits proving this later, so start a simple diary now.

4. Separate your finances

• Open a bank account in your own name and redirect your pay.
• Review joint accounts and credit cards — consider reducing limits or requiring dual signatures.
• Don't strip joint accounts. Courts take a dim view, and it poisons everything that follows.
• Note your superannuation balances (both of yours) with today's date — super is splittable property in Australia.

5. Gather and copy key documents

Passports, birth certificates, the marriage certificate (you'll need the certified registry version for the divorce application — in SA that's $72 from Births, Deaths and Marriages), tax returns, payslips, loan and super statements, property and car titles. Scan everything to cloud storage only you control.

6. Sort immediate parenting arrangements

You don't need court orders to separate — most Australian parents never get them. Agree on a workable routine for the kids and write it down (an email between you counts). Keep it stable and child-focused; informal arrangements made now tend to shape whatever is formalised later.

7. Update your address

Redirect mail, update your driver's licence and electoral enrolment, and make sure bank and super statements follow you. Missing financial mail is how people lose track of joint debts.

8. Review joint debts and direct debits

List every liability in either name: mortgage, car loans, credit cards, Afterpay, utilities. You're generally still liable for joint debts regardless of who "agreed" to pay what — the bank isn't bound by your separation.

9. Update your will and super beneficiaries

Separation does not invalidate your will or change superannuation death nominations. If you died tomorrow, your estranged spouse could inherit exactly as before. New will, new binding death benefit nomination — this week, not eventually.

10. Check insurance and vehicle registration

Whose name is the car in? Who's insured to drive it? Is the house contents policy in both names? Untangle or at least document these before a claim makes it ugly.

11. Change passwords and check digital privacy

Shared streaming accounts are harmless; shared iCloud, Google, or online banking logins are not. Change passwords on email, banking, Centrelink/myGov, and cloud storage. Check for shared location tracking on your phone.

12. Tell Centrelink if you're receiving payments

Separation changes your payment rates and eligibility. Report the change promptly — overpayments get recovered with interest, and underpayments mean money you're entitled to.

13. Get free advice early

Free and genuinely useful in Australia: your state Legal Aid or Legal Services Commission helpline (in SA, 1300 366 424), Relationships Australia for counselling and mediation, and the government's amica online tool for working out property splits and parenting plans (note: amica can't file your divorce — it's for the settlement side).

14. Diarise the 12-month milestones

• Separation + 12 months: earliest divorce filing date.
• Divorce order final + 12 months: hard deadline to start property settlement or spousal maintenance proceedings.

Put both in your calendar the day you separate. The second one is the deadline people blow through while "sorting things out informally."

15. Prepare for filing before the 12 months is up

Don't wait for the anniversary to learn the process. The divorce application runs through the Commonwealth Courts Portal with specific document, signature, and (for sole applications) service requirements. Knowing the sequence in advance means you file on day 366 without a scramble — the South Australia Divorce Filing Process Guide lays out that whole sequence with checklists and worksheets you can start filling in months before you're eligible.

Separation done methodically is boring. That's the goal — boring now is cheap and fast later.

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