About eDivorce FAQs
- We have assisted thousands of Australians in their DIY divorce and property settlement matters.
- We are a specialist service – our sole focus is helping separated couples to finalise their DIY divorce and settlement.
- We assist married and de facto couples Australia wide (except for WA couples).
- Affordable pricing – save thousands in lawyer’s fees.
- 30 day money back guarantee.
Our online legal software is designed to make the process as simple and user friendly as possible.
- Step 1: Complete our online form
- Step 2: Download your completed document and eGuide
- Step 3: Review, sign and lodge with the Court and pay the court filing fee
We assist married and de facto couples Australia wide (NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, NT, TAS, ACT).
Please note, our kits are not suitable for use in WA.
Yes. Your legal documents will be provided in Microsoft Word, in case you need to make any changes.
We take your privacy seriously. All information is held on secure servers. See our Privacy Policy for further information.
Divorce FAQ’s
Our fixed fee for divorce begins at just $149 and includes: –
- Completed application for divorce form
- Step by step Divorce eGuide
- Instructions on how to ‘serve’ the other party
- Tips for attending at Court if you are required to attend a hearing
- Help and information from our Support Team.
Please note, the Court filing fee as of 1 July 2023 is $1,060. This is a mandatory Court fee which we have no control over. However, we can assist you with the information to seek a fee reduction, which would reduce the Court fee from $1,060 to $350 if eligible.
We do not have any hidden fees or charges. Our fee for a Divorce Kit is only $149.
The Court will charge you a fee to file your documents, which is $1,060 as of 1 July 2023. You may be eligible for a reduced Court fee, which is $350. Please contact our Support Team if you would like assistance to apply for the reduced fee.
At any time at least 12 months after the date of separation.
The basic stages in the divorce process are: –
- Complete a divorce application that will be accepted by the Court
- Sign and lodge your application with the Court and pay the filing fee
- If your application is accepted, you may need to ‘serve’ the other party
- If you have children you may need to attend the Court hearing
- If your application is successful a Judge or Registrar will grant you a divorce order at the Court hearing
- The divorce order will become effective one month and one day after it is made
Our Divorce eGuide provides a detailed step-by-step guide to help you navigate every step of the divorce process.
Yes, you may be able to seek a reduction in the Court fee if you are eligible (for example a concession card holder). Our Divorce eGuide explains exactly how and when to seek a reduction in the Court filing fee.
Section 48 of the Family Law Act 1975 provides that the grounds for divorce are that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
In order to satisfy the Court of the breakdown, you must demonstrate that you have been separated for at least 12 months and there is no likelihood of resuming your marriage.
Your application should be lodged with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
If you live in Western Australia, you will need to file with the Family Court of Western Australia.
Yes. You can lodge a Sole Application for divorce by yourself without the other party having to sign the application.
If you lodge a Sole Application you will need to arrange to ‘serve’ a sealed copy of the application on the other party.
There are specific Court rules about how you must serve your divorce application on the other party.
Our Divorce eGuide provides simple step-by-step instructions and relevant forms to help you serve the other party and comply with Court rules. This eGuide comes free when you purchase a Divorce Kit.
If you and the other party agree you can apply together for your divorce. This is known as a Joint Application.
When making a Joint Application, both parties must sign the application (you do not need sign the application together at the same time or even on the same day). Parties who make a Joint Application are not required to attend at the Court hearing, although either or both parties may choose to do so.
If you and the other party don’t agree, or you simply want to make your own application without the other party, you can lodge a Sole Application for divorce. The other party is not required to sign the application, however you will need to serve them with a copy.
If you lodge a Sole Application with children under the age of 18, you are required to attend at the Court hearing. If you lodge a Sole Application without children under the age of 18 you are not required to attend at the Court hearing, although you can choose to attend if you wish.
Once you lodge your application, the Court will set a hearing date to decide whether to accept your application and make a divorce order.
Depending on your circumstances, you may or may not be required to attend at the Court hearing:
- Families with children under 18 who make a joint application are not required to attend at the Court hearing.
- Couples with no kids are not required to attend at the Court hearing.
- If you make a sole application and have children under 18 you must attend at the Court hearing. If you have special circumstances you may be able to appear by telephone.
- Empty nesters (couples with children over 18) who make a sole application are not required to attend at the Court hearing.
We will provide your completed divorce application and Divorce eGuide by email within minutes.
Once you have signed and lodged your documents with the Court, the Court will set a hearing date to decide your application. Depending on how busy the Court Registry is, this may be around 8 – 12 weeks from the date of lodgement.
If your application is approved by the Court a divorce order will be made at the Court hearing. The divorce order will come into effect and be officially binding one month and one day after the hearing date.
Generally, no. The other party cannot stop you from getting a divorce just because they don’t want one. There are only very limited circumstances in which the other party could prevent you from obtaining a divorce order.
A divorce is a separate legal process to formalising your property settlement or putting arrangements in place for the children. You do not have to wait for your divorce before attending to property settlement or parenting arrangements.
However, if you have children under 18 you must satisfy the Court in your divorce application that proper arrangements are in place for their care and welfare. We will assist you to do this.
It is also important to note that any application to the Court for property settlement or maintenance must be made within 12 months from the date of your divorce.
You can still get divorced in Australia, even if you were born or married overseas.
As long as one of the parties is an Australian resident or citizen, or considers Australia their permanent home. You will need to provide certified documents in support of this.
If your marriage certificate is not in English, you will need to arrange an official translation of the marriage certificate together with an affidavit from the translator.
In Australia, we have a ‘no fault’ system of divorce. This means it is not relevant in the eyes of the Court if one or both parties was at fault or responsible for the breakdown of the marriage.
You only need to establish that the relationship has broken down irretrievably and that you have been separated for 12 months, not the reasons why.
No. You do not have to have a lawyer to get a divorce.
You are free to remarry any time after your divorce becomes final (one month and one day after the divorce order is made by the Court).
It is an offence to remarry before your divorce is finalised and the second marriage will not be recognised at law.
Yes. You will need to execute a new Will when you are planning to get divorced. Any provisions in your old Will which involve your spouse will be invalidated by the divorce. You should also update your superannuation nominations to reflect your current wishes.
Service is the legal term for the process of delivering Court documents (such as your divorce application) to the other party, after the documents have been lodged with the Court.
If you are filing a Joint Application, you do not need to serve the other party.
If you are filing a Sole Application, you must serve the other party at least 28 days before the Court hearing date (42 days if they are overseas).
Serving the other party ensures they have received a copy of your divorce application and that they are aware of the proceedings and the Court hearing date.
Service can be arranged by post or in person (hand delivered). There are specific Court Rules about how service must be performed, and special Court forms for serving the other party.
If you are making a Sole Application, we recommend you employ a professional Process Server to serve your application on the other party in person. Please contact our Support Team to ask about recommended process servers in your State or Territory.
Property Settlement FAQ’s
Under the Family Law Act, the Court will not make property settlement orders unless the proposed orders are ‘just and equitable’. The Court will consider contributions made by the parties to the relationship and property pool, such as:-
- Financial contributions (for example, income earned from work or lump sums received by a party)
- Non-financial contributions (for example, efforts made to improve or maintain the value of assets)
- Contributions as a parent (for example, day to day parenting duties and responsibilities)
- Contributions as a homemaker (for example, day to day cleaning, cooking and household maintenance)
The Court will also consider current and future needs factors of each party, such as health, age, income and care of dependents.
This process ensures that orders for property settlement are fair and appropriate, taking into account the circumstances of the parties and the relationship.
Do you have other questions or need support? Our Support Team will respond to all enquiries within 24 hours.
For the purposes of property settlement under the Family Law Act, a person is in a de facto relationship with another person if they have a relationship as a couple living together on a genuine domestic basis. This includes opposite and same sex couples.
- The Court must be satisfied of at least one of the following:-
- The period of the relationship is at least 2 years; or
- There is a child of the de facto relationship; or
- One of the parties made substantial contributions to the property and it would be unjust if property settlement orders were not made; or
- The de facto relationship was registered in a State or Territory.
The Court can consider all of the circumstances of the relationship to determine whether a de facto relationship existed. These include:
- the duration of their relationship
- the nature and extent of their common residence
- whether a sexual relationship exists
- the degree of financial dependence or interdependence, and any arrangements for financial support, between them
- the ownership, use and acquisition of their property
- their degree of mutual commitment to a shared life
- the care and support of children, and
- the reputation and public aspects of their relationship.
When separated couples reach an agreement about dividing property they can apply to the Family Court of Australia for Consent Orders to formalise their property settlement. You do not actually have to go to Court to make an application for Consent Orders.
When the Court makes Consent Orders for property settlement, the settlement becomes legally binding, providing a safe and effective way for couples to finalise financial matters at the end of a relationship.
Consent Orders have the same legal effect as orders made at Court during a hearing. To apply, you will need to submit a completed Application for Consent Orders document together with a fully drafted Property Settlement Consent Minutes of Order document (the proposed orders requested by the parties).
Our fixed fee for personalised draft Property Settlement Consent Orders start from just $249 and includes:
- Step-by-step Property Settlement eGuide
- Personalised draft Property Settlement Consent Minutes
- Application for Consent Orders form
- Can include superannuation splitting orders and details on how to effect the orders
- Fee exemption application
- Court information brochure Marriage, Families & Separation
- Help and information from our Support Team.
Please note there is a separate Court Filing fee of $195 payable to the Court when you file your application.
Our fee is fixed at $249 for simple property settlements and $349 for property settlements that include superannuation splitting orders. We do not have any hidden fees or charges.
The Court will charge a filing fee of $195 to lodge your application. We can assist you to seek a fee exemption which will reduce the Court fee to nil, if eligible.
By comparison, private lawyers typically charge $2,000 – $5,000 to prepare Consent Order documents, in addition to the required Court filing fee.
You can apply for Property Settlement Consent Orders any time after separation, however it is important to realise there are time limits within which you must apply, so don’t leave it too long.
For married couples, they must finalise their property settlement within 12 months of the date of divorce.
For de facto couples, they have 2 years from the date of separation to apply to the Court for orders to formalise property settlement.
If you do not lodge an application within the time limit it may mean losing your right to claim for binding property settlement orders.
There are several Courts that exercise Family Law jurisdiction. Lodging your application with the wrong Court can result in delays or your application being refused.
You should lodge your application for Property Settlement Consent Orders with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
Yes. We can assist you to seek a fee exemption which would reduce the $195 Court fee to nil if eligible.
Yes. De facto couples can apply to the Family Court for legally binding property settlement. It is important to realise there are time limits within which de facto couples must apply, so don’t leave it too long.
There is a 2-year time limit from the date of separation for de facto couples to apply to the Court for orders to formalise property settlement.
Yes, Consent Orders are made in the Family Courts by a Judge or Registrar and are legally binding on the parties.
The basic steps to make an Application for Consent Orders for property settlement involve:
- Complete a personalised draft Property Settlement Consent Minutes of Order document setting out proposed orders that will be accepted by the Court.
- Complete an Application for Consent Orders form and fee exemption form if applicable.
- Sign and lodge your documents with the Court and pay the filing fee.
- If your application is accepted, the Consent Orders will be signed by the Court, sealed and posted to the parties. At this point the orders become legally binding.
- The parties then need to take any action as agreed by the parties and required by the orders (for example, transfer property).
- Your property settlement is now finalised.
Our Property Settlement eGuide provides a detailed step-by-step guide to help you navigate every step of the property settlement application process.
Yes. Parties can agree to divide superannuation as part of your property settlement. This is known as Superannuation Splitting. If one party agrees to transfer super to the other party it remains as superannuation and is not paid out as cash.
Before applying for super splitting orders parties must value the super interest and provide a copy of the proposed splitting order to the Trustee of the super fund. This must be done in writing and is known as ‘procedural fairness’.
You can apply for Property Settlement Consent Orders, even if you have already divided up property. Having consent orders in place will ensure the property settlement is legally binding and final.
If you do not finalise your property settlement in a legally binding way either party could claim against the other for property settlement at a later date. This can become quite complex and expensive if people have moved on and acquired new assets or started new relationships.
No. It is not a requirement that you hire a lawyer to make an application for property settlement consent orders.
Yes. Our online application process and Property Settlement eGuide make it straightforward to file your own application for property settlement.
At eDivorce, we provide high quality legal documents and information to help you prepare and submit your application yourself, in an easy and affordable manner.
It is important to have a clear understanding of your application and its meaning and effect, before you sign and lodge.
Professional legal advice will assist you to understand your rights and obligations, and the effect and consequences of your application before signing or lodging.