Abuse—in relation to a child, means:
• an assault, including a sexual assault, of the child
• a person (the first person) involving the child in a sexual activity with the first person or another person in which the child is used, directly or indirectly, as a sexual object by the first person or the other person, and where there is unequal power in the relationship between the child and the first person
• causing the child to suffer serious psychological harm, including (but not limited to) when that harm is caused by the child being subjected to, or exposed to, family violence or
• serious neglect of the child.
Address for service—the physical street address, or email address, given by a party (generally you, or your ex) where legal documents can be served on you or your ex by hand, post or some other form of electronic communication.
Adjourn—change or postpone a court event (i.e. any time you or your lawyer has to go to court for your case) to another day or time.
Affidavit—a written legal statement by a party or witness. An affidavit is a legal version of ‘he said, she said’. It’s how you present the facts of your case to the court. You must have an affidavit signed before an authorised person (such as a lawyer or Justice of the Peace), and you must swear to or attest to the truth of the contents of the affidavit when you speak in court about what you’ve said in your affidavit. It is an offence to lie in an affidavit. Learning to spell affidavit (and subpoena) takes up almost an entire semester of law school. It’s pronounced ‘affa-day-vit’.
Appeal—a procedure that allows a party to challenge the decision made by a court to a higher court. It takes a long time and costs a lot of money to appeal a decision.
Applicant—the person who applies to a court for orders (which means a decision is made and then turned into legally enforceable orders).
Case—when a person makes an application to a court for orders, that becomes the case before the court. It can also be called your ‘matter’, but generally only before it becomes a ‘case’. We like to keep you on your toes.
Case law—law that has been made by a judge or judges, which is binding, and becomes precedent (see Precedent). (Also see unhelpful.)
Conference—a meeting between lawyers and their clients, or between lawyers and the judge.
Consent order—an agreement between the parties (generally about the children or finances in family law) that is approved by the court and then becomes a legally enforceable court order.
Contravention—when a court finds a party has not followed a court order (including consent orders), that party is in contravention of (broken the terms of) the order. There are penalties that apply to contraventions of a court order, which can range from a fine to possibly imprisonment.
Court hearing—the date and time when a case is scheduled to come before the court.
Court order—the actions the parties or a party must do to carry out a decision made by a court. An order may be either interim or final. Interim means that it’s not yet finalised, but must be followed until it is finalised.
Divorce order—an order made by a court that ends a marriage.
Enforcement order—an order made by a court to make a party or person comply with (that is, follow) an order.
Ex parte hearing—a hearing where one party is not present and has not been given notice of the application before the court; usually reserved for urgent cases (like where there’s a risk of international child abduction).
Family consultant—a psychologist and/or social worker who specialises in child and family issues that may occur after separation and divorce.
Family dispute resolution—a process where a family dispute resolution practitioner assists people to try to resolve some or all of their disputes with each other following separation and/or divorce. (Most people just call this mediation but the government can’t resist a good three-letter acronym.)
Family Law Act 1975 (‘the Act’ or the Family Law Act)—the legislation in Australia that covers family law matters.
Family law registry—a public area at a family court and Federal Circuit Court where people can obtain information about the court and its processes and where parties file documents in relation to their case. (Although most documents are now filed electronically on the Commonwealth Courts portal. If you have a lawyer, they will file documents for you.)
Family report—a written assessment (or report) of a family by a family consultant. A report is prepared to assist a court to make a decision in a case about children.
Family violence—violent, threatening or other behaviour by a person that coerces or controls a member of the person’s family (the family member), or causes the family member to be fearful. Examples of behaviour that may constitute family violence include (but are not limited to):
• an assault
• a sexual assault or other sexually abusive behaviour
• stalking
• repeated derogatory taunts
• intentionally damaging or destroying property
• intentionally causing death or injury to an animal
• unreasonably denying the family member the financial autonomy that they would otherwise have had
• unreasonably withholding financial support needed to meet the reasonable living expenses of the family member, or their child, at a time when the family member is entirely or predominantly dependent on the person for financial support
• preventing the family member from making or keeping connections with their family, friends or culture
• unlawfully depriving the family member, or any member of the family member’s family, of their liberty.
Family violence order—an order (including an interim or temporary order) made under a law of a state or territory to protect a person or persons (including children, if necessary) from family violence. The orders are called different things in different states, as follows:
• New South Wales—apprehended violence orders
• Queensland—protection orders (but commonly referred to as domestic violence orders or DVOs)
• Victoria—personal safety intervention orders
• Tasmania—family violence and restraint orders
• Western Australia—family violence restraining order (FVRO)
• South Australia—intervention orders
• Northern Territory—domestic violence order
• Australian Capital Territory—protection orders (also known as domestic violence orders).
Final order—an order made by a court to bring a case to a close (i.e. the end of your case).
Form—a particular document that must be completed and filed at court. Different forms are used for different family law matters.
Independent children’s lawyer—a lawyer appointed by the court and usually paid for by Legal Aid to represent a child’s interests in a matter in the Federal Circuit Court or Family Court. The independent children’s lawyer will meet with child, if appropriate, and gather evidence by way of subpoenas, family reports and psychiatric assessments. The independent children’s lawyer is a party to the matter. Legal Aid will seek a contribution to the costs of the independent children’s lawyer from you if you have the means to pay.
Interim hearing—a short defended hearing where witnesses usually do not give evidence. Lawyers (or self-represented litigants) will make submissions where they argue their case and refer the judge to evidence in documents such as affidavits or family reports.
Interim order—an order made by a court until another order or a final order is made.
Judgment—a binding legal decision made by a court after all the evidence is heard. Orders will follow a judgment.
Judicial officer—another word for judge.
Major long-term issues—issues relevant to the care, welfare and development of a child of a long-term nature and include (but are not limited to) issues concerning:
• the child’s education (both current and future)
• the child’s religious and cultural upbringing
• the child’s health
• the child’s name
• changes to the child’s living arrangements that make it significantly more difficult for the child to spend time with a parent.
Mention—a short hearing at court to show the judge how things are progressing. Less complicated issues could be dealt with by the court during a mention, if there is time.
No contact—no contact of any type as far as is possible, particularly if there is abuse, a history of being on again/off again, emotional game-playing, or any kind of general nastiness.
Parental responsibility—in relation to a child, means all the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority that, by law, parents have in relation to children.
Parenting plan—a written agreement signed and dated by parents and setting out parenting arrangements for children. It is not approved by or filed with a court and is not legally binding but the court will take notice of it. A parenting plan supersedes an earlier court order.
Party or parties—a person or legal entity, such as a corporation, involved in a court case: for example, the applicant or respondent.
Precedent—a decision made by a judicial officer, which may serve as an example for other cases or orders, unless the judge decides the facts of the case are too different.
Procedural order—an order made by a court of a practical nature. For example, the court may order the parties to attend family dispute resolution.
Reasonable excuse—a judge may find that someone has a reasonable excuse for breaching parenting orders if the person did not understand them, or the person breached the orders because it was necessary to protect the health or safety of a person (whether that person was the person breaching the orders or the child, or someone else entirely). The key word here is ‘reasonable’, and what might feel reasonable in the middle of a heated argument may not feel so reasonable in the cold hard light of a courtroom when confronted by an angry judge. Get legal advice before taking matters into your own hands.
Registrar—a court lawyer who can do things such as grant divorces, mediate at conciliation conferences, sign consent orders and decide the next step in a case.
Respondent—the person named as a party to a case. A respondent may or may not respond to the orders sought by the applicant, in which case they’ll be made on the materials that are supplied (i.e. one side won’t tell their side of the story).
Rules—a set of directions that outlines court procedures and guidelines. The rules of the Family Court are the Family Law Rules 2004 and the rules of the Federal Circuit Court are the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001.
Service—when your documents are filed in court, you have to give a copy to ‘the other side’ (i.e. your ex), generally at the same time. It’s very poor form to ‘withhold service’ (i.e. not give them over to your ex) and your lawyer will get in big trouble with the judge if they do this.
Subpoena—a document issued by a court, at the request of a party, requiring a person to produce documents and/or give evidence to the court. You learn to spell it by spelling it out sub-po-ena but it’s actually pronounced sah-pee-na.
Super split—where super is ‘split’ from one party’s super account and put into the other party’s super account, either by a superannuation agreement (usually contained in a binding financial agreement) or by court order.
Transcript—a record of the spoken evidence in a court case, which the court reporter types up. All court hearings are recorded, except in uncontested divorce hearings. The court doesn’t order transcripts in every case and doesn’t provide transcripts to parties. If a party orders a transcript, they will have to pay for it themselves and they are expensive (unless and until you get costs awarded, yay).
Adapted from ‘Legal words used in court’—Family Court of Australia