Szabo & Associates News & Updates

An amendment to rental laws which allows victims of domestic violence to break their lease immediately has been welcomed as ‘one less problem’ for those trying to escape violent homes.

Background

The Civil Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Act 2018, which received Royal Assent in October 2018, introduced a number of changes to the Family Law Act with regard to a wide range of matters. One of these amendments concerns property settlements for de facto and unmarried same-sex couples.

With 2018 coming to a close, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released a summary of Marriages and Divorces in Australia throughout 2017.

With the aim to improve on domestic violence (DV) victim protection, NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman has announced the introduction of tougher strangulation laws as part of a DV legislative reform.

The government recently announced plans to merge the Family Court of Australia into the Federal Circuit Court (FCC) to reduce its growing backlog of family law cases. This merger will lead to significant changes within the Australian Family Law system and has been received with mixed opinions.