New Year – New Family Law Act?
What does the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 mean for Family Law in Australia? In late January 2023 the Family Law Amendment Bill was released by the Attorney-General’s Department, sparking significant debate around the proposed amendments and what that might mean for past, present and future separated families. On the back of the number of Family Law inquiries over recent years and most significantly that of the Australian Law Reform Commission, the Government developed a draft Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 to address some of the most important issues in relation to children and parenting matters as an urgent priority. A summary of the proposed changes and their potential impact are as follows: Parental Responsibility Under the proposed reforms, the Government is repealing the presumption of ‘equal shared parental responsibility’ and the resultant requirement to consider specific time arrangements. The current legislative regime with respect to parental responsibility is very c...