Family Law

Highly sensitive Australian court files have been accessed offshore in breach of the privacy act and Commonwealth contractual obligations, an ABC investigation has revealed, raising concerns of a national security risk.

Many grandparents are parting with hundreds of thousands of dollars to help support their adult children through family law matters, in turn impacting their own financial security in retirement.

Perpetrators of financial abuse commit fraud by impersonating their partners, making them company directors in secret and putting business and tax debts in their names. The government wants to fix the problem, but will its proposed reforms go far enough?

A legal battle over the reported multi-million-dollar estate of Virginia Giuffre, who was abused by US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is underway in Western Australia.

Women are twice as likely to suffer domestic violence in Papua New Guinea compared with the rest of the world, a new report finds. Here's what the country is doing to fix it.

Sally's legal battle in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia may be years long gone, but the trauma of the experience lingers — especially on her eldest child.

Jacinta says she is part of a "big wave" of litigants self-representing in Family Court of Australia proceedings after facing extraordinary fees from family law firms.

From lawyers "maximising fees" to a family report writer's warning that "your case is a murder-suicide waiting to happen", these parents share allegations of their experience in the Family Court of Australia.

Three years and over $300,000 later, Alessia's experience in the Sydney registry of the Family Court has left her emotionally and financially depleted.

The findings from South Australia's landmark Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence have been released nine months after the first public hearings were held, and amid expectations of sweeping changes to address abuse.

The federal government is being urged to consider legal changes to allow the ATO to waive debts incurred through financial abuse, as the office ramps up use of its powers to recover $56 billion owed by small businesses and individuals.

With more Australians finding surrogate mothers overseas, parents and lawyers are calling for an overhaul of Australia's "patchwork" laws, while some ethicists say paying for babies should remain illegal.

The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 provides a new framework for determining ownership of the family pet in property settlements.

Queensland has received nearly $3 million from unclaimed estates in recent years. Experts say outdated inheritance laws are partly to blame.

The NSW government is investing millions into family preservation services to reduce crisis management and keep kids out of foster homes. A mother explains how it worked for her family.

A child born to an overseas commercial surrogate is in legal limbo, with experts estimating hundreds of other Australian children are also living with uncertain parentage.

A Brisbane couple could face prosecution after they admitted to using a commercial surrogacy service to have a baby abroad, but experts say the laws need to change.

SA Police has told the Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence, victims will wait longer for background checks on abusive partners without additional government funding.

SA Police respond to 100 domestic incidents and issue nine intervention orders on average each day, the state's Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence has heard. 

An inquiry into family violence orders has made 11 recommendations but victim-survivors say they've lost hope that repeated reforms will make a difference.