Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

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The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (the Court) brings together the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and commenced on 1 September 2021. The new Court aims to allow Australian families the opportunity to resolve their disputes faster through simplified procedures and is now a single point of entry for all family law matters.

Court locations

Family law

The Court’s family law jurisdiction includes:

  • applications for divorce
  • applications for spousal maintenance
  • property and financial disputes
  • parenting orders
  • enforcement of orders
  • location and recovery orders:
  • warrants for the apprehension or detention of a child
  • determination of parentage.

Migration law 

Judges can review some decisions, including some decisions of:

  • the Minister for Immigration
  • Citizenship
  • Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs
  • the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
  • the Immigration Assessment Authority. 

General federal law

The Court’s general federal law jurisdiction includes:

  • administrative law
  • admiralty law
  • bankruptcy
  • consumer law
  • human rights
  • industrial (eg. the Fair Work jurisdiction)
  • intellectual property 
  • privacy.

The Court shares this jurisdiction with the Federal Court and in some cases state courts.