Divorce Lawyers in Brisbane

Our divorce services can help you and your spouse simply, smoothly and professionally finalise the marital relationship.

Can I get a divorce?

In order to file for divorce in Australia, you and your spouse need to have been separated for a period of 12 months or more. Furthermore, either you or your spouse must:

• Regard Australia as your home and intend to live in Australia indefinitely;
• Be an Australian citizen by birth, descent or by grant of Australian citizenship;
• Ordinarily live in Australia and have done so for 12 months immediately before filing for divorce.

An application for divorce can be made jointly with your former spouse, or you can make an application alone.

If you have been married for less than two years in order to apply for divorce you must either:

• Attend counselling with a family counsellor or nominated counsellor to discuss the possibility of reconciliation with your spouse; OR

If you have not attended counselling, seek permission of the Court to apply for divorce, which will include filing and affidavit with your divorce application. We can assist you with what your affidavit should address.

When Parties Do/Don’t Agree

If one party doesn’t agree to the service, the divorce proceedings can still occur. If both parties agree, the divorce will be made jointly. If not, the application can be made alone.

Joint Applications

• You won’t need to ‘serve’ your former partner with a copy of the application
• Both parties can usually avoid attending court (physically, or by video conference or telephone).

Applications Made Alone

• You are responsible for seeing that the application is ‘served’ on your former spouse
• You will need to ensure that evidence of that service is lodged with the court
• A court proceeding will be required.

Damien Greer Lawyers can assist through all divorce proceedings, but particularly if you are making your application alone (or a court appearance is required). We can assist with serving the application, recording the evidence of that service, and any/all legal proceedings associated with the divorce.

De Facto Separations

The Family Law Act recognises de facto relationships if you live together as a couple, regardless of your sex. The Act treats such relationships differently from marriage in that if the existence of such a relationship is disputed, proof will be required, and a Court may have to decide the issue.

When considering whether a de facto relationship exists, the court will look at whether:

• The period of the relationship must be at least 2 years
• At least one of the parties in the relationship was ordinarily resident in a participating jurisdiction (all states except Western Australia)
• Either:
  • both parties were ordinarily resident during at least one third of the period of the relationship, or
  • the applicant for the order made substantial contributions, either financial, non-financial or to the welfare of the family comprising the de facto parties and their children.

Once a de facto relationship is found to exist, the Family Law Act treats those parties no differently to parties who are married when it comes to dealing with property and financial issues. And in any circumstances where there are children, the same laws apply to all parents – regardless of their kind of relationship.

For assistance navigating financial, property or parental matters associated with a de facto separation, we can help. The team at Damien Greer Lawyers have a wealth of experience in family law matters and can help you and your family find the smoothest resolution.