5 Reasons the Court has not accepted your Family Law Consent Order

By Braeden Watts | June 14, 2019 | 0 Comment

1. The orders are not “just and equitable”
For the court to make an order in a family law matter the judge or magistrate needs to be satisfied that the order they make is just and equitable.  This is the main reason the court refuses to make orders and is often not particularly straightforward.  Essentially the outcome of the orders sought does not reflect the contributions and future needs of the parties (explained here) based on the information provided in the application.  While there is no strict calculation generally there is a range of permissible outcomes and if the court is not satisfied the orders are just and equitable, your orders are probably outside that range.

2. Your minute of consent orders is not “technically effective”
The minute of consent is the technical directions of what happens legally.  It is what the Court then makes into their orders. If your minute of consent does not clearly make sense and give effect to what it appears you are trying to achieve you are likely to receive your application back from the court.  For example, you must explain who does what, when with what, and so on.

3. You have not completed the form correctly.
Some of the nauseating traps you could hit include:

• not witnessing the affidavits correctly;
• not completing a relevant section completely;
• some of the information is not precise enough or gives enough attention to detail’
• you have not explained by the division should be as it is clearly

Affidavits in the application will also need to be sworn in front of an authorised witness such as a lawyer or justice of the peace.

4. You had not complied with a jurisdictional requirement
Such as providing an affidavit as to jurisdiction where you are a de facto couple.  If you are married you will need to provide your marriage certificate however if you were not married you will need to satisfy the court that they have jurisdiction to make an order.  You will need to provide evidence and that must be in the form of an affidavit (there being no de facto certificates!).

5. Your application is out of time
If you have not made your application within one year of divorce or within 2 years of separation in a de facto couple you need leave of the court to make an application. Without that leave, you cannot make an application.

What can you do?
If you are concerned about any of the above or any other issues you may have with a consent order, you may find it simpler and easier to instruct us to prepare and file your application on your behalf.  We will guide you through the process and highlight any issues which you may have so that you can avoid the inevitable stress caused by having your application rejected.

 

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The contents of this publication are not legal advice to anybody who receives it and should not be treated as legal advice. You should not take any action following reading this publication without legal advice concerning its application or relevance to your own circumstances.