Chatswood Divorce Lawyer

Although Australian divorce laws have changed and made it simpler for incompatible spouses to obtain a divorce, there are a number of situations or facts that can complicate that divorce. Divorce is the dissolution of a marriage and whilst it is now a no-fault system so that you do not need to provide evidence of the reasons for your divorce to your divorce attorney, you or your spouse must have been born in Australia or have become an Australian citizen by descent, are an Australian citizen by a grant of Australian citizenship and are legally in Australia and have lived in Australia for the past 12 months. Further you and your spouse must have been separated for more than 12 months and with no possibility of getting back together. All these factors need to be taken to account when hiring separation lawyers. If you have been living separately under the same roof for more than 12 months, you can still apply for a divorce but you need to prepare and file additional documents. Further if you have been married for less than 2 years you and your spouse must consider marriage counselling before you can apply for a divorce with the help of a divorce attorney.

You can choose to file either a sole application or a joint application for divorce and once filed, the divorce application needs to be served at least 28 days before the divorce hearing date. If your spouse is overseas, the documents must be served at least 42 days before the divorce hearing date. You also must go to court for the divorce hearing with the help of a divorce attorney if you have applied for the divorce on your own (that it is not a joint divorce between you and your spouse) or if there is a child of the marriage under 18 years at the time that you applied for the divorce. If the court grants the divorce, it becomes final 1 month and 1 day after the hearing date and after that time you can download the divorce order from the Commonwealth Courts portal alongside the guidance of a divorce attorney.

Other matters in relation to divorce relate to whether you and your spouse may have reconciled briefly during your time of separation and in that case you can still apply for a divorce if the period of reconciliation was no longer than 3 months and the period of separation prior to and after the brief reconciliation add up to at least 12 months.

It is generally advisable that you seek legal advice as soon as you plan to separate with your partner or as soon as separation take place to ensure that you can understand your rights and meet your responsibilities. We are committed to guiding you through this difficult stage in your life and as resourceful, experienced and reputable divorce lawyers in Chatswood, we can direct you on whether you can legally file for divorce, what your legal rights are after a divorce and whether you should attend mediation or counselling services to resolve any potential concerns that you and/or your partner might have.