The Family Court and Federal Circuit Court will be combined as part of sweeping changes to the financially and emotionally crippling family law system, in an announcement by the Attorney-General Christian Porter today…

Violent men who breach personal protection injunctions taken out by their former partners will face up to two years in jail and no longer be able to rely on drunkenness as a defence…

Parents locked in child custody disputes and couples going through acrimonious divorces will wait up to three years to have their cases finalised as “drastic underfunding” of the Federal Circuit Court and a mass exodus of retiring judges exacerbate already long waits…

Solicitors who specialise in helping female victims of Domestic Violence have been providing free, clandestine legal support to suspected victims of family violence, in hospital settings, while they have been receiving treatment for suspicious injuries. ..

ONE of the nation’s top judges has called for a separate, less ­formal tribunal to deal with family law cases involving extreme domestic violence, arguing that the current adversarial system is not the right place for women who have been badly abused…

CHILD welfare is being compromised and the safety of women put at risk because of unacceptable delays in the nation’s family law system, with courts in Sydney’s west reaching “crisis point”…

FAMILY law matters in indigenous communities will be heard outside courtrooms and a team established to help Aborigines under a plan being considered by the Federal Circuit Court…

AUSTRALIA should legalise commercial surrogacy to stop the exploitation of poor women and protect the children caught up in the booming overseas surrogacy trade, according to the chief federal magistrate…