A year has now passed since the most significant overhaul of Australian family law in a generation. On 10 June 2025, the bulk of the Family Law Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) commenced, reshaping how separating couples — married and de facto — work through property settlements under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
For families on the Gold Coast, the changes are no longer theoretical. They are landing in mediations, in consent orders, and in court rooms across South East Queensland every single week. As Queensland marked Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month in May, with the 2026 theme “Together Queenslanders can prevent domestic and family violence,” the timing matters: one of the most consequential parts of the reforms is the way the law now treats family violence when dealing with property settlements.
This article walks through what has actually changed — and, just as importantly, what it means for clients sitting at our table on the Gold Coast trying to make sense of separation, settlement, and what comes next.
The reforms in one paragraph
The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 codifies what had previously been a court-built, case-law approach to property settlements. It writes a clearer four-step decision-making process directly into the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). It elevates family violence — including economic and financial abuse — as a matter the court must consider where relevant. It also changes how separating couples deal with companion animals, such as the family pet. And it strengthens the duty to disclose financial information honestly and completely. These are not cosmetic changes. They reshape strategy, evidence, and outcomes.
What hasn’t changed
Before unpacking the changes, the most important point: the underlying principle that the court must be satisfied before making a final property settlement order is to ensure the order is “just and equitable” – this hasn’t changed. The court is still not obliged to make any property order at all. The amendments work within that long-standing principle, not around it.
The four-step approach Queensland family lawyers have used for decades — identify the existing property and liabilities, to assess the contributions of each party, to assess current and future needs of the parties, and finally to consider whether the proposed division is just and equitable — is now codified in the legislation. Arguably, the new framework gives both lawyers and clients a clearer roadmap. Predictability is a quietly valuable thing in family law.
Family violence is now squarely on the property table
Before 10 June 2025, family violence could be relevant to a property settlement, but only through the narrow lens of the Kennon line of authority — broadly, where violence had made a party’s contributions “significantly more arduous than they ought to have been.” It was a high threshold and, in practice, the adjustments awarded tended to be modest.
The amended Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) now expressly requires the court to consider, where relevant, the economic effect of any family violence one party was subjected or exposed to — both when assessing contributions and when assessing the parties’ current and future circumstances.
The definition of family violence in section 4AB has also been amended such that economic and financial abuse are now a stand-alone provision, being a distinct form of violence — which includes unreasonably denying a person financial autonomy. This matters for Gold Coast families because economic abuse is one of the most under-recognised patterns we see across the practice. A partner who controls all the bank accounts. A partner who refuses to allow the other to work. A partner who runs up debt in the other’s name. Where that conduct has shaped the financial reality of the relationship, the law now requires the court to take it seriously when dividing the assets and liabilities of the parties.
If you are a family violence survivor stepping into a property settlement this year, you should not be expected to leave your relationship and then be told the financial damage doesn’t matter. The law and the reforms are an attempt to protect you.
For anyone living through this reality and unsure where to begin, our domestic violence and family law support page outlines the practical legal steps available — including how protection orders and property settlements intersect.
The companion animal question — finally answered
One of the most-asked questions in any separation: who keeps the dog?
For decades, the answer under Australian family law was unsatisfying for many people. Pets were dealt with as property — no different to a car or a couch. From 10 June 2025, section 4(1) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) defines a “companion animal” as an animal kept by the parties primarily for companionship. It excludes assistance animals (such as guide dogs), animals kept as part of a business, animals kept for agricultural purposes, and animals used in laboratory tests.
For companion animals, sections 79(6) and 90SM(6) now give the court three — and only three — possible orders that it can make in relation to companion animals:
- Sole ownership to one party
- Transfer ownership to a third party who consents
- Sale of the animal
The court cannot make orders for an animal to have shared care or similar care arrangements in place. That is, the Court cannot order a “time-with-the-dog” arrangement. If you want a shared arrangement, you and your former partner need to agree to it privately.
When deciding ownership, the court will consider factors such as; who acquired the animal, who has cared for and paid for it, the attachment between the animal and any child of the relationship, each party’s ability to care for the animal going forward, and — critically — any history of actual or threatened cruelty or abuse, including family violence. A pet weaponised in a coercive relationship is a recognised concept in Australian family law.
For Gold Coast families, this is a meaningful shift. We see a lot of beloved dogs and cats in our family law practice, and the law now allows us to argue for those animals’ welfare in a way that wasn’t possible before.
A sharper duty of disclosure
The duty to give full and honest financial disclosure has always existed in family law. What’s changed is its location and its teeth. The duty of disclosure is now embedded in the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) itself, rather than living only in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules. The nature of the duty is the same — but consequences for non-compliance are now front-and-centre in the legislation.
There is also a new obligation on legal practitioners and family dispute resolution practitioners to make sure separating parties understand this duty before they engage in resolution processes. In practice, this means clients are being educated about disclosure earlier, and non-compliance is more likely to influence the final orders the court makes.
What this means for couples settling out of court
Here is something many people don’t realise: the new framework applies to all separating couples, not just those in court. Whether your property settlement ends up resolved at mediation, through a binding financial agreement, in consent orders, or at a final hearing — the same statutory framework governs the applicable assessment.
That has practical implications. Mediators, lawyers, and family dispute resolution practitioners now need to be applying the codified framework when modelling likely settlement ranges. The “what would a court do?” question — which is the anchor for almost every negotiation — has been redefined
If you separated before 10 June 2025 but haven’t yet finalised your settlement, the new law applies to your matter unless a final hearing had already commenced before that date. In other words, if your matter is still on foot, the new framework reaches it.
The Frigo James Legal view
A year in, what we are seeing in our family law practice on the Gold Coast is this: the reforms are doing what they set out to do. Family violence survivors have a clearer pathway to having the economic impact of abuse considered. Couples with pets have certainty (even if some of that certainty is unwelcome — the “no shared care” rule lands hard for some). And the amendments to the four-step framework is helping clients understand, often for the first time, how the law actually works on their facts and life.
But the reforms have also raised the bar on preparation. Particularly where family violence is in the picture — careful, sensitively prepared affidavit material that links the violence to its effect is required. This is not work that can be done in a single meeting or with a generic precedent.
It is work that calls for experienced family lawyers who know the reforms, know the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and — most importantly — know how to listen first.
If you have separated, are separating, or thinking about separation, the most useful thing you can do is have an early, no-pressure conversation with an experienced family lawyer about where you stand under the new framework. That’s exactly what our free 60-minute family law consultation is for. There is no obligation. There is no judgement. Just clarity.
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