This week marks 40 year anniversary of the Family Law Act, which saw the shift of its focus on protecting society’s most vulnerable members.

It should be noted that Family law is continually undergoing changes and there has been continual changes in the Act – as the diversity of families increase, so does the law that protects it.

In 1975, the Australian government created the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (FLA’) in order to reflect the changing attitude of society.

In the same year, the Family Court of Australia was introduced to hear family law matters.

In 1975, the Family Law Act changed divorce law in Australia when it established the then revolutionary concept of ‘no fault divorce’, which meant that the Court no longer required proof that one partner had done something wrong, or an explanation as to why the marriage ended. This momentous decision now results in the only ground for divorce is that there has been an irreconcilable break down of marriage, that is, that the relationship has permanently broken down.

Another significant change for the act was the reduction of time for a divorce to take effect from three months to one month. As a result, from 1976 there has been a large number of divorces recorded. The rate of divorce continued to increase steadily since the 1980s. The other change that we have seen is the increase number of de facto relationships and a decrease in the number of marriages.

It is clear that the Family Law Act has evolved since its creation in 1975. This can be explained by the constant change and wide variety of family structures. No family is the same and no family is perfect.

For more information in relation to this historic event have a look at this article in Lawyers Weekly.