What is family violence?
Family violence is defined by the Family Law Act 1975 as “violent, threatening or other behaviour by a person that coerces or controls a member of the person’s family (the family member), or causes the family member to be fearful”.
How is it relevant to property matters?
When the Court is determining property matters, one of the most important factors is what contributions each party made to the relationship. Contributions take many forms, including financial, non-financial and contributions to the welfare of the family (such as parenting). Broadly speaking, when a person makes more contributions, this can increase their entitlement in a property settlement.
Prior to the amendments to the Act introduced in June 2025, family violence was still considered in property matters by applying the case of Kennon v Kennon [1997], where if violent conduct made a person’s contributions “significantly more arduous than they ought to have been”, then a trial judge could take that into account when assessing contributions. Put more simply: being exposed to family violence makes contributing to a relationship harder, which has an impact that should be recognised.
The 2025 amendments incorporated this explicitly into the Act. When considering what orders should be made in property proceedings, the court will take into account relevant considerations, and pursuant to Section 79(4)(ca), this now includes “the effect of any family violence, to which one party to the marriage has subjected or exposed the other party, on the ability of a party to the marriage to make the kind of contributions referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c)”.
While family violence could still be considered in property settlement prior to these amendments, the inclusion of Section 79(4)(ca) into the Act accomplishes two things:
- Lowers the threshold for family violence to be considered in property settlement; and
- More explicitly acknowledges the impact of family violence on victims.
If you or someone you know is being affected by family violence, help is available. 1800RESPECT provides 24/7 assistance for victims.