Divorce Cases
Will I have to go to court?
After you have applied for a divorce, your application will be considered by the Court.
Some divorce applications require you to attend a hearing, and others can be dealt with by a Judicial Officer reading your application and supporting documents.
You are required to attend court if you made a sole application and have children, or there is a child who was treated by both parties to the marriage as a child of their family during the marriage. If you do not attend, the Court may adjourn or dismiss your application.
If you made a joint application, you are not required to attend, even if you have children, but the Court may request further evidence if they are not satisfied your application has sufficient evidence that suitable arrangements have been made for the children, including a child who was treated by both parties to the marriage as a child of their family during the marriage.
It is also advisable to attend if you may need to provide additional evidence to explain your circumstances. For example, if
- you and your spouse were separated under one roof.
- you were married for less than two years.
You are required to attend if you have made another application that is being dealt with at the same time as your divorce application. For example, if:
- you have requested that the court dispense with service.
- you are requesting to make an application when you have been married for less than two years and have not attended counselling before applying.
Preparing for the hearing
You should bring all documents with you to court including a copy of your application and service documents.
Where the arrangements for children have substantially changed since you elodged your application, you need to elodge an affidavit with the updated arrangements at least four days before the hearing. You will need to serve the affidavit on the other party before the hearing.
At the hearing, you or your lawyer must be prepared to inform the court that:
- you have not resumed cohabitation since filing the application, and
- the arrangements for the children in your application are still current.
If you are unable to attend in person, you may wish to apply to request to attend by phone.
Last updated: 17-Nov-2021
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