On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. comprehend and explain key legal concepts underpinning Australia's Family Law system;
2. critically evaluate the challenges and debates surrounding Family Law, including the ethical and professional responsibilities of those   practising in it;
3. identify, analyse and critically assess disputes between parties to a marriage, or parties in a de facto relationship, involving issues of property, children and spousal maintenance;
4. demonstrate legal problem solving skills, which generate appropriate responses to complex statutory problems in the field of Family Law;
5. communicate effectively, appropriately and persuasively on Family Law matters; and
6. learn and work autonomously and collaboratively, using feedback to improve capability and performance.

1. There will be lecture slides, seminar questions and supplementary materials available on the Family Law course page on MyUni.
2. The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) is available online. It is a voluminous Act and will be referred to extensively throughout the course. Students may find it more convenient if they have a bound printed copy. You can order your copy here.
3. The Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) is also available online. Students can also order a bound printed copy of that Act here.
4. The Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Regulations 1986 (Cth) are also available online. Students can also order a bound printed copy of those Regulations here
5. The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth). You can order your copy here.
6. The prescribed textbooks for this course are:

• Adiva Sifris et al, 'Family Law in Australia' (LexisNexis, 10th ed)
• Grant Riethmuller, Robin Smit, 'Family Law) (Thomson Reuters, 7th ed)

Additional legislation

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 (Cth)

Relationships Register Act 2016 (SA)

Adoption Act 1988 (SA)

Family Relationships Act 1975 (SA)

Surrogacy Act 2019 (SA)

Guidelines and reports

Australian Law Reform Commission, 'Family Law for the Future: An Inquiry into the Family Law System' Report No 135 (2019)

Parenting Orders – What You Need to Know - 2016

Family Violence Best Practice Principles - December 2016

Central Practice Direction – Family Law Case Management

Pre-action Procedures (Parenting)

Pre-Action Procedures (Property)

Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2015

Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4^th ed)

MyUni will be used to post announcements and course materials, as well as assignment tasks, grades and feedback.

Students are expected to check MyUni regularly to keep up-to-date with these materials and any additional learning resources throughout the course.

Overview
This course will be taught through one two-hour lecture per week, and supported by weekly interactive one-hour seminars.

Lectures
The lectures are designed to provide an overview of the primary areas of Family Law. They will provide an introduction to the problem solving material to be covered in seminars.

All lectures will be recorded.

Seminars
Each weekly seminar will be organised around a problem question and/or discussion topics.

The seminars are intended to develop analytical problem solving skills, as well as an awareness of the ethical, social and cultural issues that may arise in Family Law matters.

Students will develop both oral and written communication skills with a focus on practical implementation, and will be encouraged to actively participate in seminar discussions and activities.

Unlike lectures, seminars will not be recorded.

Contact time

Attend 2 hours of lectures, plus a 1 hour seminar, each week. This amounts to a minimum of 33 hours of formal class time across the semester.

Preparation time

In addition to attending formal classes, it is anticipated that students will do substantial independent work to prepare for classes and complete the course assignments. The University expects that full time students (ie, those undertaking 12 units per semester) will devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies.

This course provides students with an understanding of the fundamental principles and concepts in Australian Family Law.

Topics to be covered throughout lectures and seminars include:

• an introduction to Australia's Family Law system;
• marriage and de facto relationships;
• divorce, nullity and terminating a de facto relationship;
• an introduction to children's issues;
• parenting orders;
• international child abduction;
• preliminary issues in property settlement;
• property settlements for married and de facto couples;
• domestic violence in property settlement; and
• financial agreements and spousal maintenance.

Assessment task	Task type	Due date	Weighting	Redeemable	Learning Outcome
Interim Assignment	Individual	2pm on Wednesday of Week 7	40% (2000 words)	No	1-6
Invigilated Exam	Individual	Exam period	60% 2 hours	No	1-6

Interim Assignment (40%)

The Interim Assignment is weighted at 40% of the final course mark, and is not redeemable.

Students will complete a letter or memorandum of advice based on instructions from a fictious client. The assignment will be focussed on issues in relation to children. Students will be expected to apply skills of legal problem solving to explain and apply the relevant law and provide helpful and relevant advice.

Details of the Interim Assignment instructions will be posted on the Family Law course page on MyUni during Week 3.

Word Limit: 2,000 words

Due date: The interim asssignment must be submitted by 2:00pm on Wednesday of Week 7

Invigilated Exam (60%)

Students will undertake an open book invigilated exam during the scheduled exam period. Students may bring any written materials with them into the exam, including textbooks, printed materials and summary notes. They may also bring a calculator. The exam will consist of a long answer problem question based on property issues, and shorter critical comment questions designed to assess students’ knowledge and understanding of material covered during the semester.

Duration: 2 hours

Due Date: The exam will be scheduled during the exam period

 

Retaining work: Students must retain a copy of all assessments submitted.
Academic integrity: All written assessments must be submitted via ‘Turnitin’ on MyUni. Details for electronic submission through Turnitin will be provided with the assignment instructions. By submitting your assignment you are agreeing to the following: (a) I declare that all material in this assessment is my own work except where there is clear acknowledgement and reference to the work of others. I have read the Policy on Cheating in Examinations and Related Forms of Assessment. I have also read the University's Academic Integrity Policy; (b) I give permission for my assessment work to be reproduced and submitted to other academic staff for the purposes of assessment and to be copied, submitted and retained in a form suitable for electronic checking of plagiarism. All assessments will be submitted and monitored through text or code comparative software (e.g. Turnitin) where possible.

Late submission: Where an assignment is submitted after the due date and without an extension, a penalty of 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is one hour late (for a final grade of 58%), 10% if it is 25 hours late etc. This penalty may be increased where the assignment is to be completed in a period of less than a week.

Word length: Assignments which exceed the allocated length (word length) will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total marks possible per 100 words or part thereof (ie, with a word limit of 3000, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is 3001 words long, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 3101 words long, etc). Words are calculated including all footnotes and headings within the text but excluding cover page information, separate bibliography or list of sources. Quotations and all referencing information are included in the word count. If the word limit is seriously misstated, this may be regarded as academic dishonesty.

Extensions: Requests for extensions must be made via email to the course co-ordinator in reasonable time before the due date. Extensions will be granted only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate grounds in accordance with University Policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting engagements are not 'unexpected' circumstances.

Style of written work: All written work in the Law School is required to comply with the approved Law School style guide, the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4^th ed).

Turnaround time: The interim assignment for this course will be returned to students within 3 weeks of the submission date. Group feedback, together with written, individual feedback will be provided, from which students can learn in preparation for the final online examination. The final online examination paper will be returned to students following the approval for the release of results by the University. Students will be notified by email when assessments are ready for collection electronically through MyUni.

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

• assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
• detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
• sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
• reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
• comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
• automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
• the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

Student feedback The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider.

The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Lex Salus Program

Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our Facebook page, website and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support

The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.

Academic Integrity

All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia. Academic Integrity is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.