There is a fee for the following applications to the Family Court. Other applications don’t have a fee:
| Apply for a Dissolution Order (for a divorce) | $211.50 |
| Apply for a Parenting Order or to change (vary) or cancel (discharge) a Parenting Order | $220 |
| Apply for an order about relationship property | $700 |
| Hearings about relationship property | $906 per half day or part of a half day |
All prices include GST.
The fee applies whether your case is urgent (made without notice) or applied for on notice.
Find out more about urgent applications
You can ask the court to waive (cancel) the fee. This means you won’t have to pay.
Find out more about how to get a fee waived
Non-hearing related fees can be paid through the File and Pay service. This will allow you to pay the fees using a credit or debit card. You can find the fees under the “Family Court” Court type.
When you make a payment through File and Pay, you will receive a receipt that you should print out and send to us with your documents.
You can find File and Pay here: File and Pay (external link)
For cases about the care of children or child support you may have to pay a share of the costs of a lawyer appointed by the court (for example lawyer for the child) or reports from specialists. You may have to pay even if your application is withdrawn or if you sort out the dispute between yourselves after applying.
Find out more about Cost Contribution Orders
If you’re not getting legal aid and you want to say you can’t pay you’ll need to say why you can’t or shouldn’t pay towards any costs or why you shouldn’t pay the same amount as other people in your case.
You’ll get a letter from the court on how to do this and you’ll generally need to do it within 14 days.
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