Essential guide to family law practice
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- ID064_FAMA
Essential guide to family law practice
Refreshed in 2025, this course offers up-to-date guidance and practical insights to help you stay ahead in a changing family law landscape including the recent 10 June 2025 changes.
Want an essential guide to provide expert family law advice to your clients?
This bundle of step-by-step guides will build your capabilities across four essential – and practical – modules. You’ll learn:
- How to prepare and lodge an application for divorce
- The process of initiating applications for financial orders
- How to seek urgent and interim orders
- The essentials to initiate an application for parenting orders
You may be an early-career lawyer wanting to build foundational knowledge. Or perhaps you’re a senior lawyer looking to test and sharpen your expertise.
Either way, you’ll walk away with practical skills to support your clients with care and precision.
From this bundle course, you will earn 8 CPD Units.
INCLUDED COURSES
Refreshed in 2025, this course offers up-to-date guidance and practical insights to help you stay ahead in a changing family law landscape including the recent 10 June 2025 changes.
In a perfect world, families would be able to communicate effectively in any situation. In the real world, many families need the assistance of an outside authority. Clients facing this kind of situation need sound advice and care.
In this short course, accredited specialist in family law, Kathryn Kearley, will guide you through the process of advising a client that is seeking urgent or interim orders (which may include an order to stop their former partner or spouse from doing something, or to compel their former partner or spouse to do something).
At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Advise the client about types of urgent or interim orders and applications which may be appropriate for their situation
- Explain the court process to the client
- Know the procedural steps to take when making an urgent application or an interim application to the court
The course contains content that falls within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Course Structure
- Getting started
- Types of orders
- Preparing an application for an urgent and interim application
- Drafting the orders and affidavits
- Court events
- Family violence applications
Complete this course to earn 2 CPD units within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Practitioners holding WA practising certificates are not eligible to earn CPD points for this course.
Refreshed in 2025, this course offers up-to-date guidance and practical insights to help you stay ahead in a changing family law landscape including the recent 10 June 2025 changes.
Divorce in Australia is on the rise with more than 56,000 divorces granted in 2021.
Despite becoming more common, divorce remains one of the most stressful and uncertain life events.
In Australia, to apply for a divorce order, parties must establish five matters to the satisfaction of the court:
- The court has jurisdiction
- Proper service was affected
- There is a legal marriage between the parties
- The marriage has broken down irretrievably
- Where there are children of the marriage who are under 18 years of age, the current arrangements for their care, welfare and development and the proposed future arrangements are proper
This course will guide you through these matters and help you better support clients through this challenging process.
At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Advise clients on the divorce process
- Check jurisdiction
- Prepare the documents required for an application for divorce
- Follow the steps to file and serve an application for divorce
The course contains content that falls within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Course Structure
- Getting started
- Taking instructions
- Checking jurisdiction and commencing proceedings
- Preparing an application for divorce
- Filing and serving the application for divorce and other documents
- Attending the hearing and receiving the divorce order
Complete this course to earn 2 CPD units within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Practitioners holding WA practising certificates are not eligible to earn CPD points for this course.
Refreshed in 2025, this course offers up-to-date guidance and practical insights to help you stay ahead in a changing family law landscape including the recent 10 June 2025 changes.
In family law practice, clients who are going through a separation will seek advice about how they can sort out parenting arrangements for a child, including who that child will live with, who the child will spend time with and when, communications with the other parent, and other decisions about the care of the child. Knowing how to advise and guide these clients according to the law and best-practice principles, is fundamental to being a good family lawyer.
This course guides you through the steps of organising arrangements for children and making an application for parenting orders in appropriate circumstances.
At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Advise a client on the law about children and an application for a parenting order
- Explain the processes including mandatory family dispute resolution (FDR), pre action procedures and the court process and the consequences of failing to comply with a parenting order
- Carry out the procedural steps to make or oppose an application for parenting orders
- Identify the information and documents to give the client and the information to seek from the client at the first client interview
You’ll gain the skills you need to be the best family lawyer you can be for parenting matters.
The course contains content that falls within the mandatory CPD categories of Professional Skills and Substantive Law.
Course Structure
- Getting started
- Types of parenting arrangements and orders
- Engaging in Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) and pre-action procedures
- Preparing an application for parenting orders
- Family violence, notice of risk and contraventions
- Parenting plans and consent orders
Complete this course to earn 2 CPD units within the mandatory CPD categories of Professional Skills and Substantive Law.
Practitioners holding WA practising certificates are not eligible to earn CPD points for this course.
Refreshed in 2025, this course offers up-to-date guidance and practical insights to help you stay ahead in a changing family law landscape including the recent 10 June 2025 changes.
When a client is seeking a divorce they need your advice and support in navigating a series of complex family law issues, including those related to finances, parenting and child support.
It's often stressful and complicated to work out how to divide financial assets after a relationship breakdown.
By focusing on the resolution of financial issues, including property settlement and spouse maintenance, this course will help you better support your clients during this difficult process.
It will guide you through the steps in making an initiating application for financial orders in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA).
At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Advise a client on pre-action procedures and making an application for financial orders, including property settlement and spouse maintenance
- Explain the dispute resolution and court process to a client
- Develop a checklist which sets out the information and documents to give the client and to seek from the client at the first interview
- Identify what documents must be prepared and filed together with an initiating application to seek final financial orders or with response to initiating application
The course contains content that falls within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Course Structure
- Getting started – knowing the basics
- Taking instructions and advising
- Checking jurisdiction and pre-action procedures
- Preparing court documents to commence proceedings
- Filing and serving an initiating application seeking final financial orders
- Attending the first court event and subsequent court events
Complete this course to earn 2 CPD units within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Practitioners holding WA practising certificates are not eligible to earn CPD points for this course.
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RELATED COURSES
Applications for divorce: Step-by-step guide
Graduate Diploma of Applied Law (Family Law)
Managing your family law practice: skills series
Master of Laws (Applied Law) majoring in Family Dispute Resolution Practice and Family Law
Starting your family law practice: skills series
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
With our online on-demand interactive courses, you can learn when and where it suits you.
We’ve designed each course to provide both education and enjoyment.
Each course offers a mix of engaging exercises, where you’ll gain access to:
- Interactive activities to challenge your understanding and put your knowledge to the test. You’ll also enjoy engaging exercises, such as flip cards, quizzes and drafting activities
- Clearly identified outcomes so you know precisely what you’ll learn – and the skills you’ll gain. You’ll also be able to track your development and focus on key improvement areas.
- Extended course access so you can reference the material as you need – or revisit it if life ever gets in the way
- Feedback and template answers so you can refine your skills, grow your knowledge and gain fresh insights
All bundles and most single courses are not included in the CPD Digital Subscription, but are a great addition to a subscription and let you go in-depth in a particular area.
Yes, you can learn on the go by accessing our learning content anytime, anywhere through your mobile device.
Simply download the Canvas Student app (that hosts College of Law learning portal).
In the app, search College of Law in ‘Find my school’ and sign in with your given COLPass details. You will then be able to access all your College of Law courses via the mobile app.
Our suite of over 100+ exclusive single courses enable you to target a core skill or knowledge area.
Each course is an in-depth learning resource, available in the following formats:
Single courses are an affordable way for you to target a core skill or knowledge area.
Course formats include:
- Step-by-step guides: Explore the procedure or processes involved in a certain area of law
- Skills series modules: Sharpen an essential skill that you need to succeed in your practice
- Practice guides: Gain tips and an overview of a particular area of law
You can browse the full course list at any time.
Each bundle includes four in-depth resources, providing you with eight hours of self-paced and interactive learning, which you can access for 12-months from the date of purchase.
Strengthen your essential knowledge in a specific practice area. You can expand your expertise in areas such as:
- Wills and estates
- Family law
- Property transactions
- Advocacy
- Legal business management
- Criminal Law
- Business transactions
- Commercial contracts
- PLUS you can build your own bundle with any 4 single courses. Use code: BUNDLE40 at the check-out.
You can browse our bundle packages at any time. Still short of CPD points? You can add a Digital Subscription and save.
If the Digital Subscription is about variety, the bundle courses are about focus. Each on-demand bundle contains four in-depth learning resources, so you can boost your essential knowledge and skills across a particular practice area more affordably.
With a bundle, you’ll earn eight CPD points, while saving 40% on the single courses.
Go in-depth as you comprehensively explore a specific practice area. Learn interactively across engaging formats like step-by-step guides, practice guides and skill series. And gain helpful learning resources you can reference when you encounter similar situations in practice.
You can now build your own bundle with any four single courses. Simply add the four courses to your shopping cart using the BUNDLE40 discount code for the bundle price to be applied.
This bundle will benefit:
- Lawyers wanting to build practical foundational knowledge and skills
- Established lawyers looking to move into this area of law or who do occasional work in this area
- Senior lawyers looking to confirm their knowledge and stay up to date
- Paralegals, clerks and administrative staff wanting to upskill
Access our diverse library of short-form content, across all four mandatory areas, with a year-long subscription. And learn how you like with our collection of interactive courses, podcasts and vodcasts.
We’re constantly expanding our catalogue of subscription modules. Currently, you can access over 140 hours of content across areas like:
- Litigation
- Family law
- Drafting
- Client management
- Criminal law
- Professional conduct
- Employment law
- Project management
- Legal automation
You can browse our full subscription inclusion list at any time.
Please note that bundle courses and most single courses are not available within the subscription. You will need to add bundles or single courses to your subscription for in-depth learning in a particular area.
In today’s dynamic legal landscape, you need to stay informed about what’s happening now – and be prepared for what’s next.
With a CPD Digital Subscription, you’ll unlock our diverse and dynamic library of short-form content for only $499/year.
Designed around an engaging range of learning formats (including courses, vodcasts and podcasts), you can cover all your CPD compliance needs for one low yearly fee.
Subscribe today to:
- Enhance your everyday learning for you and your legal team
- Meet your mandatory CPD requirements
- Enjoy unlimited 24/7 access for 12 months
- Unlock 140+ hours of interactive courses, how-to skill series, vodcasts and podcasts
Each module has been expertly developed or curated by the College of Law – and our industry partners. These include the Centre for Legal Innovation (CLI), Hearsay, CPD Interactive and On the Run.
With a CPD Digital Subscription, you can learn when you want, what you want, and as often as you want.
If you’re looking for a wide variety of content, this is the CPD solution for you.
For live and short courses We offer a 10% discount for groups of two or more from the same organisation for our live courses and short courses. Add discount code GROUP10 at the checkout.
When it comes to subscription pricing options firms can access our subscription pricing options designed to accommodate varying team sizes:
- For teams of 2 to 5 users: Total cost: $1,399 per year. Enjoy savings of $1,096 using code FLEX5 when purchasing at the checkout.
- For teams of 6 to 10 users: Total cost: $1,799 per year Unlock savings of $3,191 using code FLEX10 when purchasing at the checkout.
- For teams of 10 or more users: Please contact us directly for personalised pricing tailored to your organisation's needs.
You can also learn more here.
You can access live courses and short courses delivered via a video conferencing link. This will be provided to you prior to the start of the course.
You can access each on-demand course through the College’s online learning portal. Whether you purchase a single course, a bundle, or a subscription, you’ll enjoy 24/7 unlimited access for 12 months from the time of purchase.
View the full course catalogue.
Does this educational activity extend your knowledge and skills in areas that are relevant to your practice needs or professional development?
If so, and you’re not a WA practitioner, you should claim 1 unit for each hour of participation, not including breaks.
Please check your local CPD rules for any caps on activity types, such as the private study of non-interactive audio/visual materials. You are responsible for keeping your own CPD records and complying with your local CPD rules.
Western Australian practitioners who complete our on-demand courses are currently unable to claim CPD points. However, you may earn CPD points by attending select live CPD events or by completing select CPD interactive modules.
Important Information: As of 1 April 2021, accredited providers of CPD to the legal profession in Western Australia are required to provide compliance information to the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia about individual legal practitioners. By enrolling in a College of Law course, you consent to us providing this information (including but not limited to personal information such as your name, WA Practitioner ID, contact details and course attendance/completion data) to the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia.
Please be advised of the following if you are a WA practitioner and wish to claim CPD points for attending/completing a College of Law course:
- You must check on the course registration page whether Western Australian practitioners are eligible to earn CPD points for that course.
- You must provide your Practitioner ID number to the College of Law. If you have not already done so, please provide your practitioner ID by email to cpd@collaw.edu.au
- Your attendance/completion of the course will be electronically monitored and you will be strictly required to remain present for the full duration in order to earn the CPD points attributed to the event. In the case of virtual offerings, you are responsible for maintaining a stable internet connection and taking account of time zones. No refunds will be issued for technical or other failures outside our control that result in you being unable to earn CPD points.
- If you have any questions about earning CPD points, please contact us by email cpd@collaw.edu.au or phone (02) 9965 7111.
- If you have any questions about the CPD compliance and reporting regime in Western Australia, please contact the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia.
Yes, you can keep track of your completion of our online courses and modules via the grades tab within the relevant courses in our learning management system.
While certificates are not issued for these courses, your learning journey is still captured within the platform.
At the end of each course, your grades and completion results are displayed on screen, giving you the opportunity to take a quick screenshot for your records. This provides clear evidentiary support for your self-assessment obligations under the CPD scheme.
CPD requirements generally begin from the first full CPD year after your admission as a practising lawyer. This means that if you’ve recently completed your Practical Legal Training (PLT) and been admitted, you typically won’t need to start earning CPD points until the next CPD cycle.
However, requirements can vary by jurisdiction, so it’s best to check with your local law society.
