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This is legal information, not legal advice. This page is reviewed against the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021, and current case law on AustLII — but not by a practising family-law solicitor. For advice on your matter, see Free legal help in Australia — Legal Aid, Community Legal Centres, Justice Connect, Women’s Legal Services, and Aboriginal Legal Services offer free or low-cost help.

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About the law

Most matters benefit from at least one lawyer consultation, even if you’re otherwise self-representing. The most common pattern is using RYTZ to do the structured drafting and engaging a lawyer for a 1-hour review before signing or filing. That typically costs $300–500 and is worth every dollar for a document that will shape years of your family’s life.For high-conflict matters, family-violence history, child-protection involvement, or international elements, you should engage a lawyer from the outset.
A document issued by an accredited Family Dispute Resolution practitioner certifying that you’ve attempted FDR (or that FDR was not appropriate). Required before filing most parenting applications under s60I of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). Typical cost: 0fromaFamilyRelationshipCentre,0 from a Family Relationship Centre, 300–600 from a private FDR practitioner.
  • Married: 12 months from the date of divorce (s44(3)).
  • De facto: 24 months from the date of separation (s44(5)).
After those windows, you need leave of the court to apply — granted only in limited circumstances. If you’re approaching a deadline, treat it as urgent.
Two big rounds of amendments — one in May 2024 (parenting), one in June 2025 (property).Parenting amendments — in force 6 May 2024 (Family Law Amendment Act 2023 (Cth)):
  • The presumption of equal shared parental responsibility (s61DA) was repealed.
  • The best-interests test (s60CC) was restructured. Six general considerations under s60CC(2), plus a mandatory family-violence-history consideration under s60CC(2A), plus a standalone consideration for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s cultural connection.
  • The Rice v Asplund threshold (significant change in circumstances to vary final parenting orders) was codified in s65DAAA.
Property amendments — in force 10 June 2025 (Family Law Amendment Act 2024 (Cth)):
  • The four-step property-settlement framework is now codified in s79 (pre-2025 it was case-law-derived).
  • Family violence — including economic and financial abuse — is now an express property consideration.
  • Companion-animal provisions introduced (no joint-ownership orders; pets decided on caregiving history, FV considerations, emotional bonds).
  • Stronger financial-disclosure obligations lifted from the Family Law Rules into the Act, with penalties and adverse cost orders for non-compliance.
  • Asset wastage and reckless financial behaviour are now expressly assessed.
  • ADR (arbitration, Less Adversarial Trials) extended to property matters.
Anything you read about Australian parenting law dated before May 2024, or about property settlement dated before mid-2025, is potentially out of date on these points.
Super is treated as property under Part VIIIB of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) — capable of being split between spouses on separation. The court can order a super-splitting order that divides one party’s super interest between both parties.Super splits are technically complex (different rules for accumulation, defined-benefit, SMSF). The Settlement Planner handles the basics, but you’ll want a lawyer (and possibly a super specialist) for any split involving substantial sums.
No. Australian family law is no-fault. The court does not assess “who’s at fault” in the breakdown of the relationship — the focus is on the children’s best interests (parenting) and just-and-equitable division (property).You can still record who initiated in your Master Case File for context, but it doesn’t drive the legal analysis.
Child support is administered separately by Services Australia under the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth). You can record what you’ve agreed in a parenting plan as context, but enforceable child-support arrangements need to go through Services Australia (or be recorded as a Binding Child Support Agreement).

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About the platform

Most of the platform is free for evaluation. The premium tier (subscription) unlocks unlimited AI chat, document intelligence (uploading and analysing court documents), and the strategic briefings.See Pricing and tiers for the current plans.
Yes. Your Master Case File is private to you — Row-Level Security on the database means even RYTZ engineers can’t see your specific data without your explicit consent. We never sell user data, never share with third parties, and never train AI models on your specific case content.See Privacy and data for the full picture.
The platform is responsive and works on mobile browsers. Some features (the parenting-plan calendar editor, the asset-pool builder) are easier on a larger screen. A native iOS + Android app is in development.
Yes — most users do. Each party has their own account and Master Case File. The platform is designed for parties drafting their own perspective on the matter, not for shared editing of a single document.Once both parties have draft plans they’re comfortable with, the typical pathway is to share the exported PDF or DOCX with the other side as a discussion document.
Nothing irreversible. Anything in the MCF can be updated at any time via Settings → Case Details, the Parties card on the Parenting Planner, or the Filing Details modal. Updates flow through to every downstream tool.
A clause shows “To be drafted” when it hasn’t been saved with content. Each clause editor has a Save clause button — clicking through Prev/Next now also auto-saves.If you’ve got “To be drafted” appearing for a clause you thought you’d filled in, refresh the page once and re-export. The latest version of the platform syncs the saved data with the export pipeline; older versions occasionally read stale state.

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About the AI

The AI assistant is grounded in the actual statutes (Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), Federal Circuit and Family Court Rules 2021), the case law (a curated corpus of landmark family-law decisions), and the procedural handbook RYTZ maintains in-house. Answers are produced by Claude (Anthropic’s AI) via retrieval-augmented generation against this corpus.Citations are included in every substantive answer. If the AI says something that doesn’t make sense, check the citation — sometimes the citation is more useful than the prose.
The AI is grounded in primary sources, but no AI is perfect. Two safeguards:
  • Citations are included. You can verify any substantive claim by reading the cited section or case directly.
  • The AI says when it’s not sure. If your question is outside the platform’s training data or involves edge cases the corpus doesn’t cover, the AI will say so rather than fabricate.
If you suspect an error, email tech@rytz.com.au with the conversation transcript. Our team reviews flagged conversations and improves the corpus.

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Need help?

If your question isn’t here, email tech@rytz.com.au. We typically respond within one business day. For an urgent or technically complex matter, find a family lawyer through the Law Council of Australia’s referral service.