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Separation

There are a number of practical and legal matters to think about when separating, including:

  • how you will actually give effect to your separation;
  • what, if any, safety precautions you will need to take in the event of family violence;
  • what arrangements you will make for your children;
  • how you will divide the property of your relationship; and
  • what, if any, financial assistance or maintenance you will need to seek.

See further: Federal Circuit and Family Court Website

amica - Assistance reaching and recording agreements

amica is an online service developed by National Legal Aid that helps separating couples reach agreement between themselves about parenting and property issues. amica's artificial intelligence was built to take into account all of the things that need to be considered when working out what is fair for both parties. It can record what has been agreed about parenting or property and turn it into an agreement that can be downloaded.

In property matters, the program uses artificial intelligence to calculate how the parties could fairly divide their property. amica can prepare a non-binding written agreement. It can also prepare an Application for Consent Orders ready for filing with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia where parties want the added security of formal orders. In parenting matters, amica assists parents to reach a suitable agreement or parenting plan that is in their child’s best interests.

amica was designed by family lawyers to make sure it is accurate, clear and fair. It can be used for married and de facto couples, and for both property and parenting arrangements following separation.

Costs may apply when amica prepares a written parenting or property agreement, or an Application for Consent Orders. Visit the amica pricing page for more information about costs.

amica can be used by couples in any Australian state or territory. It has been optimised to work on desktop, tablet and mobile devices. amica one a single-sided version of amica, allows you to enter your financials and an estimate of your former partner's financials, to determine a suggested division of money and property. Once you see what a suggested division of money and property might look like in amica one you can invite your former partner to use amica.

amica may not be suitable in some situations, such as:

  • If the parenting dispute is complicated (such as the existence of previous orders, considerable risk to the children, one person wishes to relocate with the children, the arrangements are for stepchildren, child protection authorities have been involved or there are questions as to paternity or surrogacy). While an invitation to negotiate through amica may result in a formal resolution, if it does not work out, participation through amica does not qualify as family dispute resolution for the purposes of obtaining a certificate pursuant to section 60I of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
  • If the property dispute involves:
    • time limits quickly approaching
    • either person having an interest in a trust or company, or property overseas
    • property owned jointly with a third party
    • either person being bankrupt.

From the beginning of September 2023, it is possible to split superannuation through amica Superannuation is considered an asset for division of money and property after separation. It is treated differently because it is an asset that is held on trust. When there is a difference in superannuation balances, there is now the option to divide superannuation interests. One accumulation type fund that has a withdrawal benefit of more than $5,000 may now be split. Dividing superannuation involves transferring a portion of your superannuation from one party to another. This is not a cash payment but a transfer of superannuation from one fund to the other, so it has different rules and a different legal process. With this new feature, users can now agree to use a portion of their superannuation to contribute to their overall settlement, in that they can agree to offset some of the cash settlement sum as superannuation. Users can navigate the process of superannuation splitting simply and efficiently to then enable to generate an Application for Consent Orders which they can file in Court.

For more information, or to access the service, visit amica

    Separation  :  Last Revised: Wed Sep 1st 2021
    The content of the Law Handbook is made available as a public service for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice. See Disclaimer for details. For free and confidential legal advice in South Australia call 1300 366 424.