The Family Court of Western Australia was established in 1976 as a State court under the Family Court Act 1997.

The Family Court of Western Australia has State and Federal jurisdiction in family law matters.  The Family Court deals with divorce, property of a marriage or defacto relationship and matters relating to children, maintenance, adoptions and surrogacy.

The Family Court of Western Australia is presided over by:

• A Chief Judge
• Four Judges
• One principal registrar/magistrate
• Seven family law magistrates
• Two acting family law magistrates
• Two registrars

Proceedings in the Family Court of Western Australia are held under either:

• The Family Law Act 1975 (Commonwealth) covers those married people who want to divorce and make arrangements for children, property and spousal maintenance.
• The Family Court Act 1997(Western Australia) is the legislation to cover arrangements for children of unmarried people. In 2002, the legislation was amended to incorporate de facto relationships and their property matters.

The Family Court of Western Australia also administers the Adoption Act 1994 (Western Australia) and the Surrogacy Act 2008 (Western Australia). 

The Family Court of Western Australia is located at 150 Terrace Road, Perth, Western Australia.

The Family Court sits in Perth and there are country circuits conducted at regional centres in Albany, Broome, Bunbury, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie.

Other areas of family law you might also be interested in:

• Binding Financial Agreement
• Child Support
• Children and Parenting
• De Facto Relationship
• Divorce
• Enforcement Proceedings
• Family Law Act 1975
• Family Law Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Property Settlement
• Relocation issues and cross-jurisdictional family law matters
• Spousal Maintenance