In amongst all the Budget chatter was an announcement that the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia was given funding to expand the “Priority Property Pools” program.
Since March 2020 four select registries have been running a pilot program aimed at providing a simplified way of resolving property disputes when the net asset pool available for division is $500,000 or less.
Ongoing funding of $7.6 million annually is to provide for the national expansion of the program – available from all 14 registries from July 2023.
The Budget also provided new funding for dispute resolution resources in international child abduction matters – to make effective dispute resolution available at an early stage with the aim of diverting parties from Court proceedings under the 1980 Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague Convention).
Ongoing funding of $900,000 per annum will provide the program with two mediators and two court child experts to assist in appropriate cases.
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