Divorce in Australia. Working Paper No. 5.

This working paper discusses the effects of recent legislative changes regarding divorce in Australia. The introduction describes the 1975 Family Law Act and gives a summary of its principles. The second section presents background information to the Act and lists the philosophical principles behind its formation. The third section describes changes in the divorce rate since 1975; statistical tables are provided. The fourth section discusses the current Family Court system, grounds for divorce, maintainance and property proceedings (including a list of factors which the court must consider for these proceedings), and child custody and access issues (including descriptions of the two major possible outcomes, i.e., parents are given joint custody, or one parent is awarded custody with access to the other parent reserved). The fifth section considers the effects of divorce on children, and the last section briefly reviews several issues related to divorce in Australia which are currently the subject of debate. A bibliography is included. (WAS)