Explore a curated selection of resources to support your research on Australian family law topics.
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Check legal dictionaries to help with your understanding of unfamiliar terminology and jargon used in the family law field.
Use legal encyclopedias for brief overviews of family law concepts, and references to key case law and/or legislative provisions. See the legal encyclopedias section for help with using these products.
Use Library Search to keyword search for books on family law topics or start with the subject Family law - Australia or Domestic relations - Australia.
Key titles are shown below.
Focus: Family Law
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Australian Family Law in Context: Commentary and Materials
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Family Law
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Family Law in Australia
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Commentary services (also known as looseleaf or reporters) provide analysis of fields of law, including commentary on key legislative provisions and cases. Access commentary, regulatory resources and practical tools on family law issues in the CCH iKnowConnect law database using the Practice Area - Family Law. See the commentary section for help with using commentary products.
Also see Part 2 - Family Law in the below Lawyers Practice Manual Queensland.
Scholarly law journal articles are authored by legal experts and are grounded in research and theory. They provide in-depth analysis on specialised topics for an academic or professional audience. Use the resources mentioned earlier in this guide to search for journal articles on family law topics. A key Australian journal focusing on family law articles is shown below.
Informit incorporates the Families and Society Collection database, which covers journal articles on child development, parenting and family dynamics including legal issues.
Explore family law information in Lexis+ Australia:
Lexis Practical Guidance modules provide guidance notes, commentary practice tips, legislation, legal precedents, cases, tools, forms and checklists etc.
The below guide demonstrates how to navigate and find information in Practical Guidance generally.
Identify key legislative provisions and leading cases using the secondary sources mentioned above.
For help with locating and researching cases see Australian case law earlier in this guide, particularly Cases on a legal issue/topic for strategies to find Australian case law on a specific subject area.
Use the below Westlaw Australia Key Number System headings to browse case law by family law topics.
These two specialist law report series publish Australian family law cases:
Unreported family law cases are available via Westlaw Australia and Lexis+ Australia, as well as the following sources:
For general help with locating and researching legislation see Australian legislation earlier in this guide. LawNow Legislation in Lexis+ Australia lists Acts by subject, including family law, however it also includes some repealed legislation.
Explore these websites for additional resources on family law issues.
Simplified information about family law is available in the Family Law chapters in the below handbook:
