Family Law in Wollongong — questions and answers
Google publishes the four questions asked most often alongside this search. Three of them have honest answers on this page. The fourth is a legal question and the honest answer is that this site is not permitted to give it.
Call (02) 4207 9821Cost
How much does family law cost in Wollongong?
It depends on what is in dispute and how far it goes, and only the firm you are referred to can state a figure, in writing, before you engage them. The court's own filing fees are published: from 1 July 2026, $1,170 for an application for divorce ($390 at the reduced fee), $455 to start a final parenting or financial application and $215 for consent orders. They are set out on the pricing page. Notice also that the question Google shows is asked about Australia rather than about Wollongong. The costs page's Family law costs and rules check gives each line with its source and the date it was read.
Why will you not just give me a rough figure?
Because a rough figure from a site that is not a law practice is a guess dressed as guidance, and it would be the number you plan around. The only honest version of that answer comes from a provider who has heard the facts.
Family law in Wollongong
How a divorce application moves through the court
Six steps as the Federal Circuit and Family Court sets them out on its own pages. This is the court's process, not advice on anyone's situation.
Count the separation
12 months
lived separately and apart, before applying
Separation can count while you still share a home, which the court calls living under one roof.
Source: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Divorce: Overview · read
Account for any children
Under 18
children of the marriage below this age need a declaration about their arrangements
The divorce order itself decides no arrangements for children, property or financial support.
Source: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Divorce: Overview · read
Serve a sole application
28 days · 42 days
before the hearing, with your spouse in Australia · overseas
A joint application needs no service at all.
Source: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Serving a divorce · read
Join the hearing online
Electronic
divorce hearings run before a registrar, with no need to attend a registry in person
Attending is required only in set cases, such as where there are children under eighteen.
Source: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Divorce hearing · read
Wait for the order to become final
One month and one day
after the hearing, in most cases
You must not remarry until the divorce order is final.
Source: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Divorce: Overview · read
Watch the property deadline
12 months
from the divorce becoming final, to apply for property orders
A later application needs the court's leave, which is not always granted.
Source: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Financial or property · read
Each step names the court page it comes from and the date it was read. It describes the court's process, not anyone's case.
Process
How do I find a good family law provider?
This is the second question Google publishes for this search, and this site will not rank anyone. It has no basis for calling one practice better than another and will not invent one. What the Federal Circuit and Family Court says is that "family law is complex, and it is advisable to obtain legal advice before you make a decision about what to do or apply to the Court", and that advice can come from a legal aid office, a community legal centre or a private law firm. Court staff cannot refer you to a private lawyer.
Where can I get free legal advice in NSW?
That is the third question Google publishes here, and it is a different thing from what this site does. Enquiries made through this site are referred on to independent private providers, who charge for their work. If free advice is what you are looking for, search for it directly rather than through a site like this one.
Timing
How quickly can someone get to me?
There is no monitored inbox behind this form and no one on call. It is not the place to report anything urgent — the safety notice at the foot of every page has the numbers for that.
When should I make contact?
This is the fourth question Google publishes for this search, which suggests a lot of people are unsure whether it is too early. Nothing has to be decided or settled first. What timing means for your own situation, though — which dates and limits apply to you, what counts as having happened — is legal ground this site does not go onto. The court's own published steps and time limits appear in the chart below and in the site's article, quoted from the court's pages and credited to it, as information rather than advice.
Permits and approvals
Is what a site like this may say about family law regulated?
Yes, and it shapes this whole site. An entity must not advertise or represent, or do anything that states or implies, that it is entitled to engage in legal practice unless it is a qualified entity — and using the word lawyer raises a presumption that it did exactly that. This site uses that word in its name. That is why the disclosure denying it appears at the foot of every page rather than in terms, why no service here is named after a professional title, why no legal question about anyone's own situation gets an answer here (the court's published process is quoted from its pages and credited to it, never applied to a case), and why there is no price. Those are limits on what this site may publish, not statements about any provider.
Source: Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) ss 11, 12 — read at source 5 September 2026, legislation.nsw.gov.au
Service area
Which suburbs do you cover?
Eleven areas across two councils: Wollongong, Austinmer, Thirroul, Bulli, Woonona, Corrimal, Figtree, Dapto, Albion Park, Warilla and Shellharbour. Two of those, Wollongong and Shellharbour, have pages of their own; the rest are covered the same way and simply have nothing that would fill a page of their own.
What exactly is this site?
A marketing site, run by a marketing company. It holds no practising certificate, acts for nobody and gives no advice of any kind — it takes enquiries and refers them on to an independent provider. That is stated at the foot of every page here rather than buried in terms nobody opens.
If you are in immediate danger, call the police on 000 — please do not use this form to report it.
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Last reviewed · Updated · First published