Financial Disclosure Duties in Family Law: What the Rules Require

If you are separating and expect to reach a property settlement, whether through negotiation, mediation or the court, you have a legal duty to disclose your financial circumstances to the other party. This is not a courtesy or a negotiating tactic. It is a formal legal obligation, and since 10 June 2025 it has been written directly into the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) rather than sitting only in the court rules. Understanding your financial disclosure duties in family law property matters, what has changed, and what can go wrong if you get it wrong, is one of the most practical things you can do before you start negotiating or file anything with the court.

This article explains the current state of the law, what you are required to disclose, and the consequences of falling short.

Understanding Financial Disclosure Duties in Family Law

The duty of disclosure exists because a fair property settlement is only possible if both parties know what there is to divide. Family law property proceedings work on the premise that each party puts their true financial position on the table, including income, assets, liabilities, superannuation and financial resources, so that a negotiated agreement, a mediated outcome or a court order reflects reality rather than a partial or misleading picture.

The duty applies whether or not a matter ever reaches court. It starts before proceedings are filed, at what is called the pre-action stage, and continues throughout negotiation, mediation and any court process until the matter is finally resolved. It is an ongoing obligation, not a one-off task completed at the start of a matter. If your financial circumstances change, for example you receive an inheritance, sell an asset or your income changes materially, you generally need to update your disclosure to reflect that change.

Financial Disclosure Family Law 2025 Changes: What the Amendment Act Introduced

From the Court Rules to the Family Law Act Itself

Before 10 June 2025, the duty of financial disclosure in property and financial matters was set out in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021, not in the Family Law Act itself. The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) changed that. It elevated the duty of disclosure into the Act, inserting section 71B for parties to a marriage and section 90RI for parties to a de facto relationship. The duty of disclosure has also been retained in the court rules, which now cross-reference these new sections, but the substantive obligation now sits in primary legislation rather than in procedural rules alone.

This is a meaningful shift. Placing the duty in the Family Law Act itself signals that Parliament regards full and frank financial disclosure as a foundational obligation in every property matter, not simply a procedural formality that applies once a case is before the court. It also means the duty applies to your matter as a matter of statute from the moment it is engaged, whether or not you ever file an application.

As part of the same reforms, the Amendment Act also introduced a new obligation on legal practitioners and family dispute resolution practitioners. From 10 June 2025, a lawyer or mediator working with a separating party must inform that party about the duty of disclosure and the possible consequences of failing to comply with it, and encourage them to take the steps needed to comply. If you engage a family lawyer or attend family dispute resolution, this is something your practitioner is now required to raise with you directly.

Commencement Date and Transitional Considerations

The disclosure provisions in sections 71B and 90RI commenced on 10 June 2025 and apply to proceedings instituted from that date. If your matter was already underway before 10 June 2025, the duty of disclosure continued to apply under the previous court rules framework for that period, and the new statutory duty applies going forward for proceedings instituted on or after commencement. If you are unsure which framework applies to the timing of your matter, this is a sensible question to raise with your lawyer, particularly if your matter straddles the commencement date.

What You Must Disclose in a Property Settlement Matter

The disclosure obligation under sections 71B and 90RI, together with Chapter 6 of the court rules, requires full and frank disclosure of your total direct and indirect financial circumstances. In practice, this is broader than many people expect.

Income, Assets and Liabilities

You are required to disclose all sources of earnings, interest and income, along with your assets and liabilities. This includes property in which you have a vested or contingent interest, meaning an interest you hold now or may become entitled to in the future. It applies whether the property, income or financial resource comes to you directly, or is directed to another person or entity for your benefit, such as a child, a de facto partner, or a company or trust structure you control or benefit from.

You must also disclose information about any disposal of property, whether by sale, transfer, assignment or gift, made in the year immediately before separation or at any point since final separation, if that disposal may affect, defeat or deplete the other party's claim. This provision exists to prevent a party from moving or disposing of assets to reduce what appears to be available for settlement.

Superannuation and Trust Interests

Superannuation is treated as property for family law purposes and must be disclosed in full, including the current value of any superannuation interest and supporting documentation. Interests held through corporations, trusts, companies or similar structures must also be disclosed, even where you are not the direct legal owner, if you have an interest in or benefit from that structure. This is a common area where disclosure obligations are underestimated, particularly for parties with business interests, family trusts or self-managed superannuation.

Consequences of Non-Disclosure or Incomplete Disclosure

The consequences of failing to meet your disclosure obligations, or of providing an undertaking about disclosure that is false or misleading, can be significant. Under the Family Law Act and the court rules, a court dealing with non-disclosure may take one or more of the following steps.

The court can refuse to allow you to rely on undisclosed information or documents as evidence in your case. It can stay or dismiss all or part of your proceedings. It can make a costs order against you, meaning you may be required to pay some or all of the other party's legal costs. In more serious cases, a party who has failed to disclose, or who has signed a false or misleading undertaking as to disclosure, may be found guilty of contempt of court, which can carry a fine or imprisonment. Beyond these direct penalties, a court is also entitled to take a party's non-disclosure into account when deciding what property settlement orders, if any, to make, which can materially affect the final outcome of a case.

Every party involved in a financial or property proceeding is required to file a written undertaking confirming they have read the relevant provisions of the Family Law Act and the court rules, that they understand their duty of disclosure, and that they have complied with it to the best of their knowledge. Signing that undertaking without genuinely meeting the underlying obligation carries real legal risk.

How Disclosure Duties Apply During Negotiation, Mediation and Consent Orders

A common misconception is that disclosure obligations only apply once a matter is before the court. That is incorrect. The duty of disclosure applies from the point you are preparing to start a property or financial matter, which includes the negotiation and family dispute resolution stage, not only formal litigation.

If you are negotiating directly, attending mediation, or working toward consent orders, the other party is entitled to expect full and frank disclosure from you before an agreement is finalised, and you are entitled to expect the same from them. An agreement reached, or consent orders sought, on the basis of incomplete or inaccurate financial disclosure is vulnerable to being challenged later. This is one of the more common reasons a court declines to make consent orders in the terms sought, or why an agreement unravels after it has been reached, when a party later discovers an asset, interest or liability that was not properly disclosed at the time.

Because the disclosure duty now sits directly in the Family Law Act, and because your lawyer or family dispute resolution practitioner is required to raise it with you from the outset, it is worth treating disclosure as a foundational step in any negotiated or mediated resolution, not an afterthought to be dealt with only if the matter proceeds to court.

Practical Steps to Prepare Your Financial Disclosure

Preparing thorough financial disclosure early tends to make the rest of a property matter more efficient, whether you are negotiating, attending mediation or heading toward a court process. It is generally sensible to start gathering documentation covering your income from all sources, bank and investment account statements, details of any real property and its estimated value, information about vehicles and other significant assets, superannuation statements, details of any interest in a trust, company or partnership, and records of any liabilities, including loans, credit facilities and other debts.

If you are a party to the marriage or de facto relationship, you will need to file a Financial Statement, and if that does not fully capture your financial position, a supporting affidavit setting out further particulars. If your financial circumstances change after you have filed a Financial Statement, you are required to update it, generally within 21 days of the change (reflecting Rule 6.06 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021), either by filing an amended Financial Statement or, where the change can be described in 300 words or less, by affidavit.

Because disclosure obligations extend to property disposed of in the year before separation and to interests held through companies or trusts, it is worth turning your mind to these categories early rather than assuming only jointly held or obviously personal assets are relevant.

When to Get Advice About Your Disclosure Obligations

Financial disclosure duties in family law are broader, and now more clearly embedded in the Family Law Act, than many people expect when they first separate. Getting disclosure wrong, whether by omission, delay or a genuine misunderstanding of what needs to be included, can affect the outcome of your property settlement and, in serious cases, expose you to costs orders or other penalties.

If you are approaching a property settlement, understanding exactly what you need to disclose, and what to expect from the other party, is a sensible first step before you negotiate, attend mediation or file anything with the court. A Strategic Advisory Session with KD & Co Lawyers gives you the opportunity to understand your financial disclosure obligations and your broader position before you commit to a course of action, so that whatever path your matter takes, it is built on a properly informed footing.

Start with a free 15-minute introductory call to check it is the right fit, then book a Strategic Advisory Session to work through your financial disclosure obligations before you negotiate or file.