Family Law Updates 2026: Key Changes To Anticipate in the Future

Australia’s legal landscape is constantly changing to better reflect the lived experiences and needs of everyday Australians. In the context of Family Law, the recent Amendment Act 2024 to the Family Law Act 1975 saw targeted reform over legislation relating to various Family Law matters, from child custody case management and parenting agreements, to property and financial settlements.  

With comprehensive shifts projected across Australian Family Law as policymakers continue to account for emerging contexts including the use of AI and evolving definitions of family violence in the digital age, our legal team at Oxford Partners Lawyers have prepared the below list of areas where we can anticipate legislative and regulatory updates in the coming years.  

Here are key areas of Family Law that our legal team are keeping a close eye on over 2026.

Legislative/regulatory updates to anticipate in and post-2026

AI in Family Law

The use of AI in Family Law case management and Court proceedings has been heavily contested in recent years, with instances of AI use being recognised and met with severity from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia as recently as November 2025. In the case of Mertz & Mertz (2025), the use of AI to prepare a Summary of Arguments and List of Authorities resulted in errors across the documents, and the Court ordering costs of $10,000 be paid to cover the delays resulting from making the necessary corrections to those documents before retrial.  

This case speaks to the Court’s concerns that the use of AI will dilute the quality and reliability of supporting documents in Family Law proceedings, which runs the risk of wasting Court resources in handling and assessing false or incorrect documentation.  

Given the risks of continuing time wastage and process delays, it’s highly likely we’ll see legislation surrounding the use of AI in preparing legal documents and potentially across other facets of case management and Court proceedings in the next few years. Our legal team will be anticipating news of at least a bill being introduced to Parliament with the intention of introducing legislation for the use of AI in Australian Law proceedings.

How this may affect your Family Law proceedings

Parties who have been found to have used AI in preparing documents for their Family Law case may not be held in high regard by Court officials, and future instances mirroring Mertz & Mertz (2025) may be used as supporting evidence in calls for AI legislation by policymakers.    It’s best to avoid using AI for the preparation of legal documents given the elevated risk of errors and AI biases being reflected in documentation. Similarly, our current stance at Oxford Partners Lawyers is that none of our clients nor our Family Lawyers should use AI to facilitate any elements of case preparation and management. 

Data privacy

Data breaches are becoming increasingly common worldwide, posing great risks to consumers and businesses. With minimal legislation currently in place for Australian corporations tasked with the responsible management of consumer and business data, lawmakers are spearheading privacy reforms with the intention of protecting Australian families from the risks of sensitive personal and financial data being leaked in data breaches.   In 2024, the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 was introduced to Parliament, outlining a new statutory tort for serious privacy invasions, as well as increased penalties for non-compliance to privacy legislation, and new criminal offences for publishing personal data with malicious intent or to harass individuals.   

Ultimately, the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 highlights the responsibilities of not just corporations trading within Australia, but also of Australian citizens in upholding the reasonable rights of others to data privacy.

How this may affect your Family Law proceedings

Digital footprints are now a major point of assessment in Family Law proceedings, with Family Lawyers assessing content on social media profiles across parents, family members, and children as supporting evidence in Family Law matters.  

If there is any potential evidence that a party has violated the reasonable right to privacy of another party or of a child, they may be charged with criminal doxing (i.e. the intentional online exposure of an individual’s identity, private information, or personal details without their consent).   

These criminal charges may in turn, affect the outcome of Family Law proceedings in favour of the other party/parties.

Children’s Online Privacy Code

With the social media ban for under-16s having come into effect in 2025, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is paving the way for additional legislation designed to protect children from privacy risks associated with accessing content online without supervision. This push for action was also prompted by the publication of the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024, which introduced a mandate for the OAIC to develop a Children’s Online Privacy Code designed to put children at the centre of privacy protections in Australia.  

The Code has since been approved following consultations with industry stakeholders, academic experts, and civil society reviews. We can expect the Code to be in place by December 10th, 2026.  

Under the Children’s Online Privacy Code, social media services and other electronic services (i.e. messaging apps, email services, video conferencing software, online games, etc.) and designated internet services (i.e. cloud storage solutions, download/upload websites, streaming platforms, consumer IoT devices, etc.), must comply with Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and all other relevant requirements.

How this may affect your Family Law proceedings

The development of Children's Online Privacy Code indirectly reinforces parental responsibilities for their children’s online safety in Australia’s legal landscape. Given the observed emotional and psychological risks of exposing children to disturbing or age inappropriate content online, incidents where a child’s online safety has been compromised may become relevant in custody discussions in the near future.   

Ultimately, maintaining children’s safety online is a collective responsibility upheld by parents, family members, schools, and corporations that provide social media, electronic, and/or designated internet services.

Family violence 

The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 was put into effect as of June 2025, with review of the amended legislation set to be carried out as soon as possible following the 10th of June 2028. As the legislation is still relatively new, Family Lawyers across Australia are scrutinising the impacts of the amendments across recent case records, and implementing findings for their own clients.  

One of the key changes outlined in the Amendment Act was a redefining of ‘family violence’ to include financial and economic abuse (i.e. controlling the access to money of another party, purposefully inhibiting another party’s capability to maintain a consistent income, dowry abuse, etc.).

How this may affect your Family Law proceedings

New and expanded examples of family violence have been included in the Amendment Act 2024 to support Australian families in maintaining legal precedent to support claims of family violence relating to financial coercion and controlling behaviours.   

These new examples and expanded, more culturally inclusive definitions will ultimately ideally make applications for intervention orders easier and more feasible for Australian families, alongside providing parents who have experienced abuse with greater support in facilitating just and equitable property settlements.

Stay in the loop with Family Law updates with our legal blog

Although there are anticipated to be more tech-focused amendments to Australian legislation in the years to come, the key areas we’ve outlined above were selected due to the great activity that has been observed surrounding reform and in state and federal courtrooms over recent years.  

Our team at Oxford Partners Lawyers are passionate about keeping their finger on the pulse, which is why we stay on top of Family Law updates across our legal blog. If you’d like to keep in the loop with us to ensure your own Family Law cases stay well-informed, then explore our wider blog at our website, or contact us directly to speak with a member of our legal team, or to book a complimentary 30-minute preliminary consultation to discuss your current and future Family Law matters further.