• Offered by ANU Law School
  • ANU College ANU College of Law
  • Course subject Laws
  • Areas of interest Law

The course is designed to equip students with the theoretical and practical knowledge to take a considered position on family law issues.  The course covers the following areas of family law:

  • marriage;
  • violence and abuse in families;
  • decision-making about parenting after separation;
  • economic aspects of marriage; and
  • de-facto relationship breakdown.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Describe, discuss, explain, analyse and critique key principles of family law and be able to cite the relevant legislative provisions and case law appropriately;
  2. Apply your knowledge of family law creatively and with initiative to construct an accurate written advice that provides a solution to a complex hypothetical family law problem, with intellectual independence;
  3. Locate, describe, apply and critically evaluate key aspects of family law and selected secondary academic literature about family law and its reforms covered in this course;
  4. Plan and complete a research project, with some independence;
  5. Outline, summarise and analyse a range of perspectives that are relevant to family law and critically examine (in written and oral form) the law from those perspectives;
  6. Acquire experience in project management, collaborative learning and demonstrate personal and communication skills to function effectively in small groups comprising a variety of participants/audiences;
  7. Reflect coherently upon your learning in the course, your own values, the values underlying the family law system, and the differences between family law and practice in other legal areas.

Other Information

Classes may be offered in non-standard sessions and be taught on an intensive base with compulsory contact hours (a minimum of 36 hours). Please refer to the LLB timetable for dates. Please contact the ANU College of Law Student Administration Services to request a permission code to enrol in classes offered in non-standard sessions.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Take-home assignment (50) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
  2. Group submission to Parliamentary enquiry (35) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
  3. Reflective journal (15) [LO 7]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

  • Classes offered in non-standard sessions will be taught on an intensive base with compulsory contact hours (approximately 36 hours of face to face teaching). The course will also require advanced preparation through assigned readings. In total, it is anticipated that the hours required for completion of this course (class preparation, teaching and completion of assessment) will not exceed 120 hours.
  • Classes offered during semester periods are expected to have three contact hours per week. Students are generally expected to devote at least 10 hours overall per week to this course.

Click here for the LLB Program course list

Inherent Requirements

Not applicable

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must be studying a; Bachelor of Laws (ALLB) and have completed or be completing five 1000 level LAWS courses; or Juris Doctor (MJD) and have completed or be completing five 1000 or 6100 level LAWS courses. You are not able to enrol in this course if you have previously completed LAWS8417 Family Law or LEGM8581 Foundations of Family Law and Practice.

Prescribed Texts

Students must rely on the approved Class Summary which will be posted to the Programs and Courses site approximately two weeks prior to the commencement of the course. Alternatively, this information will be published in the Program course list when known.

Preliminary Reading

Readings/E brick will be made available on Wattle two weeks prior to the course commencement date.

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees

Student Contribution Band:
34
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2023 $4860
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2023 $5820
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Second Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
8897 22 Jul 2024 29 Jul 2024 31 Aug 2024 25 Oct 2024 In Person N/A

Responsible Officer: Registrar, Student Administration / Page Contact: Website Administrator / Frequently Asked Questions