LAWS13011 - Family Law

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Family Law is a third-year unit delivered via intensive mode. The assessment in Family Law will require you to participate in advocacy-based tasks, which may include live oral assessment in the form of a viva voce, peer work conducting a hearing, written advice and submissions. Family Law will equip you with the knowledge and skills to practice family law. You will develop the ability to identify legal issues and structure legal arguments to resolve the issue. Family Law will provide you with an understanding of the legislation and case law relating to the dissolution of the marriage relationship and de facto relationship, financial arrangements including the division of property, spousal maintenance and child support, the role of dispute resolution in family law and negotiating child focused arrangements pertaining to children.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-Requisites:

72 credit points in LAWS units including LAWS12078 Equity and Trusts


Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Practical Assessment 40%
2. Take Home Exam 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 73.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 26.32% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Communication with UC, survey
Feedback
Students have requested a focus on family law advocacy
Recommendation
The UC will continue to discuss family law scenarios from the court room perspective and design assessment tasks that build and assess advocacy skills.
Action Taken
Implemented in all Zoom sessions and influenced assessment design in 2023.
Source: Communication with UC, survey
Feedback
The unit materials were available the day Moodle went live which was great for studying via intensive mode
Recommendation
The UC will continue to have all unit materials, podcasts or video, and assessment one question available for students to access on Moodle the day the unit goes live.
Action Taken
All materials were available on the day Moodle went live in 2023.
Source: Communication with UC, survey
Feedback
Positive feedback from students in regard to the live Zoom sessions which discussed family law scenarios from a real life perspective
Recommendation
The UC will continue to provide live Zoom sessions for each module and in each of those Zoom sessions will discuss the various family law topics from the perspective of a legal practitioner representing a client
Action Taken
All modules had a live Zoom session in 2023 with a focus on real life family law scenarios.
Source: Student feedback via email, in Zoom sessions and SUTE
Feedback
The unit materials were available the day Moodle went live which was great for studying via intensive mode
Recommendation
In 2024 the UC should have all materials available on the day Moodle goes live for Term 2.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE feedback
Feedback
Some students felt week 1 had alot of content
Recommendation
In 2023 based on feedback from 2022, module 2 moved into week 1 so that students had an additional week to work on assessment 1 which is based on module 1 and module 2 (delivered via intensive mode in week 1). In 2024 the UC has already amended the unit profile to put module 2 back into week 2. In 2024 students will be reminded that they can access all materials for module 2 the day Moodle goes live.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student feedback via email, in Zoom sessions and SUTE
Feedback
Positive feedback from students in regard to the live Zoom sessions which discussed family law scenarios from a real life perspective
Recommendation
In 2024 the UC should continue to give examples of family law scenarios that will prepare students for practice as a family lawyer.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Research and analyse the approach taken by the courts in resolving family law issues applying the family law legislation, Practice Directions, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Rules and case law.
  2. Critically evaluate family law disputes, identifying relevant legal issues and options to resolve family law disputes relating to relationships, property, maintenance, child support, children and international jurisdictional issues including the removal of children from Australia.

Not applicable.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Practical Assessment • •
2 - Take Home Exam • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Communication • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10