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The information below is relevant from 24/02/2014 to 29/06/2014
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LAWS13011 - Family Law

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This course surveys the law in Australia which regulates the key 'life-cycle' incidents of the marriage institution together with equivalent related and derivative relationships, plus associated consequential transactions. The course has a three part structure. The first part examines the socio-legal origins of current Australian family law and its constitutional and jurisdictional framework. The second part addresses the key substantive topics of: formation and dissolution of the marriage relationship and its socio-legal equivalents; the fiscal-legal relationship between parents and children; and associated fiscal and property matters. Finally, the third part encompasses both non-cooperative related party transacting (violence and abuse matters) and more positively , the enhanced ability of related parties to contract out of default standardised rules of (dis)engagement.

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 There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

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 1 - 2014

Term 2 - 2017 Profile
Distance
Term 2 - 2018 Profile
Distance
Term 2 - 2019 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2020 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2022 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2023 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. Written Assessment 30%
2. Examination 40%
3. Online Quiz(zes) 10%
4. Online Quiz(zes) 10%
5. Group Discussion 10%

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 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 93.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 41.67% 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: Student communication with UC and feedback survey
Feedback
Increased advocacy based tasks for assessments
Recommendation
The assessment tasks in this unit will be re-written to focus on a broad range of advocacy skills. Future assessment tasks may include written and oral advocacy.
Action Taken
The assessment tasks included written advocacy designed to improve skills in writing legal argument.
Source: Student communication with the UC
Feedback
Students spoke positively of the unit being delivered via intensive mode
Recommendation
The unit will continue to be delivered via intensive mode.
Action Taken
Family Law was delivered via intensive mode.
Source: Student communication with the UC
Feedback
Students spoke positively of the unit materials and assessment one availaible two weeks before the term commence
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will ensure all unit notes, the podcasts and assessment one are available on Moodle the day the unit goes live to give students an opportunity to start the unit prior to week one.
Action Taken
All unit materials and the assessment one question were made available the day Moodle went live.
Source: Identified by the UC
Feedback
Update required of the unit learning outcomes and overview of the unit given the merger of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and the Family Court of Australia
Recommendation
A proposal has already been initiated to amend the unit profile to reflect the new court name and associated court rules.
Action Taken
Changes were made to the unit profile to reflect the new court name.
Source: Identified by the UC
Feedback
If the unit moves towards a broad range of advocacy tasks, we need to ensure the unit overview in the unit profile specifies the types of assessment tasks students might have to undertake for example oral assessment
Recommendation
A proposal has already been initiated to amend the unit profile to state the assessment tasks will include advocacy work such as oral advocacy and written advocacy.
Action Taken
Unit profile was updated for 2022.
Source: Feedback via the have your say survey
Feedback
Students gave positive feedback that the UC discussed each topic in the live Zoom sessions based on real life examples and the topics were discussed through a family law scenario so they could see how the issues are dealt with and evolve in legal practice and the court room
Recommendation
The UC will continue to use real life family law scenarios when discussing family law legal issues.
Action Taken
Real life scenarios were discussed in all Zoom sessions.
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
Nil.
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
Nil.
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
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Analyse, appraise and apply the main legislative schemes governing the formation and dissolution of marriage and other relations together with the regulation of associated institutions plus related and subordinate financial and property matters.
  2. Competently apply the relevant statutory provisions and case law to practical problems.
  3. Undertake and effectively communicate competent legal research of primary and secondary legal material on family law topics covered by this course.
  4. Describe the historical socio-legal antecedents of current Australian family law.
  5. Outline and discuss the policy shift in regulation supportive of self-help, contracting out and private arrangements in general

Not applicable.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Written Assessment • • • • •
2 - Examination • • • •
3 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
4 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
5 - Group Discussion • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • •
8 - Ethical practice • • •
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
1 - Written Assessment • • • • • •
2 - Examination • • • • • •
5 - Group Discussion • • • • • •
3 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
4 - Online Quiz(zes) • •