Form · Family Law
Response to Initiating Application (Family Law): completion guide and filing checklist
Link to the Court's current Response to Initiating Application kit with a guide to the 28-day filing time, the documents that must go with it in parenting and financial cases, the fee, and where AI fits.
- Kind
- Form. A form to complete, or a guide to completing an official one.
- Where it applies
- Australia, Commonwealth
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the official form at fcfcoa.gov.au and the 4 authorities it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Link to the official form. Licence: © Commonwealth of Australia (Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia). Court forms are excluded from the Court's CC BY-ND 3.0 licence: link only, do not copy or adapt the form.
Where this comes from
The official form is published by fcfcoa.gov.au; this page is a completion guide. Last checked on 2026-10-18.
When to use it
Use when acting for a respondent served with an Initiating Application in the Federal Circuit and Family Court who opposes the orders sought or wants different orders. Not for Western Australian matters in the Family Court of Western Australia.
How AI may be used
AI may help the lawyer check the response pack for completeness against the kit and draft the orders sought for the lawyer to settle; the lawyer checks every order and every factual statement, and sworn material stays lawyer-led.
AI may
- Check the draft response and its accompanying documents against the kit checklist and list what is missing
- Compare the orders sought in the response with the applicant's orders and list points of agreement and difference
- Draft proposed orders from instructions the lawyer has confirmed, for the lawyer to settle
- Calculate the 28-day filing date from the date of service, for the lawyer to diarise
AI must not
- Must not draft or fill in the supporting affidavit, the Financial Statement or the Notice of child abuse, family violence or risk
- Must not decide which orders to seek or whether to consent to any order
- Must not process the other party's documents in a tool that does not meet PD-AI para 5.5
The lawyer checks
- Response filed within 28 days of service of the Initiating Application
- Every accompanying document the kit requires for the orders sought is filed and served with it
- Genuine Steps Certificate completed, or the exception relied on explained
- Section 60I certificate or exemption affidavit where the respondent seeks parenting orders the applicant did not
- Orders sought are within power and drafted so they can be made and enforced
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Official form
Open the official form. Always use the current version from the issuer. Licence: © Commonwealth of Australia (Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia). Court forms are excluded from the Court's CC BY-ND 3.0 licence: link only, do not copy or adapt the form..
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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