Course Coordinator:Kirsty Mackie (kmackie@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
Family Law concerns the law of family relationships and the institutions that are responsible for assisting people when those relationships fail. You will consider those family relationships that are recognised by law as well the processes that are available to end them formally. You will examine the law governing care of, and financial support for children when relationships break down, as well as the law concerning spousal maintenance and division of property in these circumstances. There will be considerable emphasis upon the growing use of non-adversarial techniques in family law practice
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – Online Learning Materials | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On-Campus Tutorials | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – Online Learning Materials | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Online Tutorials | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
Family Law an introduction history and overview, Judicial Framework and Constitutional basis; Social issues and context;
Marriage, Nullity, defacto relationships and Divorce
Children and Parenting issues
Dispute resolution in Family Law Contexts; Consent Orders; Parenting Plans and Binding Financial agreements.
Child Support and Spousal Maintenance;
Property disputes and the alteration of property interests by a Court;
The Factors involved in a property division/adjustment and; Superannuation; Third Party interests.
[Adult themes across all topics]
400 Level (Graduate)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | The ability to explain, describe, analyse and apply key concepts in Family Law |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
| 2 | Demonstrate an understanding of the role of lawyers in Family Dispute Resolution processes and in court proceedings. |
Ethical Engaged |
| 3 | Demonstrate the ability to process a client's instructions, filter the relevant material, and give basic advice that is relevant and practical and comprehensive. |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
| 4 | Enhanced capacity to locate primary and secondary legal sources and to use those sources to engage in persuasive writing. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
| 5 | Demonstrate the ability for oral persuasion. |
Empowered Engaged |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
(LAW102 or LAW108) or ((LAW100 or LAW101) and (LAW105 or LAW103))
Not applicable
LAW305
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Early feedback on progress is available in weekly hands-on tutorials, where students have an opportunity to present (and receive feedback on) responses to hypothetical advice scenarios and discussion questions.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Activity Participation | Individual | 10% | 2 Hour Tutorials |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | In Class |
| All | 2 | Written Piece | Individual | 40% | 1500 words |
Week 8 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 50% | 3 hours |
Exam Period | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Tutorial Participation | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this task is to assess your ability to identify and respond to family law questions. |
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| Product: | Activity Participation | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Oral responses to questions within the tutorial time or written responses to the tutorial activities each week if unable to attend the tutorial. Students will need to complete participation for 10 tutorials, with each tutorial being worth 1% of the mark. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Letter of Advice and Memorandum | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | Enhance your knowledge of family law by applying your legal knowledge of a particular scenario to the relevant law in the form of a memorandum to a senior partner at a law firm. |
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| Product: | Written Piece | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Memorandum (1500 words) excluding footnotes and bibliography, referenced according to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Final Examination | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | To demonstrate your ability to analyse family law issues arising from factual scenarios, to find and formulate legal principles, to apply them to the facts and to reach reasoned conclusions. |
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| Product: | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | You may use any materials to construct an answer to unseen legal problems or legal issues drawn from any part of the course. This assessment task is an online, open-book exam. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Required | ALEXANDRA & COOPER HARLAND (DONNA & TURNBULL, CHRIS.) | 2023 | FAMILY LAW PRINCIPLES. | 3rd Edition | THOMSON REUTERS |
Nil
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
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For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
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