Generally, each party to proceedings under the FLA shall bear his or her own costs (s.117).

However, if the court thinks it is justified, it may order one party to pay costs, having regard to:

If the court is satisfied that a party to the proceedings knowingly made a false allegation or statement in the proceedings, then it must order some or all of the costs of another party to the proceedings (s.117AB).

A party may make an offer in writing to the other party to settle the proceedings and the offer is filed in the court. When the court considers the case before it, it does not have notice of the open offer until the case is concluded and the question of costs is raised (s.117C).

If the matter before the court is of a frivolous or vexatious nature, the court can dismiss the matter and order costs against the applicant (s.118).

Solicitors' charges for family law matters are governed by Chapter 19 of the Family Law Rules.

The FLA allows for solicitors to make a contract to charge more than the existing scale. Before doing so, a solicitor must advise the client to obtain independent legal advice in relation to any such agreement.

The fee scales for the Family Court and Federal Magistrates Court are subject to change, and should be checked with the court directly.