How to Write a Family Law Affidavit: A Guide for Self-Represented Litigants in the FCFCOA

22 July 2024

Dr Maree Livermore
Founder & CEO

By Dr Maree Livermore, Founder & CEO, Tribe Family Lawyers. Updated September 2026.

A family law affidavit is your evidence. In the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) you will rarely give your evidence-in-chief from the witness box; the judge reads your affidavit, and that is what you are cross-examined on. Get it right and the court sees your case clearly. Get it wrong and your best material is struck out, ignored, or turned against you.

This guide covers what an affidavit is, what to put in it (and leave out), how to structure it, the current page and annexure limits, how to deal with family violence evidence, and how to have it witnessed and filed. It reflects the Family Law Act 1975 as amended in May 2024 (parenting) and June 2025 (property and evidence), and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021.

What is a family law affidavit?

An affidavit is a written statement of facts that you swear or affirm is true. The person who makes it is the “deponent”. It is the main way evidence is put before the court in family law cases.

You will need an affidavit when you:

file an Initiating Application or Response that asks for interim (temporary) orders;
are ordered by the court to file one; and
prepare for a final hearing, where each party files a single consolidated trial affidavit.

Witnesses who support your case do not go into your affidavit. Each witness files their own.

The court’s form is Affidavit – Family law and child support, available on the FCFCOA website. Use it. An affidavit filed with an application can only be used for that application (r 8.14).

The one question to ask before you write: what do I need to prove?

The most common mistake is treating the affidavit as your life story or a chance to explain how badly the other party has behaved. Judges are reading dozens of files under time pressure. They need facts that go to the legal ‘tests’ that apply. Nothing else.

So before you write a word, identify the test you have to work with:

Parenting. The court decides what is in the child’s best interests under s 60CC of the Family Law Act. Since 6 May 2024 that means six general considerations, including the safety of the child and carers (including from family violence), the child’s views, their developmental and emotional needs, each parent’s capacity, the benefit of a relationship with each parent where safe, and anything else relevant. Your facts should map onto those considerations.
Property. Since 10 June 2025 the process is set out in s 79 itself: identify the existing property and liabilities; assess contributions (including, now, the effect of family violence on a party’s ability to contribute — s 79(4)(ca)); consider current and future circumstances (which now expressly include the economic effect of family violence, wastage, liabilities, and housing for children — s 79(5)); and make orders that are just and equitable. Economic and financial abuse are expressly recognised as family violence (s 4AB).
Interim orders. The court is not deciding the case. It is deciding what should happen now, usually on the papers and with no cross-examination. Focus on current risk, current arrangements, and why they should (or should not) change.

If you don’t know what legal ‘test’ you are dealing with, do the research or get advice before you draft.

What the Rules require

The Family Law Rules are specific, and the court does enforce them:

Facts only, admissible only. An affidavit must be confined to facts about the issues in dispute and to admissible evidence (r 8.16).
Strike-out. The court can strike out material that is inadmissible, unnecessary, irrelevant, prolix, scandalous or argumentative, or that expresses an opinion without a proper basis — and can order the filing party to pay the costs (r 8.18).
Relaxed evidence rules in children’s cases. In child-related proceedings, and in other cases where the parties consent, the strict hearsay and opinion rules do not apply and the court gives the evidence the weight it thinks fit (s 102NL, formerly s 69ZT). This does not mean anything goes. Irrelevant or argumentative material is still struck out, and hearsay still carries less weight than first-hand evidence.
Disclosure. The duty of full and frank financial disclosure is now in the Act (s 71B for married parties, s 90RI for de facto parties). If your Financial Statement does not fully discharge it, your affidavit is where you explain what is missing and why.

Drafting principles

Write conduct, not character. “He is coercive and controlling” is a label. “On 14 March 2025 he took my bank card and told me I could have $50 a week ‘if I behaved’” is evidence. Give the date, the place, what was said and done, and what happened next. The court draws the conclusions.

Quote, don’t summarise. Where something was said, put it in quotation marks and give the actual words as best you can recall them. If you are not sure of the exact words, say “words to the effect of”. “She threatened me” tells the judge nothing; “She said, ‘If you go to the police you’ll never see the kids again’” does.

First-hand knowledge. Say what you saw, heard and did. If your sister witnessed the incident, she should say so in her own affidavit. Do not report what she told you unless there is no alternative.

Be honest about dates. Use the exact date if you have it. If you do not, anchor it (“about a week after Easter 2025”) or give a range. Never invent precision. It is the first thing cross-examination attacks.

No opinions, no law, no argument. Do not tell the court what the law is, what the other party’s motives were, or what orders it should make. That is for your submissions, not your evidence. “The children are terrified of him” is opinion; “Ella (7) wet the bed the night before each of the last four changeovers” is a fact.

Formal, first person, plain English. “I”, short sentences, no sarcasm, no capitals for emphasis, no rhetorical questions.

Leave out anything that only serves to disparage. If it does not go to a legal test, it does not go in, no matter how satisfying it would be to include.

Example: before and after

Before: “Throughout our relationship the Respondent was abusive, manipulative and financially controlling, and made my life a misery.”

After: “Between about February 2023 and our separation on 3 August 2025 the Respondent held the only card for our joint account. I did not have access to internet banking. When I asked for money for groceries he would ask me to show him the receipt from the previous shop. On 12 June 2025 he said to me, ‘You don’t get another cent until I see where the last lot went.’ I then borrowed $200 from my mother to buy food. A copy of the bank transfer from my mother is Annexure C.”

Structure

Numbered paragraphs, each dealing with one topic or event.
Chronological order within each topic. Most affidavits work best with a short background section, then the issues in dispute in the order the court will consider them.
Neutral headings. “The children’s living arrangements since separation” is fine. “The Respondent’s campaign of harassment” will be struck.
Interim affidavits are short and current. Concentrate on the last 6–12 months, the immediate risk, and the practical arrangements.
Trial affidavits are comprehensive but consolidated: one affidavit per party, covering everything you rely on. You cannot incorporate earlier affidavits by cross-reference (Central Practice Direction, para 6.20).
Response affidavits deal with the significant allegations in the other party’s affidavit, paragraph by paragraph where necessary. Ignore the trivial. Where the other affidavit is long, a short table (their paragraph number / your response) is efficient and judges like it.

Page and annexure limits (current)

	Pages	Annexures
Division 1 (interim applications)	25	10
Division 2 (interim applications)	10	5

Source: r 5.08, r 5.09 and the Division 2 modifications in the Family Law Rules; see also Central Practice Direction para 6.19. Most self-represented matters are in Division 2, so the 10-page limit will usually apply to you. Annexure pages do not count towards the page limit, but the court expects annexures to be selective. You need leave to exceed the limits and it is not routinely granted. For final hearings, the trial directions in your matter will set the limits.

Formatting is also prescribed (r 2.14): A4, 12-point font, 1.5 line spacing, margins of about 2.5 cm, pages numbered consecutively, single-sided if printed.

Annexures

An annexure is a document attached to your affidavit: a message thread, a photograph, a bank statement, a school report, a letter from a treating doctor.

Every annexure must be referred to in the body of the affidavit (“A copy of the text message is Annexure B”) and must be served with it (r 8.15).
Label them consecutively (A, B, C or 1, 2, 3) and paginate them.
Each annexure carries a certificate signed by the witness: “This is the document marked ‘B’ referred to in the affidavit of [name] sworn/affirmed at [place] on [date] before me.” The witness signs the certificates at the same time as the affidavit.
Copies are fine. Do not attach originals.
Contemporaneous documents — things created at the time, before there was a dispute — carry far more weight than anything written afterwards.
Do not annex police records, child protection files or the other party’s medical records. Those come by subpoena. And note that since 10 June 2025 the other party’s communications with health, family violence and sexual violence services can be protected confidences (s 102BD); the court can restrict their use, so take advice before relying on them.
If your Financial Statement does not tell the whole story, say so and annex the documents — the duty of disclosure is now in the Act and the court draws adverse inferences from gaps. See Failure to disclose in family law.
Annexures are not automatically in evidence; they must still be tendered and accepted at the hearing (r 8.15(3)).

Family violence evidence

Family violence is now central to both parenting (s 60CC) and property (s 79(4)(ca), s 79(5)(a)), so how you present it matters.

Representative incidents beat an exhaustive list. Choose the three or four incidents that best show the pattern and describe each in full: date, place, words, actions, injuries, what happened next, who else was there. Then say, briefly, that these are examples of conduct that occurred throughout the relationship.
Include the economic side. Control of money, restriction of work or study, coerced debt, and dowry-related abuse are all family violence under s 4AB, and in property matters go directly to contributions and future needs. Say what was done and what it cost you.
Include the effect. The court has to assess safety and, in property, the economic impact. Describe what you did in response (moved out, stopped work, went to a GP, called a service) and the consequences.
Annex what you legitimately hold: photographs, messages, emails, your own medical certificates, a letter from your treating practitioner, an ADVO/intervention order.
Conduct towards others (a prior partner, the children) can be relevant to parenting capacity, but explain the link. Do not include it just because it is bad.
Apply for a safety plan or screen for the Lighthouse risk-screening process if you are the applicant; that is separate from your affidavit.

Witness affidavits

Each witness prepares and swears their own affidavit, in their own words, about what they personally saw or heard.
A witness who says “I have known the Applicant for 20 years and she is a wonderful mother” adds almost nothing. A witness who says “On 2 July 2025 I was at the Applicant’s house when the Respondent arrived. I heard him say…” adds a great deal.
At an interim hearing you may rely on one affidavit from yourself and one from each witness, and only where the witness’s evidence is relevant and cannot be given by you (CPD para 6.20).

Swearing, witnessing and filing

An affidavit must be sworn (on a religious text) or affirmed (a non-religious promise) before an authorised person. For the FCFCOA that is a lawyer, a Justice of the Peace, or a notary public; overseas, a notary or an Australian diplomatic or consular officer (Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) s 186).
You sign the bottom of every page and the last page, in the presence of the witness, who does the same and completes the jurat and the annexure certificates.
Take photo ID. JPs are free; lawyers may charge.
The court’s guidance assumes in-person witnessing. Some States permit witnessing by audio-visual link under their own legislation, but the FCFCOA has not issued a standing direction accepting that for family law affidavits, and an affidavit witnessed remotely can be challenged. If you can sign in person, do.
Do not change anything after it is sworn. If you need to correct it, file a further affidavit.
File through the Commonwealth Courts Portal and serve every party, including the Independent Children’s Lawyer if one is appointed. For an interim hearing, affidavits filed later than two business days before the hearing cannot be relied on without leave (CPD para 6.22).

What goes wrong

Objections. Before trial the other side must give written notice of the paragraphs they object to and why (CPD Schedule B). Argumentative, opinionated or irrelevant paragraphs get struck out — and the costs of dealing with them can be ordered against you.
Exaggeration. An overstated affidavit collapses in cross-examination and takes your credibility on everything else with it. If in doubt, understate.
Perjury. A knowingly false affidavit is a criminal offence.
Filing the wrong thing. Too long, unsigned pages, missing annexure certificates, old form: the registry will reject it, and you may miss your filing deadline.

Frequently asked questions

How long can a family law affidavit be? For interim applications: 25 pages and 10 annexures in Division 1; 10 pages and 5 annexures in Division 2. Trial affidavit limits are set by the trial directions in your case.

Who can witness a family law affidavit in Australia? A lawyer, a Justice of the Peace or a notary public. Overseas, a notary or an Australian consular officer.

Can I attach text messages to my affidavit? Yes, as an annexure. Screenshot them showing the date, time and sender, refer to them in the body of the affidavit, and have the witness sign the annexure certificate.

Do I need an affidavit for a divorce? Only in limited cases — for example, if you cannot produce your marriage certificate, it is not in English, or you separated under one roof.

Can I use hearsay in a family law affidavit? In parenting cases the hearsay rule is relaxed (s 102NL), so you can include what a child or third party said, but it carries less weight than direct evidence and can still be struck out if irrelevant.

Get help with your affidavit

A well-drafted affidavit is the single highest-value piece of legal work in a self-represented case, and it is the piece most people find hardest. Tribe offers fixed-fee, unbundled affidavit services: a strategy conference to work out what you need to prove, drafting, or a review of what you have written. Start with a free c ase evaluation or see LSP18 – Initiating Application or Response – Affidavit only.

This article is general information, not legal advice. It reflects the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), the FCFCOA (Family Law) Rules 2021 and the Central Practice Direction – Family Law Case Management as at September 2026