Step by step guide - Applying for Dispensation of Service Order 

You will need strong evidence for the court to dispense with service. You should consider substituted service first.

Step by step guide: Applying for Substituted Service Orders

If you are concerned about your residential address being disclosed to your spouse or are afraid to contact them, you should get legal advice.

Step 1: Get your documents

You will need to complete the following forms:

• Affidavit
• Application in a Proceeding.

You can download these forms from the Forms page on the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia website. 

You don’t need to download the Application in a Proceeding if you eFile and select the guided process through the Commonwealth Courts Portal.

Before you start writing, you should get all the documents you want to attach to your Affidavit. 

You should consider attaching documents that show your attempts at trying to contact and locate your spouse, including emails and text messages. 

Step 2: Complete your Affidavit

Before you complete your Application in a Proceeding, you must prepare your Affidavit. 

In your Affidavit you must include:

1. an introduction
2. details of how you have tried to contact and locate your spouse to serve them.

Your introduction must include:

• your date of birth and current age 
• where you were born, if outside of Australia
• your spouse’s date of birth and current age
• where your spouse was born, if outside of Australia
• the date you began living with your spouse
• the date of your marriage
• the date of your separation 
• details of any children of your marriage
• where you lived right after separation, including where your children lived
• details of current arrangements for your children, including parenting plans or orders.

In the body of your Affidavit, you must explain all the steps you have taken to contact and locate your spouse, including:

1. details of when you last spoke to or saw your spouse, and the circumstances surrounding that contact
2. if your spouse lives overseas, details of where they are living, how long they have lived there, and when, if at all, they are coming back to Australia
3. details of any joint property you still have with your spouse, including bank accounts, businesses, houses and any dealings either of you have had with this property
4. details of your attempts to find your spouse, including:
• contact you have made with their close friends and family
• contact you have made with their employer
• searches you have undertaken, for example, the electoral roll, social media and email accounts
• any notices you have posted in the newspaper
5. your spouse’s last known address
6. any reasons why your spouse cannot be contacted. For example, a history of homelessness or domestic violence
7. the costs of trying to locate your spouse, including the financial difficulties you would experience paying those costs
8. any other relevant information. 

You should annex any documents that show how you have attempted to contact your spouse, for example, emails or text messages. 

Don’t sign your Affidavit until you are ready to have it witnessed. 

Step by step guide: Preparing your Affidavit 

Instructions: Instructions for completing an Affidavit - Dispensation of Service

Sample: Affidavit - Dispensation of Service

Step 3: Get your Affidavit witnessed

Once you have prepared your Affidavit you must sign it and have it witnessed by an authorised person (Justice of the Peace or lawyer).  

Step 4: Complete your Application in a Proceeding

Completing your application online

To eFile your application online:

1. log onto the Commonwealth Courts Portal
2. open your divorce file by clicking on the file number
3. go to ‘File a new application’
4. select that you are filing on your own behalf
5. read and confirm that you have understood the eFiling obligations
6. select ‘Application in a Proceeding’
7. select ‘Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia’
8. select ‘Guided’ as your preferred application process.
9. enter a title for your application, for example, Application in a Proceeding
10. enter a description of your application, for example, Dispensation of Service Orders
11. click ‘Create’
12. complete the questions in each part, saving and validating them as you go
    
13. upload your affidavit 
14. complete the Statement of Truth 
15. click ‘Save’
16. submit your application. 

Completing your application by hand

If you are completing your Application in a Proceeding by hand, you will need to include:

1. the location of the registry, for example, Parramatta, Newcastle
   
2. your full name and your spouse’s full name
3. the Orders you are seeking.

Step 5: File your Application in a Proceeding and Affidavit

You can file your completed Application in a Proceeding and Affidavit in person at a court registry. You will need to take two copies.    

To find a registry near you, see Court locations on the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia website. 

You can also eFile your Application and Affidavit:

1. log onto the Commonwealth Courts Portal
2. open your divorce file by clicking on the file number
3. go to ‘File a new application’
4. select that you are filing on your own behalf
5. read and confirm that you have understood the eFiling obligations
6. select ‘Application in a Proceeding’
7. select ‘Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia’
8. select ‘Unguided’ as your preferred application process
9. enter a title for your application, for example, Application in a Proceeding
10. enter a description of your application, for example, Dispensation of Service Orders
11. click ‘Create’
12. upload your documents including:
• Your Application in a Proceeding
• Your Affidavit 
13. click ‘Save’
14. submit your Application. 

Instructions: Instructions for completing an Application in a Proceeding - Dispensation of Service

Sample: Application in a Proceeding - Dispensation of Service

If you don’t know how to complete the Affidavit, you should get legal advice.

Once you have filed your Application in a Proceeding and Affidavit, you need to prepare for the hearing.  

Step 6: Go to the hearing

At the hearing, the court must decide whether you have made all reasonable attempts to serve your spouse with the Application for Divorce. 

If the court decides that you have, it will make orders to dispense with service. If this occurs, the court will then consider your divorce application.  

If the court decides that you have not made all reasonable attempts to contact your spouse, it may adjourn your application to a later date and ask you to try to serve them again. You should make a note of any directions given by the court and comply with them.  

For more information, see Going to the hearing.