A court order is not a strongly worded suggestion. That is the premise behind an Application – Enforcement, and from 21 September 2026 the Federal Circuit and Family Court is running a new national list for them.
What an enforcement application does
Suppose you have final property orders. The order required the paying party to transfer the house by a set date, pay a sum of money, or hand over a car. The date passed and nothing happened. An Application – Enforcement is the mechanism for making the order take effect. It gets the money paid, the title transferred, and the property delivered.
That distinguishes enforcement from a contravention application, which is about a person breaching an order and facing a penalty for it. The new list does not cover contravention applications, and it does not cover contempt. It is confined to financial.
What is actually new
From 21 September, applicants must lodge every enforcement application and every enforcement request by email to a single national address. One list, run electronically across the country, administered by registrars whose sole function is enforcement. The Court calls it a streamlined process.
The more significant change is that compliance is checked at the door. If an application is deficient or does not comply with the Rules, an Enforcement Registrar may decline to accept it for filing. There is no correcting it later in the process. A fresh application has to be lodged with the problems fixed.
Affidavits and service
Two related points follow. The applicant must swear or affirm the supporting affidavit no more than two days before lodgement. If the applicant signs an affidavit and then holds it while chasing a final piece of information, they must swear it again. The applicant must evidence service every time, not assume it. The applicant can only enforce an order against a person served with a sealed copy. Alternatively, the applicant must satisfy the Court that the person otherwise knows the order’s terms.
There is also a new second pathway. Sometimes the existing order already provides the relief, and the party only needs the Court to act on it. A registrar deals with this request in chambers, on the papers. The party does not have to serve the other side at all. This pathway covers a registrar signing a transfer document on behalf of a party who refuses to sign. It also covers a notice directed to a third party who owes the other side money. It covers a warrant to seize and sell property, and a warrant to take possession of real property.
The first return hearing
Where the Court lists a first return hearing, it will issue chambers orders before that date. These orders set out the procedural steps the parties must take. The registrar at that hearing can do far more than list the matter on. The registrar can order further evidence, grant leave for subpoenas, or order disclosure. They can also refer the parties to dispute resolution. The registrar can further ask whether varying the original order would resolve the difficulty.
That last one is not an afterthought. Among the stated aims of the new list are resolving difficulties with financial or property orders that have contributed to the non-compliance, and triaging appropriate matters to dispute resolution. The Court is not assuming that every unperformed order is defiance. Some orders turn out to be unworkable, and the list is built to sort those from the rest.
Costs risk cuts both ways
The rest of the stated aims are less accommodating. They include upholding the authority of the Court and deterring non-compliance. They also include imposing appropriate costs orders where the Court has to make enforcement orders. On costs, the practice direction is more direct than practitioners are used to seeing. If the Court has to make an enforcement order, it may order the respondent to pay the applicant’s costs of obtaining it. Practitioners face personal exposure too. This applies where the Court finds an application, or the defence of one, frivolous or without merit. It also applies where a party fails to comply with the Rules. This risk runs in both directions. A defence filed to buy time therefore carries a costs risk for the party filing it.
A few matters require a step before the enforcement step. A party cannot enforce a binding financial agreement directly. The party must first ask the Court to treat it as though it were an order. Child support enforcement has its own gate. This includes giving the Child Support Agency at least 14 days’ written notice before proceedings begin.
If someone serves you with an enforcement application, you are not required to file anything. But if you wish to dispute what the applicant seeks, or any fact in the other side’s affidavit, you must file your own application and affidavit. You must file it before the first court date.
The Court has asked practitioners to get across the case management of enforcement applications and requests before 21 September.
Jake McKinley notes that this article is written for the purpose of providing generalised information and not to provide specialised legal advice. If you require qualified legal advice on anything mentioned in this article, our experienced team of solicitors at Jake McKinley are here to help. Please get in touch with us on 02 9232 8033 today to make an enquiry.
Article Written by Hayden Nelson, Solicitor
