After court

Getting back together

If you and your spouse reconcile, you can ask the court to rescind (cancel) the Divorce Order. You must do this within 28 days of the order being made at court and before the order comes into effect. 

To do this, you must file:

• an Application for Review, and
  
• an Affidavit, setting out the reasons why the Divorce Order should be rescinded.
  

You can do this in person or by email.

The Divorce Order will be stayed (stopped) from coming into effect until your request is heard by the Court.

Appealing a divorce order

You can appeal a Divorce Order if there has been a miscarriage of justice because of fraud, perjury, suppression of evidence or any other circumstance.

If you want to appeal a Divorce Order, you must do this within 28 days of the Order being made at court and before the order comes into effect.

Once the Divorce Order has taken effect, you can’t file an appeal.

Appealing a Divorce Order will stay (stop) the order from taking effect until the court hears your appeal. 

For more information, see Appealing a divorce order.

If your spouse dies before the divorce order takes effect

If your spouse dies after the hearing but before the Divorce Order comes into effect, you must inform the Court.

You can do this by filing:

• a copy of your spouse’s death certificate, and
  
• an affidavit providing the details of your spouse’s death.
  

Updating your will

Unless your will states otherwise, a Divorce Order will revoke (cancel) any provisions that exist at the date the Divorce Order is made, that:

• make a gift to your spouse, or
  
• appoint your spouse as executor, trustee or guardian. 
  

If you have not already done so, you may want to update your will.

If you need to update your will, you should get legal advice.  

For more information, see Planning ahead.

Updating your superannuation benefit

If you have applied for or been granted a Divorce Order, you may want to update your nominated superannuation beneficiaries.

If you don’t update your beneficiaries and you pass away, your benefit may be paid to your spouse. 

For more information, contact your superannuation fund manager or get legal advice. 

Updating your life insurance beneficiaries

If you have applied for or been granted a Divorce Order, you may want to update your nominated life insurance beneficiaries.

If you don’t update your beneficiaries and you pass away, your benefit may be paid to your spouse. 

For more information, contact your life insurance provider or get legal advice. 

Change of name

A Divorce Order will not change your name. It is up to you if want to change your name after you have been granted a Divorce Order.

If you changed your surname with the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages from your maiden name (or other name you used before marriage) to your married name, you will need to file another Change of Name application to change it back. You will need to pay a fee to change your name. 

You can apply to change your name online and the certificate will be posted to you. 

For more information or to change your name, see Register a change of name (adult) on the Service NSW website. 

If you used your marriage certificate to change your name with some organisations, for example, Transport for NSW, Medicare, you may be able to revert to your maiden name using your birth certificate or the Divorce Order. 

For more information, contact the relevant organisations about what documents you need. 

Remarrying

It is illegal for you to get remarried before your Divorce Order is finalised. You should not make plans to get remarried until your Divorce Order is finalised.  

The Divorce Order takes effect one month and one day after it is made.

You must give a copy of your Divorce Order to the marriage celebrant before you can get remarried.