This Australian study examined legal, health, security, and well-being costs incurred by 416 litigating parents over their first year of involvement in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, comparing expenditures by family violence (FV) risk status assessed at court entry and one year later.
Average total expenditure was AUD $41,041 per participant (total cohort: $17.1 million). Parents with continued FV risk were 931% more likely to spend on physical security measures (e.g., locks, alarms, phone changes) than those reporting continuous safety. Counseling expenditure was strongly associated with becoming safer. Mothers bore the highest security and healthcare costs; fathers incurred higher legal and mediation costs. Legal costs were not associated with FV risk status.
Single-court jurisdiction (Australia) limits generalizability. Self-reported expenditure data may be subject to recall bias. Causality between cost categories and safety outcomes cannot be established from this observational design.
Clinicians and court-involved professionals should prioritize early identification of family violence risk, as ongoing FV risk drives substantial out-of-pocket security and health costs—disproportionately borne by mothers. Investment in counseling for parents and children appears linked to improved safety outcomes and warrants targeted resource allocation.
