Child related issues

Significant reforms have resulted in a change in approach to parenting arrangements.
The best interests of children will be taken into account when determining the time the children will spend with their parents after separation.
Parties must attempt to resolve issues regarding parenting arrangements through mediation and file a Dispute Resolution Certificate before Family Court proceedings can be issued.
What is a parenting order?
What factors does the Court take into account when making orders?

Recent family law reforms have resulted in significant amendments to the Family Law Act with effect from 1 July 2006. The reforms have resulted in a change in approach to parental responsibility, parenting orders and court procedures in parenting cases. The reforms are commonly referred to as the "shared parental responsibility" or "shared parenting" reforms pursuant to the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006.

Of significance is the change in terminology. What was previously known as "guardianship" has now become "parental responsibility". "Custody" and "residence" have now become "live with", and "contact" has become "spend time with".

Parties are required to file a certificate from a registered Dispute Resolution Provider before they can issue proceedings, except in extreme cases, circumstances of urgency or where a party has refused or is unwilling to attend mediation.

Parties are also required to engage in "pre-action procedures" which include an exchange of all documents that are relevant to the issues in dispute.

When parents are engaged in litigation, they will usually document parenting agreements by way of Court Orders. If parents have resolved parenting matters by alternate dispute resolution then they may document this by way of a parenting plan. It must be noted that parenting Orders and Parenting Plans are two very different documents.

A parenting order may deal with one or more of the following:

The person with whom a child is to live;
The time a child is to spend with each parent or other significant persons;
The allocation of parental responsibility for a child;
Communications a child is to have with a parent or other significant person; and
Any other aspect of the care, welfare or development of a child or of parental responsibility.

Parenting Orders can be made by consent by parties to a dispute, or they may be made by a Court following an interim or final hearing.

In making parenting orders the court must have regard to the best interests of the children as the paramount consideration. In determining a child's best interests the primary considerations are:-

The benefit to a child of having a meaningful relationship with both parents; and
The need to protect children from physical or psychological harm, including exposure to abuse, neglect or family violence.

Other matters that the Court takes into account include the following:

the physical environment the respective parents are able to provide for the child (housing, food, supervision etc);
the relationship between the child and the respective parents, and any other significant persons;
the parenting skills of the respective parents, and the extent to which they are capable of providing the children with emotional and intellectual support;
the proposals which the respective parents put forward regarding such matters as education, contact with the other parent, who cares for the child outside of school hours if the parent is unavailable;
the current arrangements which may be in place, and whether those arrangements have been satisfactory;
the wishes of the children (bearing in mind the age of the children and the level of maturity regarding the expressed wishes);
The extent to which the parties have fulfilled or failed to fulfil their parental responsibilities and whether they have facilitated the other parent doing so.

At Nicholes we have extensive experience in all aspects of children's matters including:

International family law disputes
same-sex relationship parenting agreements
complex parenting arrangements, including multi-party or high conflict disputes
child support matters
International child abduction matters
Inter-country adoption
International and domestic relocation disputes
Complex child welfare issues including special medical procedures such as gender reassignment or body tissue donations

If you have any queries regarding children's matters generally, please do not hesitate to contact us on 9670 4122.