Secure your children’s future with parenting arrangements that work!

Recent amendments to the Family Law Act provide that, what was once called “Parental Responsibility”, will now be referred to as the responsibility for “Decision Making”. These amendments also abolished the presumption that parents should be allocated equal shared Decision Making, emphasising the importance that all decisions must be made having regard to a child’s bests interests.

The responsibility for Decision Making can be shared between parents or all (or part of) the responsibility, can be allocated to one parent.

The responsibility for Decision Making isn’t about everyday decisions such as what the children will eat or whether you will take them to the beach during your time with them. Think the big stuff, such as what school they will go to or what religion they will participate in (if any).

1. Joint Decision Making – Provides for consultation between parents in relation to important issues concerning a child’s care, welfare and development.
2. Sole Decision Making – Sometimes, the relationship between parents has broken down so much that communication between parents becomes impractical. In some cases, it may be appropriate for any parenting agreement or parenting orders to allocate the decision-making responsibility to one parent.

It is common for children to spend a greater amount of time living with one parent. In this scenario, the child will be considered to “live with” the parent they spend the greater amount of time with and “spend time” with the other parent.

Spend time arrangements need to be carefully considered to ensure they are in the child’s best interests and cater for your family’s unique circumstances.

To achieve this, careful consideration is given to the age of the child, schooling and extracurricular activities, work arrangements of each of the parents, distance between the parents’ households, whether the children have special or unique needs and any other relevant matter, such as whether the children are at risk of being exposed to drugs, alcohol and/or family violence.

Ensuring the spend time arrangements cater for School Holidays and special occasions such as birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and any other significant religious event, will avoid further dispute in relation to these events in the future.

Mediation can be a great way for parents to resolve the difference in opinion about what live with and spend time arrangements, are in a child’s best interests.

Unless there is a history of family violence (which can include coercive and controlling behaviour), parents should attempt to resolve their parenting dispute with a qualified Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner.

If you reach an agreement at mediation (or before mediation), we can assist you formalise your agreement with a Parenting Plan or Application for Consent Orders seeking Parenting Orders.

If you do not reach an agreement at mediation and all other attempts to resolve the dispute have failed, an Initiating Application filed with the Federal Circuit Court and Family Court of Australia, seeking parenting orders may be required to resolve the dispute.

Once you have reached an agreement in relation to parenting/custody arrangements, there are two possible options. You will need advice about which option is best for you and your circumstances.

1. Parenting Plan – This can be a great way to document the agreement that has been reached in relation to decision-making responsibility, live with and spend time arrangements. A Parenting Plan is not a binding agreement that can not be enforced.
2. Application for Consent Orders – This will provide Final Parenting Orders (and all without stepping inside a courtroom) which are enforceable by the Court. This is more formal that a Parenting Plan and provides greater certainty about future parenting arrangements, because Final Orders can only be set aside by the Court if:
   • Parents have reached a new agreement and file a new Application for Consent Orders seeking the new orders to be made; or
   • Absent agreement, the parent seeking to change the Parenting Orders files an Initiating Application (after attempting to resolve the dispute in mediation) and satisfies the Court that there has been a significant change in circumstances since the Orders were made, that justifies the original Parenting Orders being set aside and new ones made in place of them.

If agreement cannot be reached (or if the matter is urgent leaving no time for mediation or negotiation), an Initiating Application may be filed with the Federal Circuit and family Court of Australia seeking interim and final parenting Orders.

If proceedings are required, you can have confidence knowing that we have the knowledge and experience to represent you in Court and achieve the best possible outcome for you and your children.

Family violence can take many forms and can include assault, sexually abusive behaviour, stalking, derogatory taunts, intentionally damaging or destroying property, denying a family member financial autonomy, withholding financial support, depriving a family member of his or her liberties, and/or exposing a child to any of the above behaviours.

If you have recently experienced family violence in your relationship, you should seek legal advice as soon as possible, about the effects of family violence in your family law matter.

In a relationship categorised by family violence, children are often exposed to conflict between parents, which can have negative consequences for children.

If proceedings are commenced, the parties are required to file a Notice of Risk detailing a child’s exposure to family violence.

If a party is found guilty by the Criminal Courts of charges in relation to domestic violence/family violence, any guilty verdict may be relied on by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia when determining parenting proceedings.