By Anita Petrovic. Mediation is a key feature at almost every stage of the family law process. Accompanying the changes that occurred in the court system in September 2021 merging the Federal Circuit Court and the Family Court of Australia to form the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia was [...]
By Anita Petrovic. In deciding what living and decision-making arrangements should be ordered for children, the Court looks at, amongst other things, whether parents can co-operate and communicate to make decisions in the children’s best interests. Parents do not have to like each other to co-parent effectively; but what happens when [...]
By Emily Austin. Under the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 ("the Act") the Child Support Registrar ("the Registrar") has power to prohibit a person from leaving Australia if they have persistently failed to discharge their child support debts without a reasonable excuse. This power comes in the form of [...]
Children will never be called to give evidence as to their wishes in litigated parenting disputes. Instead, an Independent Children's Lawyer (ICL) may be appointed to represent your child’s best interests and, in some circumstances, voice their wishes to the Judge. The primary purpose of an ICL is to provide an [...]
By Anita Petrovic. Matters where one party is proposing to relocate the child(ren) to a location within or outside of Australia are not uncommon in the Australian family law system. Some people may migrate to Australia and, when the relationship breaks down, want to go back to the country from which [...]
By Molli Clements. Mother’s day is approaching and this day is often associated with children spending time with their mothers and other maternal figures including extended family members. It is our experience that this special day can cause conflict between parents, including same sex parents, with respect to the time children [...]
Family law is a complex and sensitive area of the law which deals with various legal matters related to family relationships, including marriage and separation, divorce, parenting arrangements, property settlement, adoption and child support. Whether you are going through a divorce, negotiating a property settlement or parenting arrangements for your children, [...]
By Emily Austin There are several ways to formalise parenting arrangements for children. Here, we summarise these in order of most amicable to least. Voluntary Agreement: This is a voluntary agreement made between parents that are merely verbal and are not formally recorded. Parenting Plan: This is also a voluntary agreement [...]
By Anita Petrovic. In most parenting cases that come before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia ('the Court'), the Court makes orders for the preparation of a Family Report. This is a report by a qualified expert who meets with the family, reviews the Court documents and makes recommendations [...]
In urgent situations, you can ask the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia to make an urgent Order, and in extremely urgent circumstances, you can even request that your application be heard ex parte. This means that the Court will deal with the matter immediately and without notice to the [...]