NEWS

A Second Bite at the Cherry for Parenting Orders?

There is currently a Bill before Parliament [Family Law Amendment (Validation of Certain Parenting Orders and Other Measures) Bill 2010], which if passed, will allow parties, in certain circumstances, the opportunity of going back to Court to apply for a variation of their current parenting Orders, without having to prove a significant change in the child's circumstances (the Rice & Asplund test).

When a Court decides on Orders for time with the child, it must consider the factors set out in s65DAA(1)&(2) of the Family Law Act, this includes whether the proposed arrangements to spend time with the child are reasonably practical and whether the arrangements are in the child’s best interests.

If, after a contested hearing, a Court has made parenting orders for equal shared parental responsibility and has not taken into account whether the time arrangements ordered are reasonably practical, then, provided that the Court’s original order has not been amended in any way, the party who feels aggrieved by the Court order will be able to approach Court and apply to have the Order revisited. A specific request will be able to be made that the Court specifically consider the factors in s65DAA(1) and (2), in particular whether the time arrangements are reasonably practical.

The proposed Bill does not change the underlying principal that the best interests of the children, in all matters relating to them, remain of paramount importance in any decision the Court makes.

The opportunity offered by the Bill will not be available to parties who have entered into Consent Orders for arrangements for their children

As yet the Bill has not been passed. Parties who feel they may have been aggrieved by Court Orders relating to parenting matters, are invited to contact us for legal advice on the options that might be available to them.

The Bill was passed on 26 November 2010 and the Act will commence the day after it receives Royal Assent.