A person can apply to the Court to make orders in relation to who a child spends time with and who can make day to day, and major decisions about the child when the matter is no longer before the Court.

Filing a Court application is a serious step, and children are can be significantly and negatively effected by the internecine conflict between their parents that is usually exacerbated by the Court proceedings. The best outcomes for children and parents involve cooperative and child focused negotiations and understanding.

Unfortunately, separation and children can evoke the strongest and most savage emotions from everyday people which lead them to the Family Court .

Protecting children and what is in the children’s best interests is the purpose of the Family Court in parenting matters.

The child’s best interests are the paramount consideration (section 60CA), assessed against the section 60CC factors, which are headed by safety. The older a child becomes, the more likely the Court will simply do what the child wants. Children will often “decide with their feet” which parent they wish to live with. The weight given to a child’s views is more significant the older they get, but from the age they are early teenagers, their views may be determinative.

The 2023 amendments (in force 6 May 2024) repealed the former presumption of equal shared parental responsibility (former section 61DA) and the former equal time pathway (former section 65DAA), so there is now no presumption as to parental responsibility or time.

Before filing an application for parenting orders, a party must make a genuine attempt at family dispute resolution and obtain a section 60I certificate, subject to exceptions for urgency, family violence or abuse or a risk of it, and incapacity (section 60I(9)). Pre action procedures and case management are governed by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021.

How do I get the most time with my children?

Time is governed by the child’s best interests, not by any parental entitlement, and since 6 May 2024 there is no starting presumption of equal, or any particular amount of time.

Safety is the first consideration under section 60CC(2)(a), and the benefit of a relationship with both parents is relevant only where it is safe to do so (section 60CC(2)(e)).

Outcomes are set by the Act’s criteria, not by parental entitlement or even by the parties’ competing proposals.

A person maximises time by demonstrating that the arrangement she seeks serves the child’s safety, needs and stability. It may also be counter productive to view a parenting application as a “zero sum game,” or an application with winners and losers. Studies have repeatedly shown that children without a meaningful relationship with both parents are the ones who lose the most.