Children & Parenting
5. Parenting Orders
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 30 Jun 2015
- Parenting orders are orders made by the court about the arrangements for the care, welfare and development of the children.
- The court can make parenting orders if you and your ex-partner cannot agree about parenting arrangements for your children.
- To obtain parenting orders, after attending mediation or being given a certificate one parent may file an application with the court, the other has opportunity to respond and the court will make orders at the end of a hearing if they are unable to reach agreement.
- Parenting orders detail the parenting arrangements for your children. They can include all matters that are relevant to the care, well-being and development of your children such as:
- who your children live with;
- who they will spend time with and when these visits will take place. This should include contact with the children’s other parent and also members of the children’s extended family;
- holidays and special days such as birthdays, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas;
- overseas travel of one parent with the children and arrangements for keeping in contact during those times; and
- If you have more than one child those children will each have different needs that must be considered. When planning for the future it is a good idea to consider whether you need to make different arrangements for each of them to ensure their individual needs are being met. These differences can be included in your application for parenting or consent orders.
- Parents should focus on the best interests of their children rather than what they personally m ay or may not need or want to happen.
- The court will take into account the recommendations from independent experts such as Family Consultants when making decisions about children.
- Parenting orders are enforceable by the court. This means that if one parent does not stick to what is agreed to in the consent orders then the court has the power to make them comply with the agreement.
- If one parent breaches the consent orders there can be serious consequences. It is a good idea to discuss this with your lawyer to find out exactly what may happen if there is a breach.
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