Contested Parenting Matters & Court Hearings

Spending time with your children is a gift and your highest priority in life as a parent whether you are married, de facto, separated or divorced. Certus Family Law understands this and will fight hard to ensure that if you are unable to come to an agreement with your ex-partner regarding the care of your children we will steer you through the Court process so that you can protect and enforce the rights you have to care for your child.

Following separation, if you cannot come to an agreement with your ex-partner regarding the arrangements for the future care of your children, you can apply to the Federal Circuit Court to have a judge decide what is in your children’s best interests and order arrangements concerning their future care.

Before we can file an initiating application for the court to hear your parenting matter, you will need to obtain a certificate from an accredited family dispute resolution practitioner confirming that both you and your ex-partner attended family dispute resolution counselling. We can assist you by providing you with a list of recommended providers and arranging an appointment so that you can take the appropriate steps in an attempt to resolve your parenting issue prior to initiating court proceedings.

In order for a court to hear you parenting matter, the following documents must be filed with the court and served on the respondent:

  1. Initiating Application
  2. Notice of Risk; and
  3. Affidavit in support of your initiating application.

It is essential that your initiating application and affidavit in support provide strong evidence to support the orders that you are asking the court to make. Your initiating document is the first impression that the judge deciding your matter will have of you and your case, so it is important to make the best impression possible. Certus Family Lawyers are able to draft your documents to ensure that you have the best chance of obtaining the outcome that you are seeking.

A parenting order can cover one or more of the following items:

Consent Orders can deal with the following issues:

If you obtain parenting orders and your ex-partner breaches the orders there are serious consequences. Certus Family Lawyers can assist you by providing you with practical advice where your ex-partner has not complied with their obligations under an order and apply to the court to enforce the Order or assist you by opening arranging for you and your ex-partner to attend additional dispute resolution sessions in an attempt to increase your ex-partner’s compliance with the orders.

We are also available to assist you with the following matters which often require an application to the court:

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