If you are in immediate danger, call 000 now.

Family violence is not restricted to physical abuse. It can take many forms, including coercive control, financial abuse, psychological abuse and threatening behaviour.

Children who have witnessed domestic violence are themselves victims of family violence and child abuse.

If you are concerned about someone discovering you have visited this website, please see this link for information on technology and protecting your safety:

https://www.1800respect.org.au/help-and-support/technology-and-safety/online_safety_tips

If you have reason to believe that your child may be taken out of the Commonwealth of Australia without your consent, then it is possible to apply for a court order placing the child(ren) on the Family Law Watchlist. This stops the children leaving the Commonwealth even in circumstances where they have valid Australian or other national passports. The Australian Federal Police have the ability to place the name of your child(ren) onto the Watchlist immediately upon you filing an application in the Family Court which the relevant orders. The importance of your children remaining in Australia during a parenting dispute is that the Australian court have the power to make orders about the care of children who reside within the Australian borders. The Australian courts do not have jurisdiction over children who are living in foreign jurisdictions. There are a number of bi-lateral or international treaties that can be called upon to assist in securing the return of your child(ren) but it is always a better option to prevent children being taken out of the Commonwealth in the first place and in the event that you are fearful that this should occur you should obtain legal advice immediately.

Seek urgent legal advice:

• If you suspect the other parent is planning an unauthorised trip overseas with your child;

• if the other parent has links overseas to family, language, culture and property;

• if the other parent is travelling to Australia from overseas and you have concerns they may abduct your child; or

• if the other parent has already left Australia with your child.

For further information:

https://www.ag.gov.au/families-and-marriage/families/international-family-law-and-children/international-parental-child-abduction

You can apply to the Family Court for urgent orders to “recover” your child in the event that you are being denied access to your child by the other party. Upon application to the court, a judge may make an order for your child to be returned to your care. The Australian Federal Police will intervene if a recovery order is not complied with. You should seek legal advice urgently if:

1. Your child has been removed from your care by the other parent;

2. You are concerned for the safety of your child in the other parents care;

3. You are unsure where the other parent has taken the child and/or you are being denied any information about your child’s well being.

Your financial circumstances may be complicated as a consequence of yours or your ex partners interest in a private company or other business, an interest in a complex trust structures including family trusts or as a consequence of intergenerational loans and gifts. Parks Family Law have extensive experience in complex financial settlements and can provide you with expert advice pertaining to your individual situation.

If you have been unable to come to an agreement concerning your parenting arrangements following Family Dispute Resolution then you will be issued with a Section 60I certificate and you may commence court proceedings.

Dispute Resolution is of course not always appropriate and there are exceptions to the general requirement for all parents to participate in mediation. These exceptions include urgency and in some cases the existence of family violence. Abuse of a child and sometimes even the practical difficulties of attending a mediation may also be enough for a court to waive the requirement for you to attend Family Dispute Resolution prior to commencing court proceedings. You should discuss what constitutes a valid exemption with your lawyer if you are unsure as the court will simply reject any documents if you have not attempted Dispute Resolution and the Registrar of the court does not believe that you have a valid exemption as defined under the Family Law Act.

If you are unable to reach an agreement about your property dispute, you will need to complete a “Genuine Steps Certificate” prior to commencing court proceedings. In signing off on this certificate you are asked to confirm to the court that you have made a genuine attempt to resolve your dispute prior to commencing court proceedings. A “genuine attempts” requires you to at least attempt to engage the other party in a mediation (except in cases or urgency or when mediation is deemed in appropriate), have exchanged financial documents and made all efforts to provide transparency of your financial situation to the other party, have made an offer of settlement and have provided the other party with due notice of your intention to commence Court proceedings.

The Court process is expensive, time consuming and stressful. The Family Court Rules around commencing court proceedings have been rewritten in recent times to have a focus on ensuring that all efforts are made by parties to a Family Law dispute to resolve their dispute prior to parties commencing litigation. The Family Court holds itself out as a last option to those who cannot otherwise resolve their issues.

Even after the commencement of litigation, the court will continue to encourage mediation and dispute resolution. The court can order you to mediate on more than one occasion, for both parenting and property matters if your matter is deemed to be appropriate.

At Parks family Law we are committed to helping our clients in resolving their dispute amicably and trough alternative dispute processes whenever this is possible but we also understand that an amicable resolution is not an option for all separating families, despite best intentions. We are experienced litigators who can guide you through the court process, if this is what is required, to finalise your separation from your ex partner.

The general progress of a parenting matter might look like this (noting each case is unique and some steps may or may not apply to your case):

1. You attempt mediation which if successful means your dispute is over and your agreed parenting arrangements can be reduced to writing in the form of a Parenting Plan or Consent Orders. If your mediation is either unsuccessful or the other party refuses to participate your Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner will issue you a Section 60I certificate;

2. Once you have received your Section 60I Certificate or have an exemption from attending mediation you may commence litigation. You commence litigation by filing initiating court documents seeking final parenting and interim (holding pattern) orders;

3. Your first appearance before the court will usually be via Microsoft Teams link. You will appear before a Judicial Registrar. Each Registry is slightly different but generally your first return date, unless your matter is urgent, will be between 1 and 2 months from the date of filing. The Judicial Registrar at this court event will likely make case management orders that progress through the court system;

4. You and your ex partner may be ordered to attend upon a court clinician (a social worker or child psychologist employed by the court) for interviews and assessment. Child(ren) may also be required to attend to talk to the clinician about their experience of what is happening for them. The Court Clinician will prepare a Child Inclusive Memorandum which will be released to the court prior to any decisions being made about care arrangements for your child. The Child Inclusive Memorandum gives the Judge or Senior Judicial Registrar who will determine any interim application, some social science evidence about how your child’s best interests are best met on an interim basis ;

5. If the court clinician recommends further mediation then you will likely be ordered to attend either a court based or private mediation. If the court clinician recommends that the court determine your interim dispute with priority then you will be allocated an interim hearing date, usually before a Senior Judicial Registrar of the court. Interim hearings will proceed by way of either face to face hearing or Microsoft Teams.

6. At an interim hearing, a Senior Registrar or a Judge will determine only those issue that are thought to be urgent and which cannot wait for final hearing. So, for example the court may determine where children will live (an urgent matter) but they will not consider which high school a child who is only in year 3 might attend in the future (not urgent). Interim hearings are usually run “on the papers” which means that no one is cross examined but rather the judicial officer reads the documents you file (affidavits) and listens to submissions made by you, or your legal representative. A Senior Judicial Registrar might hear a number of interim applications on the one day.

7. Once the urgent interim issues have been dealt with the court will often order a comprehensive report be prepared by a suitably qualified psychiatrist, psychologist or a court clinician (“the expert”). This is known as a Chapter 7 Single Expert report. Interviews for these reports can take up to two days and the report will be extensive and make recommendations about any parenting matters that you and your ex partner cannot reach agreement about;

8. The expert report, once completed will be released to the parties and you are often at this point invited by the court to consider the expert’s recommendations and to again attempt mediation. If mediation is not appropriate or you remain unable to resolve your dispute through mediation, then you will be given directions to prepare your documents for trial and your matter will await allocation of a hearing date. When you are allocated, a date depends on the seriousness of your matter (parenting matters have priority over property matters) and the availability of the judicial officers who will determine your dispute. It is the intention of the court to complete all family law matters within 12 months.

Some cases do not follow all of the steps and are resolved early in the time line. Some cases do not require expert reports and for some cases there are many more steps including multiple interim hearing.

The general progress of a property matter might look like this (noting each case is unique and some steps may or may not apply to your case):

1. You attempt mediation and are unable to resolve your property dispute;

2. You comply with all the requirement of the Genuine Steps Certificate including disclosure of financial documents, making an offer of settlement and advising the other party of your intent to commence court proceedings;

3. You commence court proceedings by seeking interim (where relevant) and final property orders. There are many property cases where all that is sort by the parties is the final division of assets;

4. On the first return date, and in the event that are seeking interim orders, the Judicial Registrar will determine how urgent your matter is and whether it is ready to proceed to an interim hearing. An urgent matter might include a party seeking to gain access to matrimonial fund to pay for legal costs or to meet living costs prior to the proceedings being finally determined. A non-urgent matter would be how the parties superannuation is divided. If the Judicial Registrar determines that your application is in fact urgent, then you will be allocated an interim hearing date before a Senior Judicial Registrar or before a Judge depending on the orders you are seeking. The vast majority of interim property applications will go before a Senior Judicial Registrar and many will be run on Microsoft Teams;

5. Early in the proceedings the court will make orders for all assets, where the value is disputed, to be valued by a jointly appointed expert. Valuations may be required for any real estate, businesses or superannuation that is owned by you or your ex-partner.

6. Disclosure of financial documents is covered by the Family Law and Federal Circuit Court Rules 2021. The obligations of parties to provide any and all documents requested of them by the other party are vast and generally, if a document is requested and/or is relevant to understanding the matrimonial asset pool then it should be exchanged with the other party.

7. Once any urgent interim applications have been dealt with and the valuations completed, then the court will order that the parties attend either a private mediation (particularly when the parties have funds available to pay for private mediation) or a Conciliation Conference which is a mediation event run by a Judicial Registrar of the Court. If you matter resolves at mediation then your case might be concluded with Consent Orders;

8. If your matter does not resolve following further mediation or a Conciliation Conference then the court will make directions will be made for the filing of affidavits and court documents and you will be allocated a final hearing date.

9. Property matters rarely have priority in the Family Court and it may take many months for your matter to be heard. As a consequence of the delays in property matters being heard there is an option for parties to participate in an Arbitration which is almost like a private final hearing where parties present their case to an independent and neutral Arbitrator to make a determination on an issue in dispute.