The COVID-19 pandemic has caused issues in compliance with parenting arrangements. At this stage, the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court has made it clear that the pandemic is not sufficient reason to breach parenting orders and that all efforts should be made to comply with the current arrangements.

It has become increasingly common for the parents (or family members) of one or both of the parties to a relationship to provide financial assistance to their children, including to assist their children to purchase property.  But how is this ‘financial assistance’ regarded when the relationship breaks down?

One of the primary objectives of the Court in parenting matters is to determine what the best interests of the children are and to make orders to that effect. In some circumstances, an Independent Children’s Lawyer (‘ICL’) will be appointed. An ICL is a lawyer who represents your child/children and acts independently from either party.

Parents in dispute in the Family Court are usually ordered to get a family report, but not all family report writers are the same. A Family Report provides the court with an independent assessment of the issues in the case for the judge about child/children of the relationship. It can also guide the parties to reach agreement out of the court.

It is becoming the ‘bread-and-butter’ in Family Court proceedings that parties use print outs of text messages, emails and social media posts in their Affidavits. One judge recently said in Court, “It never ceases to astound me how many litigants in [the Family Court of Australia] publish material through social media such as Facebook without consideration as to how poorly it might reflect upon them if adduced in evidence”.

You may have heard that the government introduced “My Health Record” as an online summary of health information for every Australian commencing in 2018.  My Health Record provides you with access to your health information from any computer or device, as well as allowing healthcare professionals to access your information, including in emergency situations.

It’s not called “Custody”
There have been a series of changes to the law since the mid-1990s which have led to the modern emphasis being on a child’s right to have a meaningful relationship with both their parents. There is no longer an emphasis on the old fashioned concept of children being treated almost like an item of property that you have “custody” of. Instead of “custody” and “access”, the Courts, lawyers and child experts now refer to who the child “lives with” and who they “spend time with”