capacity to decide

Paternal grandparents applied for orders to spend time with the parties’ younger children who were twin boys aged 8 years.  Six months after the paternal grandparents had commenced spending regular time with the children, the father applied also to spend time...

The case involved a girl aged 12 years whose parents had been in ongoing conflict since they separated when she was aged 5 years (intractable conflict).  The child was described as mature. The judge noted there...

A lawyer for a wife applied for a case guardian to be appointed so that a hearing could be re-opened and further evidence presented.  The wife had suffered a stroke resulting in loss of power to...

A separated couple had 2 children aged 10 and 12 years. The children had been exposed to 5 years of bitter dispute between the parents. The mother alleged the father had a mental health condition that...

The case involved a child aged 13 years whose parents had separated when she was aged 8 years, where the parents engaged in ongoing conflict (high conflict couple).  Final orders had been made for the child...

The judge found that a child aged 16.5 years met the Gillick criteria of competence to make an informed decision (capacity to decide) about a proposed medical treatment as an assessor found that the child: demonstrated...

The case involved a dispute over care of a 10 year old child who had experienced significant physical health problems before the dispute. The mother had a previous history of depression and had expressed suicidal ideation...

A judge drew attention to Rule 6.08(1) of the Family Law Rules 2004 that provided for a person with a disability due to a physical or mental disorder to be represented by a case guardian if...

The case involved an application to review an order by one judge to allow a father to re-open a case due to changed circumstances.  The couple had lived together for 23 days and produced a son. ...

The case involved a father who had suffered severe brain damage following an MVA, was classified as being permanently impaired, and received a pension (parental disability).  The father was considered to be unable to understand the...

The case involved an appeal by a mother against orders made by a trial judge.  The couple separated after being together for 7 years and having two children.  In 2000 a judge ordered that the children...

The judge discussed the weight to give to the expressed wishes of a girl aged 9 years to live with her mother (child’s wishes).  The judge found the girl to be of above average intelligence and...

Two brothers aged 14 years and 11 years 3 months lived with their mother and expressed a wish to live with their father, with the mother opposing their wish (child’s wishes). Evidence was given that the...

Children aged 12 and 10 years had lived with their mother and spent time with their father.  Both children told an assessor they would prefer to spend more time with their father (child’s wishes).  Both children...

Parents had a daughter aged 11 years at the time of the hearing.  The mother left the daughter in the care of her father who lived in the USA.  The parents disputed care of the daughter...

Three children aged 7 years, 5 years and 4 years had been removed from the care of both parents on a short term custody order.  Both parents participated in polysubstance abuse and had other shortcomings.  The...

A couple with eight children separated when three children were under the age of 18 years.  The mother was a fourth generation member of a church that functioned as a closed community.  The father left both...

Shared Time for Infants A policy document by the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health Inc. provides guidelines for the following situations: overnight stays for infants under 2 years away from a primary caregivers can create...

Legislation in Australia allows people to apply for three types of intervention that affect family members: a parenting order from a Family Law Court (Family Circuit Court) a child protection order from a Children’s Court an...