Robertson & Sento 2009 FamCAFC 49

A judge ordered that parents have joint parental care for their 10 year old child, except that the mother have sole parental responsibility and care for health care and for decisions about the child’s music tuition (decision delegated).

An appeal was made as the legislation does not refer to “joint parental responsibility” only to “equal shared parental responsibility.”

It was ruled that once a Court has made an order for equal shared parental responsibility, major decisions for the long-term care and welfare of a child must be made jointly unless the Court has ordered otherwise (decision joint).