changed circumstances

There was an order for a child aged 9 years to live with the mother, to spend time with the father, and for the father to use his best endeavours to have the child attend sporting...

  A trial judge made orders enabling the father to spend time with the children, conditional upon a number of factors including successful completion of a three month residential rehabilitation program and completion of parenting programmes.  The father...

The parents of children aged 13, 11 & 9 years had separated 7 years earlier.  The mother alleged that during the relationship the father had perpetrated family violence upon her, and that the children’s refusal to see or...

A child aged 13 years had been subject to a hearing 7 years before.  Reports had been received from three psychiatrists who recommended that the boy live with the father and that the father have sole...

A mother applied to review orders that had been made two years earlier when the child was 2 years old.   The mother claimed changed circumstances as the child was now diagnosed with developmental delay that had not been foreseen...

Parents separated when a child was aged 4 years.  The father acknowledged family violence including threats to kill both the mother and child.  A final order was made for the child to live with the mother...

The mother applied to commence further proceedings, but had been restrained from filing further applications to reverse orders except with leave of a judge.  The mother’s affidavit alleged child abuse by the father and domestic violence...

The parents originated from European cultures and had two children aged 16 and 14 years.  The parenting arrangement for one child had been in place for ten years.  The father submitted changed circumstances and sought more...

A father appealed a parenting order and requested that two children aged 13 and 10 years spend more time with him. The father objected that as a family assessment report had not been formally admitted as evidence,...

There was an order for two children aged 14 and 11 years to live with their father and have supervised contact with their mother.  The mother applied to change orders so that the children live with...

The mother sought to change an order made in 2010 to cease ongoing supervised contact and to allow increased contact with a child aged 10 years.  The earlier order had required the mother to participate in...

Two professionals reported their assessments about attachments of a four year old child who had been removed from the care of his parents and had been in the care of foster parents for a period of...

The child aged 7 years had been in the primary care of the mother until the child disclosed incidents of family violence that had been perpetrated by the mother’s partner in a new relationship.  The child...

The case involved a child aged 9 years whose parents had a long history of litigation.  Both parents sought new orders in their own favour.  An order for shared care was in place, but the father...

A boy aged 12 years had lived with his maternal grandmother from the age of 4 years, after his mother had abandoned him to participate in a drug-related lifestyle, and the mother had limited involvement in...

A boy lived with his parents until he was aged 4 years and then lived with his maternal grandmother.  After 8 years the grandmother applied for formalise the arrangement.  The father had maintained weekly contact with...

An expert described an attachment bond as a psychological bond between a child and a primary carer in which the child looks to the carer for comfort and soothing in times of stress and anxiety. The expert...

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 child aged 10 years who had by consent been living with the mother and spending time with the father.  The father applied for a change in orders for the child to live...

The case involved an 8 year old boy where there was dispute between the parents about access times. Child’s Wishes The boy spoke to a family consultant about the fairness of his spending time with 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 case involved three children aged 14, 12 and 8 years.  The trial judge ordered that parents have shared parental responsibility and that the children live primarily with their mother and spend time with the father.  The...

Parents of children aged 12 and 10 years had been separated with an order granting the father fortnightly access that was supervised until the children were aged 12 years.  The father had displayed family violence by...

A mother appealed an order that three children live with the father and the father have sole parental responsibility. The mother raised new allegations and wished to present new information.  The allegations referred to the children...

The case involved a girl aged 12 years whose parents had engaged in legal disputes for most of her life.  The girl lived with her father.  The mother asked the judge to change a final order...

Twin boys initially lived with their mother and spent time with their father.  The mother alleged that the father has exposed the boys to sexual abuse, leading to his contact being supervised.  The father appealed but...

A judge ordered that a 4 year old girl live with her mother and have restricted contact with her father.  The father appealed. The trial judge heard evidence that the father had been convicted of indecent...

A child aged 9 years lived with the mother and spent time with the father under consent orders.  The mother moved residence and then applied to change the consent orders to facilitate her relocation.  The father...

A child had lived with her father for five years and spent time with the mother following issue of final orders.  Evidence was given in the trial that the mother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia with symptoms...

When parents were separated, a mother on two occasions asked the father to take on increased care of their two children as she experienced difficulty parenting the son who had learning difficulties (unable to cope). One...

When the parents lived together the mother had been unable to cope with her young daughter while the father worked, resulting in the couple separating and in an order for the child to live with the...

Parents initially agreed by consent to a shared care arrangement where the child spent week-about with each parent.  The mother then relocated and asked to change the arrangement so that the child spent more time with...

A mother applied to change a final order that had been made three years earlier involving a child now aged 7 years.  The final orders were that the child live with the father and spend supervised...

A father asked to review orders for his 3 year old daughter 15 months after orders were issued.  The father claimed changed circumstances saying that he had formed a new relationship (re-partnered), his daughter was of...

A judge issued the following orders regarding two children aged 6 years: to live with their father and for the father to have sole parental responsibility for the mother to see the children at a contact...

The Appeal Court ruled that it should not lightly entertain an application to reverse an earlier custody order (change final order). To do so would invite endless litigation for change is an ever present factor in...

Mellick & Mellick 2014 FamCAFC 236 A trial judge granted sole parental responsibility to one parent and the other parent appealed.  The trial judge found that the two parents had not exchanged information and had not...

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...