child’s wishes

For three years after separation, children aged 15, 12 and 10 years had at the mother’s insistence spent time with the father only at the mother’s house.  The mother then severed all of the children’s interaction with...

The case involved a child aged 12 years whose parents had been in litigation for 6 years. The mother applied for the child to live with her although the child had consistently expressed a strong wish to live with the father and to spend...

Dispute involved three children aged 17, 16 and 13 years.  Two older girls lived with the mother and the younger child had lived with the father for about a year.  The judge found that the father was...

  There were two children of a relationship aged 14 and 11 years.  The mother requested that the younger child primarily live with her and that she have sole parental responsibility for him, but the father sought...

A child aged 12 years had special needs due to mild cerebral palsy, mild intellectual disability and epilepsy.   The father had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  The child was in the primary care of the mother.  The...

An assessor described a 13 year old child as having developed an atypical form of anxious-avoidant attachment style, meaning that the child had responded to the lack of adult responsiveness to his needs by becoming self-reliant. ...

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 child aged 11 years was described by the mother as intelligent and strong-willed (temperament). The judge noted that the child had been put in a position where the child determined what she will do with her father, and...

Parents of children aged 10, 8 and 6 years had been involved in ongoing intractable conflict.  The children had development and psychological/emotional problems and the parents disputed the reasons for this (child’s behaviour).  One child had...

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...

Children aged 12 and 11 years reported that their mother had pinched, hit and slapped the children as a form of discipline, leaving bruises that were observable to Police (discipline harsh). The judge found that the...

The request by a girl aged 14 years 7 months to spend time with both parents differed markedly from the proposals made by both parents.  The girl recognised that her mother might be reluctant to agree...

The children were aged 15 and 13 years.  The father was convicted of assault on the older child who subsequently did not want to spend time with or communicate with the father.  The father claimed that...

The family included six children under the age of 15 years.  The children did not spend time with their father following incidents of family violence.  Two oldest children lived with the paternal grandfather, and the grandfather...

The case involved two children aged 14 and 12 years who lived with their mother and had no contact with their father for two years (contact limited).  The children had an older sister aged 19 years...

The case involved two children aged 13 and 17 years who both showed high levels of anxiety.  The older child had suffered glandular fever for some years.  The father was assessed as having anxiety, and had been...

The father sought supervised time with children aged 9 and 6 years.   The mother alleged family violence and asked that the father have no direct contact with the children.   The children had witnessed an incident when...

Children aged 15 years and 13 years had lived with their father and spent time with the father after the parents separated.  The mother then developed a dependence on the drug methamphetamine and associated with criminals...

The case involved three children aged 12, 11 and 8 years who lived with the mother and spent time with their father and his extended family at the house of a grandparent. Tensions arose over an...

  The parents separated before the child was born.  The child who was aged 7 years at the time of the hearing had lived with the mother for six years before a family court issued an...

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...

The mother began an intimate relationship with her first partner when aged 16 years producing her first child (young parent).  When the relationship ended both parents were teenagers and both returned to live with their own...

The case involved a child aged 13 years who was diagnosed with ADHD and who took Ritalin.  The child had been on a week-about shared care arrangement with both parents.  Both parents had re-partnered.  The mother...

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 case involved a boy aged nearly 12 years who had lived in a shared care arrangement between both parents.  The parents had prolonged arguments before court about the boy since he was aged 6 months...

A judge was asked to rule on whether courts have the power when granting long term orders to require that siblings be placed together, an issue that was raised with two families involving 5 and 3...

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...

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...

Two children aged 11 years and 9 years 10 months lived with their mother.  The father had no phone contact with the children for a year before the hearing (contact limited involvement), and declined to participate in...

A couple cohabited for about ten years before separating, had two daughters aged 11 and 9 years at the time of the hearing, and had engaged in legal proceedings for 5 years after separation.  The father...

A 12 year old boy had lived with his mother for 18 months and then was ordered to live with his father and to spend time with his mother.  The mother appealed saying that the judge...

The couple had twins aged 6 years at the time of the hearings.  The couple separated when the twins were 7 months old, and the twins lived with the mother and spent time with the father. ...

The case involved a child aged 7 years who was reluctant to visit her father (reluctant to contact).  A child protection service had assessed the family and found no current concerns about child protection although there...

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...

A father appealed against an order requiring supervised access visits, noting that his children had stated they wanted to live with him (child’s wishes).  The appeal judge noted opinions of other judges that increased weight could be...

The case involved three girls aged 11 years, 10 years and 6 years whose parents separated and disputed access strongly.  The older girls became very distressed and acted out, including by absconding from school and being...

The case involved a mother who appealed after her son decided not to spend time with the mother (reluctant to contact).  The mother had cared for the boy for his first 10 years, and an expert...

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...

The case involved three girls aged 14, 12 and 11 years. The judge found the two older girls were strong-willed girls and that they had strongly expressed opinions, and it is inevitable their wishes must be...

Three children aged 13, 12 and 11 years expressed wishes about their future accommodation (child’s wishes).  The judge was satisfied that their wishes were genuine.  The judge ruled that, given their ages (especially 13 and 12...

An appeal by a father about access orders was allowed when a family report indicated that a child aged 13 years had changed her views about access (child’s wishes).  ...Read More

A father wanted to increase time with his two children aged 15 years and 10.5 years while the children preferred the status quo.  The mother agreed to the children’s time with the father increasing by one...

A father alleged that a boy aged 15 years had been beaten by the mother, and filed an affidavit that was allegedly written by the boy.  The judge found that the Court had not authorised the boy to...

The case involved two children aged 15 and 13 years who had lived primarily with their mother following the separation of the parents.  The judge found that the older child expressed a strong and clear view...

A judge placed little weight on the views of children aged 8 and 14 years (child’s wishes) as they had little contact with their father over the previous three years as the father could not locate...

A judge found that a child aged 10 years wanted to stay with his mother as there were more games at her house, and described this as the child responding in an immature way to a...

Parents of a child aged 12 years had engaged in dispute about access for 7 years.  The child then expressed a strong view to several professionals that she no longer wanted contact with her father (child’s wishes)....

Children aged 9 and 7 years expressed a preference for a week about shared care arrangement between their parents.  The judge found that the children had been exposed to the litigation and to the competing proposals,...

The Full Court indicated that a child’s wishes are important and should not be departed from where they are soundly based and have been expressed without influence from either parent and are expressed against a background...

Parents disputed arrangements for a 10 year old child.  The father proposed orders that the judge considered would amount to micro-management of parenting, including a formula for extracurricula activities, and a request that medical and dental...

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...

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...

The case involved a 13 year old girl whose parents had been in litigation for 10 years.  An order had been made for joint parental responsibility, with the child living with her mother and spending time...

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...