Updating parenting orders to reflect your current situation

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions may have prevented us from being able to do many things, however updating your parenting orders to reflect your current situation is not one of them.

Your current parenting orders

If there are current parenting orders in place, parents are expected to continue to comply with the provisions of the orders, notwithstanding restrictions imposed by government public health orders. This includes facilitating time being spent by a child with each parent pursuant to the parenting orders.

There may however be situations that arise which make strict compliance with current orders difficult. For example:

• if the orders require time to take place at a contact centre that is no longer open
• change over is to take place at school but the school is closed
• or state borders are closed preventing your child from being able to travel to another state for the purpose of spending time with a parent.

Documenting new arrangements

If this is the case, the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court encourages parties to reach an agreement between themselves about new parenting arrangements, which may only be in place for a short period of time. It is important that any such arrangements are documented in writing. This may be by way of a parenting plan or further court orders made by consent. If no agreement can be reached, the Court has developed a special COVID-19 list that deals with urgent parenting matters arising out of the pandemic and any associated lockdown.

What are my options?

If the above situation applies to you, it is important that you seek legal advice in relation to the options available to you.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, Southern Waters Legal is open for business as (almost) usual. We are conducting conferences with clients to obtain instructions and provide advice by way of teleconferences or video conferences using Google Meet. The advantage of this is that you don’t need to leave the comfort of your home (or take off your Ugg boots) to receive comprehensive legal advice in relation to your matter.

If you would like to arrange a time to speak to one of our Family Law lawyers about how to update your parent orders, please call our office on 9523 5535 to arrange a free 15-minute consultation.

If you found this article useful, you may also like to read LGA’s of concern and parenting arrangements

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is provided as general information only. It is not intended to be legal advice and it should not be used or relied on as legal or professional advice.