Eddings and Eddings (No. 3)

This matter concerned an application before Murphy J in the Family Court of Australia, seeking to vary existing orders concerning the time a child spent with his mother. The dispute centred on the practical arrangements for the child's changeover between parents, specifically the commencement and conclusion of the mother's time with the child.

The primary legal issue before the court was how to implement the previously made orders of 25 August 2008, which stipulated that the child spend time with his mother. This required the court to determine specific, practical arrangements for the physical transfer of the child between the parents at the commencement and conclusion of these periods.

Murphy J reasoned that to give practical effect to the existing orders, clear and unambiguous changeover arrangements were necessary. The court ordered that at the commencement of all periods of time the child was to spend with his mother, the mother was to collect the child directly from his school. Conversely, at the conclusion of these periods, the father was to collect the child from a designated McDonalds Restaurant at N. These orders were made until further order of the court.