Fielding and Doull

In the matter of *Fielding and Doull*, heard before Carew J, the applicant father sought orders finding the respondent mother in contravention of parenting orders made on 30 May 2011. The dispute concerned the mother's alleged failure to facilitate the children spending time with the father during the December 2014 holiday period and her unilateral decision to change the child F's school without consulting the father.

The court was required to determine whether the respondent mother had contravened specific paragraphs of the existing parenting orders without reasonable excuse. Specifically, the court had to assess whether the mother failed to cause the children to spend time with the father as ordered for the holiday period and whether she failed to consult the father regarding a change of school for their child, F.

Carew J found that the mother had contravened the order concerning holiday time with the father, as well as the order requiring consultation and genuine attempts at joint decision-making before changing the child F's school, and that these contraventions were without reasonable excuse. However, an alleged contravention particularised as occurring on 30 January 2015 was dismissed. The application and amended application were otherwise dismissed. The matter was adjourned for submissions on an appropriate sanction or further order.