Geary and Maddigan

In *Geary and Maddigan*, heard in the District Court, the parties were the father and mother of three children, B, C, and D. The dispute concerned interim parenting orders, specifically regarding the children's living arrangements, health and safety, and the father's time with them.

The court was required to determine a range of issues concerning the children's welfare. These included arrangements for notifying the father if a child was unwell and unable to attend school, prohibitions on travelling in motor vehicles without appropriate restraints, dietary requirements for nut consumption and a gluten-free diet for child C, the use of physical discipline, and the possession of in-date epipens. Additionally, the court had to decide on the father's time with the children during the Christmas school holidays and subsequent periods, including alternate weekends and school term holidays, as well as the location for handovers occurring outside of school.

His Honour Faulks DCJ made a series of orders by consent and some not by consent. By consent, orders were made concerning notification of illness, travel restraints, nut consumption, a gluten-free diet for child C, the prohibition of physical discipline, and the requirement for both parents to possess in-date epipens. Not by consent, the court suspended previous orders regarding the father's time during the Christmas school holidays, specifying new arrangements for the father to spend time with the children from 26 December 2015 to 16 January 2016, with the mother having the children otherwise during that holiday period. Further orders detailed the father's time with the children in the lead-up to and following the Christmas holidays, including alternate weekends and the first week of each term holiday. The court also ordered that any handovers not occurring at school would take place in the lobby of the E Hotel. The father's application for orders regarding the mother attending the children's school was dismissed.