Golds and Hicks

This matter concerned an application by the mother and father for final parenting orders regarding their two children, X and Y. The dispute before Judge Phipps of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia involved the allocation of parental responsibility and the specific arrangements for the children's living arrangements, time spent with each parent, and communication between the parents.

The court was required to determine the most appropriate orders for the children's welfare, specifically addressing issues of equal shared parental responsibility, the children's primary residence, the quantum and nature of time spent with the non-resident parent, and the conditions under which such time should be exercised. Further, the court needed to consider measures to facilitate effective communication between the parents and to prevent denigration of one parent by the other in the presence of the children, as well as the prohibition of discussing family law proceedings with the children.

Judge Phipps made orders for equal shared parental responsibility, reflecting a presumption in favour of such an arrangement. The children were ordered to live with the mother, and the father was granted specific time with the children each alternate Saturday. Crucially, this time was to be exercised with the substantial attendance of named individuals, subject to their providing signed undertakings to the court. Changeovers were to occur at the maternal grandparents' residence, and a Communication Book was to be utilised. The court also imposed injunctions restraining both parties from denigrating the other parent to or in the presence of the children, or permitting others to do so, and from discussing family law proceedings with the children. The order appointing an Independent Children's Lawyer was discharged, and all other extant applications were dismissed.