HEMMING & BOLTON (No.2)

The parties, Hemming and Bolton, brought their dispute concerning parenting orders before Young J. The case involved two children: one son who was estranged from his mother, and another child who spent equal time with both parents. Both parents sought orders that would effectively grant them sole parental responsibility for the latter child.

The central legal issue before the court was how to best determine parenting orders in circumstances of intractable conflict, particularly concerning a child who was estranged from one parent and another child who experienced equal time with both. The court was required to consider the implications of such conflict on the children's welfare and to decide whether shared parental responsibility was an appropriate outcome for the child spending equal time with both parents, despite the parents' competing claims for sole responsibility.

Young J ultimately made an order for shared parental responsibility concerning the child who spent equal time with both parents. This decision was made in the context of the parents' intractable conflict, indicating that the court considered shared responsibility to be in the child's best interests despite the difficulties presented by the parents' relationship. The court's reasoning would have involved a careful balancing of the children's welfare, the nature of the parental conflict, and the specific circumstances of each child.