Mercer and Mercer

This matter concerned orders made by Judge O'Sullivan regarding parental responsibility and time spent with two children, [X] born in 2009 and [Y] born in 2005. The dispute centred on how major long-term issues concerning the children's education, religious and cultural upbringing, and health, as well as their names and living arrangements, should be managed, and the specific arrangements for the children to spend time with each parent.

The court was required to determine the extent of sole and equal shared parental responsibility for various aspects of the children's lives. Specifically, it needed to decide which parent would have sole responsibility for decisions regarding education, religious and cultural upbringing, and health for each child, and under what conditions. Furthermore, the court had to establish shared parental responsibility for decisions concerning the children's names and significant changes to their living arrangements. The court also had to delineate the specific times each child would spend with each parent, including during school terms, holidays, birthdays, and other significant dates, and address the practicalities of changeovers and communication between the parents.

The court ordered that the mother would have sole parental responsibility for [X] concerning education, religious and cultural upbringing, and health, subject to consultation and genuine effort to reach joint decisions with the father, with the mother making the final decision if agreement was not reached. Similarly, the father was granted sole parental responsibility for [Y] in relation to these matters, with the same conditions for consultation and final decision-making. Both parents were to have equal shared parental responsibility for the children's names and changes to living arrangements that would make it significantly more difficult for the children to spend time with the other parent. The orders then detailed specific living arrangements, with [X] to live with the mother and [Y] to live with the father, followed by extensive provisions outlining the time each child would spend with the non-resident parent, including detailed schedules for weekends, Thursdays, birthdays, Christmas, and school holidays. The court also made orders regarding communication about the children's health and welfare, and imposed injunctions restraining the parents from denigrating each other or the children, discussing proceedings in the children's presence, or exposing the children to violence.