PILGRIM & STABLES

This matter concerned an interim application in family law proceedings between a mother and father regarding their two children, Z and Y. The dispute involved allegations of parental conflict and alienation, as well as concerns about the father's mental health and the children's wishes. The proceedings were before Judge Middleton.

The court was required to determine the interim parenting arrangements for the children, specifically addressing issues of parental responsibility, time spent with each parent, and communication protocols. Key considerations included the children's best interests, their exposure to parental conflict, and the impact of the father's mental health on his capacity to co-parent. The court also had to consider the children's expressed wishes.

In reaching its decision, the court ordered equal shared parental responsibility for both children. A specific two-two-three time regime was established for Y, with equal sharing of school holidays. Z was to spend alternate weekends with her father, coinciding with Y's time. The court mandated family therapeutic counselling for both parents, with strict compliance required for all reasonable requests from the psychologist. Further orders addressed practical matters such as ensuring attendance at extracurricular activities, designated changeover locations, telephone contact with the non-resident parent, privacy during such contact, and prohibitions on interfering with the children's phones or internet. Communication was to be primarily via email, with detailed provisions for notification of addresses, medical emergencies, and holiday travel. Crucially, both parents were restrained from denigrating each other or interrogating the children, and the father was restrained from attending within 100 metres of the mother's residence and workplace.