Roland & Atkins

The case involved Roland (father) and Atkins (mother) concerning parenting orders for their two children. Initially, the parties had consented to final orders in October 2005 establishing a week-about living arrangement for the children. However, this arrangement proved unworkable due to the parents' poor communication and inability to cooperate in parenting. Eight months after these orders, the father sought to vary them, proposing a modified week-about schedule. The mother, conversely, sought orders for the children to live primarily with her, with time spent with the father.

The court was required to determine the children's living arrangements and the extent of parental responsibility, considering the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility. Key issues included whether the existing week-about arrangement should continue, the impact of the father's controlling behaviour and the parents' poor communication on the children's best interests, and the weight to be given to the children's expressed preferences for a week-about arrangement. The court also had to consider allegations of emotional abuse by the father.

Justice Mullane found that the father's controlling behaviour, coupled with the parents' lack of communication, made equal shared parental responsibility contrary to the children's interests. The court determined that the children's expressed preference for a week-about arrangement was not a free choice but a product of their exposure to litigation and competing proposals, and given their ages, their preferences were afforded little weight. The court concluded that continuing the week-about arrangement or having the children live with the father was likely to lead to further proceedings due to the father's controlling behaviour.

Consequently, the court ordered that the children live with the mother and spend time with the father on alternate weekends and for half of each school holiday period. The father was granted responsibility for day-to-day decisions when the children were in his care, while the mother retained sole parental responsibility for major decisions regarding their schooling and education. The orders also included provisions for communication between the parents, restrictions on denigrating each other, and requirements for both parents to attend parenting courses and for the father to seek psychiatric or psychological assistance.