TENG & SHUE

This matter concerned final parenting orders sought by the mother, Ms Teng, and the father, Mr Shue, in relation to their two children, X and Y. The parties presented a consent position regarding parental responsibility and living arrangements, with each parent seeking sole parental responsibility and live-with arrangements for one child only. This resulted in the children being separated from their sibling. The agreed spend-time-with arrangements for the non-live-with parent were to commence minimally and increase over time to one overnight occasion per fortnight.

The court was required to determine several discrete issues that remained in dispute between the parties. These included the necessity of an Airport Watchlist order, arrangements for overseas travel, the issuance of Australian passports for each child, restrictions on the location of the parties' residences, the nature of telephone communication between the children and their non-live-with parent, and a restraint on quarrelling in front of the children.

By consent, the court made orders granting the father sole parental responsibility for X, who would live with him, and the mother sole parental responsibility for Y, who would live with her. The orders detailed a phased increase in the time X would spend with the mother and Y with the father, ensuring the siblings were together during these periods. Further orders addressed communication, medical information sharing, school involvement, and the return of children's possessions. Crucially, the court ordered that neither parent be at liberty to relocate either child's residence outside the Sydney Metropolitan Area without written consent, and placed both children on the Family Law Watchlist for seven years, restraining their removal from Australia. Additionally, both parents were restrained from denigrating each other or allowing others to do so in the children's presence, and from quarrelling in front of the children.