Theodore & Theodore

In the matter of *Theodore & Theodore*, Foster J of the Family Court of Australia considered applications concerning parental responsibility and the time the children would spend with their father. The proceedings involved Ms Theodore (the applicant mother), Mr Theodore (the respondent father), and Ms Mansour as the Independent Children’s Lawyer. The court also addressed an objection to a subpoena by AA Pty Limited.

The primary legal issues before the court were the allocation of parental responsibility for the children, B and D, and the nature and extent of the father's time with them, given significant concerns regarding his history of mental illness, personality disorder, and documented instances of violence and abuse towards the mother, some in the children's presence. The court was also required to determine whether to grant the father's application for an adjournment and whether to uphold the objection to the subpoena.

Foster J refused the father's application for an adjournment, finding that further delay was not in the children's best interests, and upheld the objection to the subpoena, striking it out. In determining parental responsibility, the court found that the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility should not apply due to the significant risks involved. Applying the principles of the best interests of the children, and giving significant weight to the opinion of the single expert and the Independent Children’s Lawyer, the court concluded that it was in the children's best interests for the mother to have sole parental responsibility. The court's reasoning was heavily influenced by the father's history of erratic and violent behaviour, his mental health issues, and his apparent lack of insight into the impact of his conduct on the children.

Consequently, the court ordered that all previous parenting orders be discharged. The mother was granted sole parental responsibility, and the children were ordered to live with her. The father was granted supervised time with the children once per month, with additional supervised time on Father's Day and each child's birthday, to be facilitated by a professional supervising agency at the father's cost. The court also made orders regarding communication, ongoing therapeutic intervention for both parents, and restraints on each party's behaviour towards the other and the children.