Facing separation and unsure about your child's future? Feeling overwhelmed by navigating child custody arrangements, parenting plans, and contact orders in Australia? You're not alone. At DLEGAL, we understand the emotional complexities and legal challenges families face, and we're here to guide you towards fair and sustainable solutions.
Don't navigate this alone.
Take control of your future with DLEGAL.
Unrepresented litigants are more likely to complicate things and take the matter to trial! *
Existing and Proposed Decision Making in Children’s Matters
Figure 1: Current decision-making pathway.
Figure 2: Recommended decision-making framework
Source: Family Law for the Future — An Inquiry into the Family Law System - The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) Final Report 5 March 2019.
Re: Initial letter - Property & Children
We enclose two prescribed brochures:
- ‘Marriages, Families and Separation’ which provides general information about separation, divorce and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia; and
- ‘Before you File: Pre-action Procedures for Parenting Cases’ which sets out the pre-action procedures for people considering applying to the court for a parenting order. [already provided in previous email]
We confirm that unless an exemption applies, the Family Law Act 1975 and the Family Law Rules 2021 require that you attempt to resolve your parenting disputes using family dispute resolution services. If these attempts are unsuccessful, we must exchange written correspondence with your spouse or their lawyers to identify what issues remain in dispute clearly. If the matter is still unresolved, we can discuss the possibility of filing an application in court.
We need to discuss your terms and confirm your instructions to seek an agreement on those terms with the othersider.
Once we have sought that agreement, we will let you know when we receive a response from your spouse. If there is no response, then we will need to discuss the next step to be taken.
We also enclose for your information three additional brochures published by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia:
Attachments
- Compulsory Family Dispute Resolution – Court Procedures and Requirements;
- The impact of family violence on children
- ‘Parental conflict and its effect on children’; and
- Information sheets and brochures
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- Before you file pre-action procedure for financial cases
- Before you file pre-action procedure for parenting cases
- Duty of disclosure
- Superannuation information kit
- Genuine steps certificate
- Marriage, families and separation
- Family violence information sheet
- The impact of family violence on children
- Parental conflict and its effect on children
- Compulsory pre-filing family dispute resolution - court procedures and requirements
- Enclosure - Parts 6.1 and 6.2 of the Family Law Rules 2021
- Enclosure Enclosure - Schedule 1 - Pre-action procedures - Parenting proceedings- Schedule 1 - Pre-action procedures - Parenting proceedings
Settlement options in Children's matters
You can agree without any court action. You do this through either:
01. Consent orders
Consent orders turn your parenting agreement into official, court-approved rules. Both parents agree on living arrangements, visits, holidays, and more. It's faster, cheaper, and keeps things peaceful – all for your child's best interests.
02. Binding Financial Agreements - BFA
The court is not involved.
Parties may have to start from scratch, or the court may set it aside on various grounds. As such, this is strongly discouraged. Recent court challenges have adequately highlighted issues with BFAs.
It could also challenge after many years. It is strongly recommended that consent orders appropriately document every settlement.
Once you have confirmed your acceptance of our letter of engagement [which will be sent separately], we will communicate your proposal to the other side and let you know when we receive a response. If there is no response, we will discuss the next step.
Please let us know if you have any questions or if your instructions change.