Hello
everyone
When
a marriage ends and parents are making arrangements for children everyone knows
or thinks they know what "custody" is.
In
Australia we have not used the word "custody" for many years when
making orders or agreements about children.
These days we use "reside with" or "live with" but
the effect is the same. The parent with
whom a child lives is the parent with whom they spend most of their time.
Children's
orders usually have an order for "parental responsibility" and I am
often asked what this means.
Section
61B of the Family Law Act defines "parental responsibility" as all
the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law parents have in
relation to children. I usually explain
that "parental responsibility" means decisions about the big things
in a child's life such as education, health and religion.
The
parent with whom the child lives or spends time with has the right to make
decisions about what the child does during that time for example what they eat,
who they see, what they do etc etc.
Parental
responsibility is bigger than those day to day decisions. Both parents should be involved in deciding
where their child goes to school and if and when non-emergency medical
treatment is required.
Often
parents want "sole parental responsibility" that is they want an
order which means they get to make all the decisions about the child without
any input from the other parent. In most
cases this is not fair or in the child's best interests, and it is for this
reason that the Family Law Act has a presumption of equal shared parental responsibility,
a presumption that is only set aside if one party has engaged in family
violence, has abused the child or is completely absent from the life of the
child.
All
too often parents agree to an order for "sole parental
responsibility" because they do not know what it means or what they are
giving up. In my opinion it is important
that the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility is maintained and
that there is input from both parents in the major decisions affecting the
lives of their children.
As
always please feel free to comment on this or any other of my blogs. I
would also be happy to respond to any questions you may have on this topic.
If
you have any further queries please feel free to contact me directly at
Septimus Jones & Lee on (03) 9613 6555
