Until very recently, the Family Law Act contained a provision that if a court that had jurisdiction under the Act made an order for equal shared parental responsibility, the first parenting arrangement that the court had to consider was an equal shared care arrangement.
That provision ceased to be the law on 6 May, 2024. The Family Law Act no longer contains any presumptions in favour of one particular form of parenting arrangement over another. That doesn’t mean that it is no longer possible for the court to order equal shared care at the end of a case about parenting arrangements.
The big issues that the court will want to know about in any case where one of the parents is seeking equal shared care, or even close to equal shared care, is the quality of communication between the parents and more generally, the quality of their co-parenting relationships.
The court takes the general view that for an equal shared care or equal time arrangement to work for the best interests of the children, the parents have to have a high level of communication between them and a healthy co-parenting relationship. That is because in an equal time co-parenting relationship, the parents will need to be able to share a lot of information about matters relevant to their children, such as homework due or other school events, extra-curricular activities for the children and more general information about how the children are faring and their general needs, likes and dislikes.
Some judges have expressed the view that if the parents can’t communicate and/or co-parent well enough to avoid having a final hearing, then they simply don’t have a good enough relationship for an equal time parenting arrangement to be beneficial for the children.
We take the view that the best place to discuss such an arrangement is in mediation or family therapy, where the parents will have the assistance of an experienced family law mediator or family therapist to work through what is involved in equal shared care and assist the parties to navigate their way to a healthy co-parenting arrangement.
Written by
Stephen Rugendyke
Special Counsel
If you are separated and working through parenting arrangements with your former partner, it is important to speak to a family lawyer first. We have experienced solicitors in Newcastle and the Central Coast area that can help you through your family law matter.
We offer a fixed fee initial consultation from $330. Simply Contact one of our friendly staff members to make an appointment.
