Shared parenting can be difficult at the best of times, when adding in the stress and uncertainty of the current COVID-19 situation, it is easy to feel completely overwhelmed. We have prepared a guide below for separated parents to alleviate the stress and uncertainty of parenting during the coronavirus pandemic.
The word “divorce” is often used interchangeably with “separation”. This is somewhat a misnomer as the words are not synonymous with one another. While the process of separation involves a wide range of both emotional and legal issues, the least of which will include making parenting arrangements for children and dividing your assets, divorce is its own separate and discrete process for ending the legal marriage.
Nothing about divorce is easy, but perhaps the hardest part is communicating the life-changing event to your kids. Naturally, the break-up of parents has the potential to adversely affect a child at any age, however, if handled correctly, there is no reason for the child-parent relationship to suffer in the way the relationship between you and your former partner has.
As the world around us continues to change, our Family Law system is making every endeavour to adapt to ensure that it continues to be accessible to those in need of judicial assistance during the coronavirus pandemic. Chief Justice Will Alstergren has implemented a number of changes to the operation of both the Federal Circuit Court and the Family Court of Australia, including most recently the implementation the COVID-19 list, established exclusively to deal with urgent parenting disputes related to the pandemic.
The Federal Circuit Court of Australia has improved the process for dealing with disputes that only involve property, where the value is less than $500,000.00. To that end, the Court has released its second Practice Direction of 2020, which sets out new guiding management principles for cases that meet the definition of a “Priority Property Pool under $500,000 Case” (PPP500).
In an ideal world, parenting orders and final court orders would be a fixed endpoint to what is often a long, gruelling process. Unfortunately, sometimes this is not always the case, with problems continuing to arise from parents not abiding by the final orders granted. So, what action can you take if your former partner is breaching these orders? The first thing to be aware of is that when someone breaches a court order, this is known as a contravention, and is an offence punishable by the court.
You don’t need to be married to be afforded property rights under the Family Law Act, which recognises the rights of de facto partners/relationships in the unfortunate event of a separation. There are, however, requirements to be classified as a ‘de facto partner’ or part of a ‘de facto relationship’.
Separations are challenging enough, let alone calling off an engagement. One of the difficult questions this raises is: who gets the engagement ring after a break up? As is commonly the case when it comes to the division of property in a separation, former partners do not always see eye-to-eye, and engagement rings are no exception. Inevitably, when common ground cannot be reached, the law will step in.
Many people consider their family pet to be an invaluable part of their family and so often view their pets in the same way that they view their children. For this reason, it may come as a surprise that pets are, in fact, treated very differently to children under the Family Law Act 1975.
Every relationship is different, and relationships end at different points in time: some may last decades, while others may only last a few years. The Courts employ a standard four-step process for every property division following the end of a relationship. However, this standard approach does not necessarily mean that a thirty year marriage will be treated the same way as a three year relationship, whether married or de facto.
The Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia have recently released their updated Family Violence Plan. The new plan builds on the 2014-16 plan to further address increasing issues surrounding family violence in Australia, particularly for those who are involved in family law litigation. Changes and refinements have been made concerning information on how Courts continue to decrease family violence, and the processes of dealing with the issue at hand.
In December 2017, the Australian Federal Parliament made the long overdue decision to pass a law legalising same sex marriage across Australia. Same sex couples are now able to legally get married, but what else are they entitled to?
