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Family Law calendar    Sep 25, 2017

Family Law: Parenting orders – Part 2: What if the other parent doesn’t comply?

With a parenting order, if a contravention has been established, the severity of the outcome depends on the circumstances of the situation.

This post will explain the Court’s available decisions if a parenting order contravention application has been made. See here for our post on Parenting Orders – Part 1: What if the other parent doesn’t comply?

In our previous post, we detailed the four decisions available to the Court if a contravention application has been made. They can be simply categorised as either the alleged contravention has not been established or the contravention has been established. If a contravention has been established, the severity of the outcome depends on the circumstances of the situation.

It all then hinges on whether the person had a reasonable excuse for not complying with the parenting order. Because the legislation does not provide an complete list on what constitutes a reasonable excuse, the Court has some flexibility in deciding these types of matters.

A reasonable excuse can include the person’s lack of understanding of the parenting order or their obligations under it, so long as the Court is satisfied that the rest of the circumstances point to this conclusion. Another reasonable excuse is if the person believed on reasonable grounds that their actions in contravening the order were ‘necessary to protect the health and safety of a person’, including themselves or the child(ren).

If the Court finds that the person failed to comply with the parenting order without a reasonable excuse, it may use its discretion to impose a penalty on that person. Depending on the facts of the contravention, the Court may decide to vary the primary parenting order, compensate for time lost with a child as a result of the contravention, require the person to enter into a bond, order the person to pay legal costs of the party that brought the application, order the person to pay a fine or participate in community services or, in the most serious of situations, order the person to a sentence of imprisonment.

This is why it is very important to understand your obligations under a parenting order and make sure you comply with all of them. Our Family Law team is here to help if you are not sure of your obligations or would like to discuss parenting orders in more depth.

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If you have a family law matter, concerns about how to get a family law property settlement or questions about family law and separation in NSW and want to find out more please do not hesitate to contact us on 9688 6023 or email us at info@franklegal.com.au.

This article is provided to the reader for general information. It is not legal advice. It was written by Karla Elias and edited by Andrea Spencer.

 

More from the blog:

Enforcement of Parenting Orders

Parenting - Maintaining the Status Quo

 

family law, family law and parenting, contravention, family law in NSW, court orders, enforcement, legal jargon, understanding family law

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