Working out your child custody arrangements? A parenting plan could be the answer!
Analaura Luna Virtually nothing about getting divorced is easy,
but making child custody arrangements can be particularly difficult for
everyone involved. While protecting your parental rights is
important, it can be all-too-easy to get caught up in fighting with your
ex and forget who your parenting arrangements are supposed to be about!
But what you have to remember is that at the end of the day, parenting
arrangements aren’t about either one of you – they’re about what’s best
for the kids.
When it comes to child custody, Australia’s family law system
encourages parents to work together to make arrangements, but sometimes
this just isn’t possible, and sometimes the court really does need to
become involved, especially if there are safety issues at stake. In most
other instances though, your whole family is probably going to be
better off if you can work together to create a parenting plan. Working
out how to put your parenting plan together can be complicated, but most
of the time it’s going to be much easier, cheaper and faster than
taking it to court … and as an added bonus you also get to have the
flexibility of being able to alter your arrangements to suit the
changing needs of your kids.
Of course, working things out together does mean that you’re going to
have to be able to negotiate with each other, and there are two things
to bear in mind when it comes to these negotiations: the kids don’t need
to be involved, and even if you need to get the help of a mediator to
work things out it’s still likely to be less expensive than going to
court. Plus, if you do decide to go to court one of the first things
that you’re going to have to do is attend a mediation session, so it’s
probably worth doing it now and seeing if you can come to a resolution
before you go to the expense of getting solicitors involved!
If you’re struggling with the issue of child custody, help isn’t usually too far away. The Family Law Courts website is a great resource that can help to point you in the right direction, and Relationships Australia also has a wealth of child custody information, helpful resources and support services that should be able to help.
If you find that you just can’t work things out on your own, and you can
prove that you have seen an accredited family dispute resolution
practitioner, the court will allow you to apply for a parenting order.
This will be a legally binding order, and the court can force both
parents to comply with the parenting arrangements it specifies. Although
there are going to be some circumstances where going to court is
necessary – particularly if you believe that your children’s safety is
at risk – having formal orders handed down to you by the court isn’t
always going to be your best option. Going to court is usually very
expensive, and the orders that are created are enforceable by law and
unable to be legally changed for two years unless there are extenuating
circumstances (and being unhappy with the arrangements doesn’t count).
Essentially, asking the court to sort out your parenting arrangements
means putting your life, and the lives of your children, into other
people’s hands, so if it’s at all possible, it’s almost always going to
be preferable to come to an agreement between yourselves.
Divorce is never easy, especially if there are children involved. But
there are things that you can do as a parent to make the whole process a
little easier on your kids. Working together with your ex might not
sound appealing, but when you consider the benefits (being able to avoid
a costly court battle or expensive solicitor intervention) and add in
the bonus of being able to show your kids that you’re willing to work
together because you both still love them, it really can be worth it. So
before you decide to get the court involved in your parenting
arrangements, stop and think about whether it’s worth giving it one more
go to work things out between yourselves – even if you need a little
extra help, it’s probably going to be far better for everybody than
heading to court will ever be.
If you liked this article
you might
also be interested in these other articles about divorce and separation:
Simple tips for surviving divorce
Divorce bombshell from shock jock Sandilands
Want more? Take a look at the rest of our articles on divorce and separation.
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Tags: divorce and separation, divorce in Australia, child custody, child custody information, parental rights
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Analaura Luna is an author, wealth adviser and founder of Your Family Your Money. Your Family Your Money’s goal is to simplify traditionally complex financial strategies, demystify financial jargon and debunk common financial myths, becoming every family’s first stop for financial advice, information and inspiration.
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