The dissolution of a marriage can be a frustrating experience, whether you wanted relief from it or not. And when children are involved, the process becomes exponentially more stressful. In Australia, once you have opted to dissolve the union, you then will have to apply for a parenting order from the court, which is a critical part of family law.
However, part of the process of getting the parenting order is to attend family dispute resolution so that you and your former spouse can negotiate the terms that will be in the parenting order. Family dispute resolution is not a bad thing since its primary functions to ensure the best interests of the children are upheld. Nonetheless, there are some instances where you could be exempted from this process, as illuminated below.
You are in the process of filing a consent order
In some situations, you and your former spouse may have already come to a parenting settlement and are now in the process of filing for the consent order. Since you have already come to an amicable agreement, the court will not deem it mandatory to attend family dispute resolution, as you have already resolved the matter of what will happen to the children.
You and your children are being threatened
If your former spouse was abusive, whether to the children or you, then it will not be mandatory for you to attend family dispute resolution with your former spouse. In this scenario, there is a potential risk of violence happening during the proceedings. Therefore, it will be in your and your children's best interests not to be in the same room with the abusive individual.
Your spouse has defaulted on the parenting order
If you and your former spouse had already gone through family dispute resolution and got a parenting order only for your spouse not to adhere to it, then you are not obligated to go through the FDR process all over again. In this scenario, the initial parenting order will be reviewed, and your former partner will be held accountable for not fulfilling their responsibilities.
The divorce needs to be expedited
If the dissolution of your marriage is a matter of urgency, then the court could waive the need for family dispute resolution and go ahead to grant you with the parenting order. Typically, cases that involve violence can be expedited since you and your children are at threat of harm. However, it should be noted that proving to the court that your individual case should be accelerated could be a challenging process.
Share15 July 2019
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