Varying Final Parenting Orders

Varying Final Parenting Orders – What Do You Need For A Successful Application?

Often a client will seek advice on how to change the existing parenting orders that have been sealed in Court. For whatever reason, the parent is no longer happy with the Orders made either by the Court or made by consent.

To vary existing final parenting orders, the applicant is required to show there has been a significant change in circumstances since the making of final parenting orders. Enough to warrant a Court revisiting those orders. This is known as satisfying the rule in Rice v Asplund (1979).

What constitutes a significant change in circumstances?

1. Relocation – one parent wishes to relocate interstate or overseas.
2. Substance abuse – one parent is abusing illicit drugs or alcohol.
3. Mental health – one parent has identifiable mental health issues that will impact the children negatively.
4. Family violence – a parent is abusing a child/children.
5. A substantial period of time has elapsed since the making of the original orders ie. the children were preschool age and now in mid primary school with different arrangements required for schooling decisions, sport, costs and they now should spend more equal time with each parent, etc.
6. Contravention of orders – one parent is continuously and deliberately contravening the orders.
7. A change in one parent’s living circumstances e.g. new domestic relationship or marriage.
8. A change in the health of one of the parents or a child/children of the relationship.
9. The existing orders no longer reflect the current care arrangement.

To be successful, the applicant must prove that:

1. There has been a significant change in circumstances; AND
2. That the circumstance relied upon was not known at the time the existing orders were made.

What does this mean for you?

For example if the applicant seeks to vary the existing orders by alleging that the other parent is abusing drugs and which drug use is putting the child in an unacceptable risk of harm, then they must prove that this alleged drug use is a material change that was not known to them at the time the existing orders were made and that it is in the best interests of the child/children to reopen the matter to make changes to the current care arrangements to ensure that any potential risk arising in connection with that parents drug use is mitigated.

Remember not every case will meet the threshold required and that there are alternate avenues to litigation which may be more suitable to you such as mediation.

If you are unsure whether your circumstances meet the threshold, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our experienced family law solicitors today for a chat on 1300 913 284.