- Home
- Family Law
- Child Custody & Parenting
Child Custody Lawyers for Separated Parents
Advice for separated parents in Melbourne and Dandenong on the arrangements for their children: reaching agreement after separation, recording it in a parenting plan or consent orders, changing it as the children grow, and going to court when agreement is not possible. We also act in the harder matters: a proposed move, a parent or a child overseas, entrenched conflict, or a separation that also involves a family business. Australian law no longer speaks of custody. We explain what it does say, and act for you under it.
- The legal termParenting orders, not custody
- Current lawReforms in force since 6 May 2024
- Our officesMelbourne CBD and Dandenong
Parenting arrangements that have to hold up
Every separation with children raises the same questions: where the children will live, how they will spend time with each parent, and who makes the major decisions. We help you settle them, whether that means agreeing arrangements soon after separation, recording them in a parenting plan or consent orders, revisiting them as the children grow, or asking the court to decide when agreement is not possible. Some matters carry more weight: one parent wants to move, the children's lives span two countries, the conflict has become entrenched, or the family's finances are tied up in a business or trust that also has to be divided. We act in those as well.
We act for parents under Part VII of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). The aim is arrangements that serve your children well, that a court would make or approve, and that will still work years from now. We reach them by agreement wherever that is possible, and we run the case where it is not.
Where the children will live, the time they spend with each parent, and how major decisions are made.
Recording what you agree, in a signed parenting plan or as consent orders the court makes without a contested hearing.
Revisiting a plan or orders as the children grow and family circumstances change.
Acting for you in negotiations and through family dispute resolution, generally required before applying for parenting orders.
Family dispute resolutionParenting orders sought in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia when agreement is not possible.
A move that would make it significantly harder for the children to spend time with a parent.
Overseas travel, a parent living abroad, and children taken to or kept in another country.
Matters decided on family reports, a children's lawyer and evidence from other professionals.
What the law says instead of custody
The Family Law Reform Act 1995 took the words custody and access out of Australian family law, with effect from June 1996. The Family Law Act itself records that a parent is no longer expressly stated to have custody of a child, and that a court can no longer make an order expressed as granting custody of, or access to, a child (s 111B(2)). People still search for custody, which is why this page uses the word. The orders a court makes, and the agreements parents sign, are framed in different terms, and each one is decided on its own.
What most people mean by custody. A parenting order can say who a child is to live with, and that can be one person or more than one (s 64B(2)(a)).
What used to be called access or visitation: the time a child spends with a parent or another person (s 64B(2)(b)). Communication, including by phone and electronic means, is dealt with separately (s 64B(2)(e) and (4)).
All the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority that parents have by law in relation to children (s 61B). Each parent has it, whatever happens to their relationship, unless a court order says otherwise (s 61C).
The big decisions: education, religious and cultural upbringing, health, the child's name, and changes to living arrangements that make it significantly harder for the child to spend time with a parent (s 4(1)).
Orders can give joint or sole decision-making on all major long-term issues or only some of them (s 61D(3)). Joint decision-making means each person must consult the other and make a genuine effort to reach a joint decision (s 61DAA). It does not mean equal time, and whoever the children are with at the time does not need to consult on day-to-day decisions, unless the orders say otherwise (s 61DAB).
How the court decides, after the May 2024 changes
In deciding whether to make a particular parenting order, the court must treat the best interests of the child as the paramount consideration (s 60CA). The Family Law Amendment Act 2023 (Cth), in force from 6 May 2024, rewrote how those interests are assessed. A good deal of what is still written about custody online describes the law as it stood before then.
The matters the court must now consider (s 60CC(2))
- What arrangements would promote the safety of the child, and of each person who has care of the child
- Any views expressed by the child
- The child's developmental, psychological, emotional and cultural needs
- The capacity of each person who has, or is proposed to have, parental responsibility to provide for those needs
- The benefit to the child of a relationship with their parents and other people significant to them, where it is safe
- Anything else relevant to the particular circumstances of the child
For an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child, the court must also consider the child's right to enjoy their culture, and the likely impact of any proposed order on that right (s 60CC(3)).
What changed on 6 May 2024
The presumption is gone
The presumption that parents should have equal shared parental responsibility was repealed. Decision-making is now allocated on the evidence about the particular child: jointly or solely, and for all major long-term issues or only some of them.
No equal-time starting point
The court is no longer required to consider equal time, or substantial and significant time, as a step in its reasoning. Time arrangements are decided on the child's best interests alone. The Act sets no default division of time.
Safety comes first
Two primary considerations and a long list of additional ones were replaced by the six considerations above, led by safety. The child's views must still be considered, but nobody can require a child to express them (s 60CE).
Two changes that matter once a matter is contested
A court must not reconsider final parenting orders unless it has considered whether there has been a significant change of circumstances since they were made, and is satisfied that reconsidering them is in the child's best interests. All the parties can agree to a reconsideration. Final orders are meant to last, so the first set needs to be right.
Where an independent children's lawyer is appointed, they must now meet the child and give the child an opportunity to express views, unless the child is under 5, does not want to, or exceptional circumstances apply. The lawyer forms an independent view of the child's best interests and is not the child's legal representative.
A clear read on where your parenting matter stands
Initial consultations are confidential. We will tell you plainly how a court is likely to see your circumstances, what evidence will matter, and what to do first.
Relocation, international and high-conflict matters
These are the parenting disputes where a wrong first step is hardest to undo. Each turns on the same best-interests test, applied to facts that are rarely simple.
Relocation
A change to living arrangements that would make it significantly harder for the children to spend time with a parent is a major long-term issue under the Act (s 4(1)). Where orders provide for joint decision-making, that means consultation and a genuine effort to agree before anything changes. If the parents cannot agree, the court decides on the child's best interests. Advice belongs before the move, not after it.
International matters
Once a parenting order is in force, or proceedings for one are pending, taking a child out of Australia without the written consent the Act requires, or a court order, is an offence under the Family Law Act (ss 65Y and 65Z). Where a child has been taken to or kept in another country, Australia gives effect to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction through regulations made under s 111B. Which country's courts can act often turns on where the child is habitually resident (s 111CD).
High-conflict disputes
When parents cannot agree on the facts, the evidence decides. The court can direct a family consultant to report, and the consultant must generally find out the child's views and include them (s 62G). The court can also appoint an independent children's lawyer (s 68L). We prepare for that evidence from the start, and keep the case on the children rather than the conflict between the adults.
When parenting and property are decided side by side
Parenting and property are separate questions under the Act, decided under different tests, and they can be resolved at different times. In a separation with a substantial pool, a business or a trust, they still affect each other, and the strategy for one has to account for the other.
Parenting is a contribution
In a property settlement the court takes into account each party's contribution to the welfare of the family, including as a homemaker or parent (s 79(4)(c) for married couples, s 90SM(4)(c) for de facto couples). Years spent caring for the children sit in the same list as financial contributions.
Who the children live with
The court also considers the extent to which either party cares for a child under 18, including the need to provide appropriate housing for that child, and the need to protect a party who wishes to continue their role as a parent (s 79(5)(f) and (p), and s 90SM(5)(f) and (p)). Where the children will live can shape what happens to the family home.
How property settlement works nowWhen the business is shared
Where both parents work in, own or draw from the same family business or trust, the separation ends a working relationship as well as a personal one. Parenting arrangements have to fit around who keeps the business, who runs it day to day, and what that means for time with the children. We practise in commercial and family law, so we advise on both at once.
Family law for business ownersFor larger and structured pools, see high-value property settlements. To agree the financial arrangements in advance, or to record them after separation, see binding financial agreements.
Considered advice at every stage of a parenting matter
Understand the children and the whole position
We start with the children: their ages, routines, needs and relationships, and what has already been tried. Then the rest of the picture: the property, any family business, the timing, and the outcome you are working towards. We also talk through costs, and how the matter might be funded, from the start.
Build the evidence and the strategy
Parenting cases are decided on evidence about the particular child. We identify what the court will need to see, plan early for family reports and other professional evidence, and deal with family dispute resolution, which is generally required before parenting orders are applied for (s 60I).
Agree where possible, run it where necessary
Many parenting matters resolve by agreement, recorded as consent orders or a parenting plan. Where agreement is not possible, we run the case with measured, well prepared advocacy, focused on the children's arrangements rather than the conflict.
Trusted on the matters that mattered most
After speaking to many law firms, I felt that getting legal help was not for me. But my view completely changed after speaking with Special Counsel Peter Wood. He was knowledgeable, generous, kind, and genuinely caring.
Highly professional, compassionate staff with a high level of knowledge and competence. Reliable, reassuring and there when you need them. Highly recommend.
Questions parents ask about custody and parenting orders
Last reviewed October 2026. Statutory references are current to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) Compilation No. 101 (compilation date 10 June 2025), checked 8 October 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Parenting arrangements built to last.
Whether you are agreeing arrangements for the first time, changing them as the children grow, or facing a move, an international element or a dispute that needs a court, arrange a confidential consultation and we will give you a clear read on where you stand.
Meet us in the city or the south-east: Melbourne family lawyers or Dandenong family lawyers.
See also: Family law, Property settlement, Divorce and separation, Family dispute resolution.
Enquire online
Tell us what is happening.
A few details are enough to start. Keep the full story for the conversation.
- You send the formYour contact details and the area of law are all we need at this stage.
- We review your enquiryOur team reads it and works out who is best placed to help.
- We contact youWe arrange a confidential consultation at a time that suits you.
Your enquiry is confidential. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.