Conveyancing Brisbane

A parenting plan is under Division 4 of the Family Law Act. It is basically an informal agreement written up between the mother and father and must:
1. Be in writing
2. Made between the parents of the child
3. Signed by both parties
4. Is dated
5. deals with matters such as who the child/ren is to live with and who the child will spend time with and at what times (eg. every weekend; alternate weekends; school holidays periods).

It is usually not filed with the court (hence being informal) and is kept on your soliciotrs file and each parent is given a copy. It can be filed (or registered) if need be – but if you are going to register it, you may as well do consent orders as these are formal court orders in exactly the same format as a parenting plan except it is binding on the parties. This means that if for example, the father fails to return the children after he spends time with them, you can breach him. With a parenting plan, this can’t be done.

If a parenting plan is in place and one parent ignores its contents, all you can do is then apply for consent orders and have it all formalised. Then its legally binding and you’ve got avenues for redress if one party breaches it.

You and the Father can draw up your own parenting plan. But usually its wise to pay a solicitor to do it.

I only do parenting plans where both Mother and father are very amicable and they still get along even though they are separated and there is a 99% chance both parties will stick to the Plan.

If there is a chance the other party is airy fairy and changes their mind all the time and is likely to ignore the Plan, get consent orders.

Hope this helps.