Can a binding financial agreement cover children and parenting arrangements?

No. Children’s matters must be resolved by a consent order or a parenting plan.

An application for consent orders is filed with the Family Court of Australia. These orders formalise the agreement parents reach regarding the long term care, welfare and living arrangements for their children. Consent orders, once made, are final and may be subject to a contravention application, should one parent refuse to comply with the terms of the order. Both parents are obliged to comply with the order once made.

In the alternative, parents may enter into a parenting plan to formalise arrangements in relation to children. A parenting plan is similar to consent orders and may deal with:

• the amount of time in which the parents would spend with the child;
• where the child may live;
• the allocation of parental responsibility;
• communication with the child;
• the process for resolving disputes about the living arrangements of the child in the future; and
• the process to be used for changing the plan, taking into account the changing needs and circumstances of the child.

Because the parenting plan is not a legally enforceable document that is filed with the Family Court, parenting plans cannot be subject to any application for contravention and are therefore not enforceable by the Court.

See Also: Parenting plans & orders