Hi all,
I have a question re parenting orders and access for a father. I apologize for the length of the post
I have 3 children under 10 with my ex-partner. When we were together, I was the primary carer of the kids as well as the working parent. I was the parent who was involved with the school, took the kids to sports and cared for them. The school would confirm this if needed. My ex hasn't worked for 10 years and is a very disinterested parent.
We split up almost two years ago and for about a year, she gave me access to the kids 3 evenings a week, one weekend day and an overnight stay every second weekend. I would have liked to have the kids stay with me more but as I start work at 5am, it wasn't possible and at the time, the one overnight a week is all my ex would allow. I stupidly didn't ask for consent orders as the arrangement was working well and my ex is extremely volatile and I thought that rocking the boat would cause problems.
I pay the required amount of child support a week and have never missed a payment. I also pay for excursions, school uniforms, buy the kids clothes and anything else they need. I am only mentioning this to note that she won't be able to say I haven't met my financial obligations
Fast forward a year and I am only able to see the children 2-3 afternoons a week and not allowed to have them stay with me.This has been the state of play since Jan. She flipped out over something small and I am only able to see them if she feels like letting me. The reason for her doing this is she found her Centrelink payments were reduced (by a tiny amount) when I had the kids stay over.
I offered mediation to resolve this and have consent orders drawn up. I attended all my appointments. Just before we were due to have our joint session, they rang me and said they were issuing me a certificate as they were unable to proceed any further as she was refusing to attend the joint session. Since then, I have asked her so many times via email to work with me to prepare consent orders. Since I have had no response, I decided that I need to take the next step in asking the family court to decide on orders.
After doing some research, I sent her a notice of claim by email and post advising her that I am planning to file for parenting orders, outlining what access I will be applying for (the same schedule as before) but telling her that I wanted to avoid court if possible and would like to work with her to come to an agreement. I gave a timeframe for her to reply. Since that letter, I have received a couple of abusive messages and phone calls but have not received any offer to negotiate and the 21-day timeframe is up.
My main question is, have I followed the right steps so far? If I receive no response, can I start my application? Do I need to notify her again that I am filing?
I really appreciate any help.
I have a question re parenting orders and access for a father. I apologize for the length of the post
I have 3 children under 10 with my ex-partner. When we were together, I was the primary carer of the kids as well as the working parent. I was the parent who was involved with the school, took the kids to sports and cared for them. The school would confirm this if needed. My ex hasn't worked for 10 years and is a very disinterested parent.
We split up almost two years ago and for about a year, she gave me access to the kids 3 evenings a week, one weekend day and an overnight stay every second weekend. I would have liked to have the kids stay with me more but as I start work at 5am, it wasn't possible and at the time, the one overnight a week is all my ex would allow. I stupidly didn't ask for consent orders as the arrangement was working well and my ex is extremely volatile and I thought that rocking the boat would cause problems.
I pay the required amount of child support a week and have never missed a payment. I also pay for excursions, school uniforms, buy the kids clothes and anything else they need. I am only mentioning this to note that she won't be able to say I haven't met my financial obligations
Fast forward a year and I am only able to see the children 2-3 afternoons a week and not allowed to have them stay with me.This has been the state of play since Jan. She flipped out over something small and I am only able to see them if she feels like letting me. The reason for her doing this is she found her Centrelink payments were reduced (by a tiny amount) when I had the kids stay over.
I offered mediation to resolve this and have consent orders drawn up. I attended all my appointments. Just before we were due to have our joint session, they rang me and said they were issuing me a certificate as they were unable to proceed any further as she was refusing to attend the joint session. Since then, I have asked her so many times via email to work with me to prepare consent orders. Since I have had no response, I decided that I need to take the next step in asking the family court to decide on orders.
After doing some research, I sent her a notice of claim by email and post advising her that I am planning to file for parenting orders, outlining what access I will be applying for (the same schedule as before) but telling her that I wanted to avoid court if possible and would like to work with her to come to an agreement. I gave a timeframe for her to reply. Since that letter, I have received a couple of abusive messages and phone calls but have not received any offer to negotiate and the 21-day timeframe is up.
My main question is, have I followed the right steps so far? If I receive no response, can I start my application? Do I need to notify her again that I am filing?
I really appreciate any help.