NSW Family Court - Final Orders Disagreement with Ex?

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needhelp

Active Member
6 September 2014
13
1
34
Hello All,

I am asking for help on my time with my children which is in question at the moment.

Currently I have final orders from family court which allow me to have my children every third weekend, however this year my weekend fell on Mothers day 14/05/17 which the orders cover and my "usual" weekend was brought forward a week.

My question is should my next weekend be 3 weeks from the brought forward weekend (05/05/17) or if my next weekend should be 3 weeks from mothers day weekend (12/05/17) what my "usual" weekend would have been?

This is a word for word copy of the orders:

4. That the children live with their father for the following periods
4.1 Every third weekend from 6:00pm Friday until 6:00pm Sunday provided though that in the event
the preceding Friday or subsequent Monday is a public holiday then the father's time shall be
extended to commence at 6:00pm on the Thursday and/or conclude at 6:00pm on the Monday;

6.2 In the event that Mothers day or the Mothers birthday falls during a time when the children would
otherwise be with their father pursuant to these orders, then the fathers time with the children
pursuant to 4.1 shall move to the weekend beforehand, such variation to not otherwise affect the
timing of the weekends that the children are with the father pursuant to order 4.1;

So in summary
I should have normally had the kids on the weekend of the 12/05/17. My weekend was brought forward to the weekend of the 05/05/17 and now there is a question as to whether I should have the kids 3 weeks from the 05/05/17
or 3 weeks from 12/05/17.
 

Lennon

Well-Known Member
11 September 2014
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36
719
I agree with SamanthaJay, "such variation to not otherwise affect the timing of the weekends" to me means that it would be 3 weeks from the usual weekend.
 

Blessing

Well-Known Member
20 April 2017
70
8
224
Sydney NSW
3 weeks from your usual weekend
 

Robot12

Active Member
23 May 2017
13
0
36
I would suggest it means 3 weeks from your 'usual' weekend which would be the mothers day weekend... unfortunately that then means its 4 long weeks between visits.
 

needhelp

Active Member
6 September 2014
13
1
34
What I am stuck on is the last point of 6.2...
such variation to not otherwise affect the
timing of the weekends that the children are with the father pursuant to order 4.1

4.1 Every third weekend...

If 6.2 didn't refer back to 4.1 like it does at the end I would agree but the words

Pursuant to order 4.1 gets me
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
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2,894
swings and round abouts... The swing you had the kids for two weekends in one fortnight prior to mothers day - the round about, you miss seeing them and effectively have to wait a month for the next visit

So Maybe the 3 other posters who read your orders and you disagree with are wrong (don't think so) BUT here is some advice - it doesn't matter who is right... What matters is what the ex says... (I hate this bit)... See if she says it is X then it is X... WHY? well if she doesn't hand over the kids because she has read it differently to you, well what are you gonna do about it? go back to court? and risk being told you are the one who got it wrong? Go back to court - what say magistrate agrees - look it wont even get back to court anyways because it is a relatively insignificant matter... It isn't like she isn't letting you see the kids at all.

Pick your battles - this one aint worth having because 1 - I think you're wrong. 2 - you cant win anyways...
 
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AllForHer

Well-Known Member
23 July 2014
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1. The orders don't seem ambiguous to me - your every-third-weekend schedule doesn't get moved forward a week because of Mother's Day.
2. Sammy01 is right. Mum's gets to call the shots on this one (though you'd have trouble filling contraventions for what seems a pretty clear rule on how Mother's Day works into the rest of the schedule).
 

Rod

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
27 May 2014
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www.hutchinsonlegal.com.au
Seems straightforward to me.

All that happens is one weekend (mother's day) is moved forward. The other weekends do not change.