NSW How did your family law court experience pan out

[Rosscoe]

GlassHalfFull - yeah absolutely, it is complicated and can get messy.

I would say you are the exception to the rule then, especially in high conflict situations. However, from age 2 if there are no major risk factors then judges do try and progress to overnights, often conservatively to start with I think. If primary carer raises any material developmental issues though it does become hard (perhaps rightly so?)

Glad to hear it is going well with you and kids are good. I do feel not denigrating is so NB as hard as it is sometimes as the kids then get put in a loyalty battle and then it can really affect them so all credit to you. Denigration must be so bloody confusing and possibly terrifying for a small kid...

 

[GlassHalfFull]

Rosscoe, it was mainly because I had a sympathetic family consultant that seemed to recognise that my ex was the source of the conflict, and I had (despite the restrictions of supervised access) maintained a very close and loving relationship with the children for 3 days a week since shortly after the birth of my youngest. Most people wouldn't be able to manage that (I was unemployed which helped with availability for the kids).

And yeah, I got pretty conservative overnights after being in the family law system for almost 2 years fighting for access. Just one night per fortnight initially. But it's something, and will only increase over time. It's just saddening when you know full well the children want and would easily handle more time with the father but the conservative family law system tends to assume 'worst case scenario' where the kids can't cope with anything significant, just because SOME kids don't cope. In a less adversarial system, it would make sense to give it a trial, see how the children go and adjust/re-evaluate regularly to ensure that their needs are being met, perhaps in conjunction with a psychologist well versed in family law conflicts. I guess another assumption judges make is that at least one of the parents aren't capable of making a decision in the best interests of the children. Which is probably true in many cases.

 

[bpr323]

Insist on the Family Report be prepared by a court's Family Consultant (as opposed to private child psychiatrist aka "joint or single expert).
Judges these days don't want to make any findings and offload this to private psychiatrists who will prepare a full report as per section 60CC