Heres how it works;
1. Contact
Relationships Australia in your township or nearest town.
2.Tell them you would like to carry out
Mediation in the hope of working out a "
Parenting Plan" with your ex. Hand over all of their details as well.
3. Carry out mediation and make sure you are issued with a Certificate 60i. Even if mediation fails, get this certificate issued to you.
4. Even if you were or weren't successful in carrying out mediation...next step is Family Circuit Court to turn the parenting plan into court orders.
5. Go to the
federal circuit court website, download an "Initiating application (
family law ) " fill it in.
6. Prepare your
Affidavit, your Annexures, and your "Notice of Risk". I would advise you see a
family lawyer at this point for an hour or two just to get some help. Cost $200 to $600
7. Get it signed by a JP.
8. File it with the Family Circuit Court you can do this online as well it
will cost a few hundred dollars $300 to $500. But cheaper than a Barrister.
9. When the documents are stamped by the Family Circuit Court and you are given your court date. Then print them all out.
10. You have to "serve" them on your ex. You will have to use an outside firm to do this you cannot do it yourself. Approx $150
11. Wait for your court date.
Hope this helps and keeps the costs down. Expect all of the above to take approx 2 years.
Get ready for a long and drawn out process...and thousands of hours away from your kids, not by your own choice.
Cheers