QLD Family Law Court - Getting a Copy of Sealed Orders?

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prosurfer

Well-Known Member
15 December 2014
20
0
121
HI

I have finally finished in family law court and been awarded custody of my daughter. The court has issued unsealed court orders but I have not received a copy of the sealed orders. Do I need a copy of the sealed orders for Centrelink, family tax benefit, etc or will unsealed orders do?

How do I get a copy of the sealed orders? I have finished with my lawyer and don't want the expense of contacting them again to organise it.
 

AllForHer

Well-Known Member
23 July 2014
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As in, the Court has ordered that the child live with you? It's not relevant to your question, but I just had a quick browse through your previous posts from when proceedings were on foot, I think a lot of other forum users here would be very interested to hear your story (with privacy retained in accordance with s 121, of course).

A sealed copy of the orders shouldn't be too far behind the unsealed copy, but there is no reason you can't use the unsealed copy to get the ball rolling with adjustments to child support and family tax benefit. Whatever you lodge with Child Support will automatically be incorporated into a family tax benefit claim, so you may as well try and deal mostly with Child Support rather than the Department of Human Services, since Child Support has significantly shorter wait times. Once you request a new child support assessment that encompasses the new orders, they will contact the other parent to query whether they agree or disagree. If they disagree, Child Support will ask for evidence from both parties and then make a determination of its own.

The assessment process can take a little while, so it's very likely you'll have the sealed orders by the time they ask for evidence, but just in response to your other question about accessing the sealed orders, there's a few options:
  1. Log on to the Commonwealth Portal (comcourts.gov.au) and link your account to your family law matter. Comcourts offers support through online chat, so they'll be able to assist with this process. Once linked, you'll be able to access any files and orders made when they become available.
  2. Contact the Family Court registry to check progress and request a copy be sent to you when the sealed copy becomes available.
  3. Contact your lawyer and ask them to forward a copy to when it becomes available.
Hope this helps.
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
5,152
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2,894
Yup, strongly agree. Better off going to CSA. They are faster at processing stuff in my opinion... They will inform family tax benefit and the process will get done faster.
 

Migz

Well-Known Member
20 November 2016
325
43
719
Prosurfer when you say you got custody of your daughter, do you mean to say you now have become the primary carer? And what hours per week does the non primary carer now get? Great outcome by the way.
 

prosurfer

Well-Known Member
15 December 2014
20
0
121
Thank you everyone. Yes I have now become the primary carer with the other parent to have supervised visits every third weekend. AllForHer, I am happy to share my story but don't want to be in breach of S121, the Family Court of Australia published the decision on their website using pseudonyms, presumably I would not be in breach if I direct you to that as you do not know the real names of any parties?
 

AllForHer

Well-Known Member
23 July 2014
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684
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Correct, that would not be in breach. I'd be really interested to read the decision, personally.
 

AllForHer

Well-Known Member
23 July 2014
3,664
684
2,894
What an extraordinarily challenging time this must have been in your life, I can only commend you for your resilience and commitment. Truly, I would say you've a lot to teach others facing Family Court about keeping a level head in very tumultuous circumstances, but likewise, I imagine it is best to put it all behind you.

Congratulations on achieving this outcome. I hope everything goes smoothly for you and your child moving forward.
 

Lennon

Well-Known Member
11 September 2014
270
36
719
Oh yikes. You poor thing. Well done on making it through all that.
 

1234Mim

Member
15 June 2017
1
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1
What an extraordinarily challenging time this must have been in your life, I can only commend you for your resilience and commitment. Truly, I would say you've a lot to teach others facing Family Court about keeping a level head in very tumultuous circumstances, but likewise, I imagine it is best to put it all behind you.

Congratulations on achieving this outcome. I hope everything goes smoothly for you and your child moving forward.
Hi, been following your suggestions on many posts.