FLAST CASE BRIEF : MADDOX & NEMET [2019] FCCA 1078

When communication breaks down and you can no longer effectively co-parent what do you expect the Court will do to solve the impasse?
This case involved a #Parenting dispute and the Court had to consider whether parents who cannot communicate ought to have equal shared parental responsibility for their almost 15-year-old daughter? 
How much time the girl should spend with her father in circumstances where the parents neither like nor trust each other?
HELD : 
When I consider the evidence of the parties, which shows an inability to communicate in order to properly consult about major decisions to be made in relation to the Child’s welfare ...I find that it is not in the child’s best interests for her parents to have equal shared parental responsibility for her.

The mother shall have sole parental responsibility for the child and the child shall live with the mother.
When I consider all those issues, I find that it is in child’s best interests to spend substantial and significant time with her father[4], and I will therefore make orders that she spend time with him during school terms on each alternate weekend from the conclusion of school on Thursday to the commencement of school on Monday, or Tuesday if Monday is a non-school day.
If you are having trouble communicating with your ex in co-parenting matters why not consider FLAST's moderated communications account.

WHAT IS OUR MEDIATED COMMUNICATION MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT?

This new FLAST service is for those in relationship breakdowns with difficulty communicating.
Instead of arguments, fights and emotions running wild, why not try a mediated communication membership?
Through moderated and mediated communications, we will foster positive discussions in the best interests of the parties by promoting positive co-parenting communications and preventing emotionally charged conversations.

With mediated communication membership accounts, we provide a communication system where you can send messages to each other and before it arrives to the other party the message is reviewed by our nationally accredited mediators, if it is moderated, it is returned to sender with a reframed alternative which conveys the same message in a more neutral way with reduced risk of ambiguity. Positive, Clear Communication is fostered.
It is also ideal for parties who have already started a new relationship where there are some issues of trust in you and the ex. communicating, if helps foster that trust in new relationships as well if your new partner knows the communications are being moderated and a print out of the conversations is provided each month for your records.
Click here to find out more about how Family Moderated Co-parenting Communications could help you.