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MOTHER SEEKS NEW PARENTING AGREEMENT SINCE THEIR THREE YEAR-OLD CHILD IS “NOT COPING WELL” WITH PRESENT SHARED CARE ARRANGEMENT

Sealey & Allcorn [2020] FCCA 2567 (25 August 2020)  

This case is about a mother asserting that her 3 year-old child is not coping well with the present shared care arrangement  

Facts:  

This is an interim parenting agreement concerning X who is three years and 10 months old.  He is presently in, effectively, a shared care arrangement with his parents on a week about arrangement. The mother who is the applicant, asserts that the child is not coping well with the week about arrangement.  The father says, on the contrary, that the child appears to be coping quite well.  

Issue: Should the mother’s contention that “the child is not coping well” with the current parenting arrangements be considered by the court in making a new parenting arrangement?  

Law:  

  • S60 CC- How a court determines what is in a child’s best interest  

(3) Additional considerations are:  

(a) any views expressed by the child and any factors (such as the child’s maturity level or level of understanding) that the court thinks are relevant to the weight it should give to the child’s views  

Analysis:  

Having regard to the matters in section 60CC (3), the child is too young to express a view.  There is no suggestion that the child does not have an excellent relationship with his parents and, indeed, probably, the paternal family who seem to be closely involved in his care.  

However, the counsel of the respondent was instructed to propose that the child spend from Thursday 9 am to Sunday 4 pm on alternate weekends with the father on the proviso that the father was available to care for the child during that time.  By that it is meant that, essentially, the father is not in employment during that period, is not at work. It is not intended, of course, that he would be always present.  The court is aware that the paternal family play a part in the care of the child but what is really meant is that the father is not employed during those periods, or in paid employment. The mother, in substance, said that she saw no real objection to that proposal  

Conclusion: The court orders that the child spend time with the father from 9.00am each alternate Thursday until 4:00pm the following Sunday on the proviso the father is not engaged in paid employment at the time the child is spending time with him. 

 

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