QLD Location order or commonwealth information order process?

[Thenarcisistsprey]

I’m asking This for a friend who needs some help in how to go about bringing an application with the Courts to have some form of contact re-established with his daughter.

Parties were in a relationship for approximately 10 years and have one child together. The mother stole a large sum of money from the father whilst he was in prison for a few months after being charged with something that he shouldn’t have been charged with (basically a case of wrong place wrong time and being to trusting of a former tenant to a property he owned and rented out, but won’t go into details as not really relevant). So basically the mother was meant to pay a large sum of money to his lawyers to help defend his charges and imprisonment. He had given the mother access to this money for his legal fees. She pretended she was doing this but instead just absconded with their daughter. Child was about 8 years old at the time and had always had a very close relationship with her father. He had cared for her whilst the mother worked as he was semi-retired and had several investment properties which he managed.

The mother then immediately placed a domestic violence order on him (even though he had never threatened her, and had no idea where she was even or how to contact her. Most likely a tactic just to thwart any attempted contact between their child and her father). He has had no contact with the mother or child since the mother just up and left. The DVO has since expired and has not been renewed.

The father misses his daughter immensely and would love nothing more than to have some form of contact with her. Obviously it’s going to be extremely hard to mediate the matter as he has no idea where she is. It’s been about 3-4 years now since he’s had any contact with either the child or mother. He’s hoping to be able to file for a location order but has no clue how to go about this. From what I’ve read, it seems to me that a location order is only for when there are current parenting orders. There’s no orders in place so am I correct in thinking it would be a commonwealth information order he needs to apply for? I’ve found it difficult to find information on this as it seems to tie in a lot with a recovery order? As it’s been quite sometime since he’s seen his daughter he’s not wanting a recovery order as they are no doubt settled wherever they are. He’s just wanting the courts to be provided with her address details for service or an application for contact with his daughter.

So my questions are as follows:
1. Am I correct in thinking it’s a commonwealth information order as opposed to a location order that he needs to apply for?
2. Can this be done without a recovery order or should he in fact be doing a recovery order as well (I would have thought the time frame for a recovery order would be well and truly past)?
3. What is the appropriate form to use when filing for an application of said order?
4. Will the parties still need to attempt mediation prior to him applying for any parenting orders? And if no, does he file for parenting orders simultaneously or would that have to wait until he’s been sucessful in locating the child?

Any advice or push in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. (Currently he cant afford a lawyer so is hoping to do it himself).

Thank you kindly.

 

[Rod]

A CIO is limited to Commonwealth agencies (eg Centrelink).

He may want information from the Department of Education which is a State based government department so a location order may be better.

 

[Thenarcisistsprey]

Thank you. Do you know if these Orders would be sought through an initiating application or is there a specific form for this? Presumably the affidavit - non filing of dispute resolution certificate form would accompany this and a standard affidavit setting out the history? Would he then file something later down the track with what parenting orders he’s after or would he include that in the initiating application? I’m having trouble trying to ascertain if they would be two seperate matters or could be combined into the one...

 

[Rod]

List all orders you/he wants in the initiating application. Of course the interim orders and mediation cannot start until the mother and child's location is known.

 

[Quinn & Scattini Lawyers]

Dear Member,

It is a great shame for a child to grow up without a parent, particularly in a situation where that parent dearly wants to see the child. The Family Law Act clearly states that it is in the best interests of children to have both of their parents involved in their lives in a meaningful way. This is a general proposition of law and can be rebutted if there are compelling reasons why it should not apply.

In terms of finding the child, you are correct in saying that a location order would be appropriate. You mention that there are currently no Court Orders in place. The only way you can obtain a location order is by filing an Initiating Application with the Court and seeking such an order on an interim basis. What this means in English is that you would have to file proceedings in which you ask the Court to make a location order. This is an Order under s67N of the Family Law Act which directs Centrelink (or a named Commonwealth Agency) to provide the address of the child to the Court. Once this has been achieved, and the mother served with the Father’s application, he could seek further Orders aimed at rebuilding his relationship with his child.

You are correct when you say that a recovery order is not appropriate in this situation and it is unlikely that an application for such an Order would be granted.

This is a difficult area and for such an application to succeed, the Father would need to comply strictly with the provisions of the Act. I would recommend that he gets legal assistance with such an Application as it may be the only way that he is able to achieve his goal of rebuilding his relationship with his child.

Shelley Johnson
Lawyer – Family & De Facto Team
Quinn & Scattini Lawyers
1800 652 969