VIC Mother of Children Breaching Family Court Orders?
- Thread starter barmite
- Start date
Ok so you're wasting your time and money doing contraventions on phone calls. Forget it. I know I know, it sucks. But the world ain't fair. Pick your battles.
Next - play nice - but play hard. No legal advice here. Just a parent who has been in a similar situation. When you pick the kid up, ask him what he wants to do with the weekend. When you drop him off, spend the last 5 min talking about what was great about weekend with dad. It is re-enforcing in the kid's brain that dad is ok and dad is fun. Leave the kid to work out if mum is talking crazy. He will.
I'm guessing you have a primary school aged child? My kids eventually worked out that dad's house was fun and happy but mum's house was stressful. They worked it out for themselves...
Next - play nice - but play hard. No legal advice here. Just a parent who has been in a similar situation. When you pick the kid up, ask him what he wants to do with the weekend. When you drop him off, spend the last 5 min talking about what was great about weekend with dad. It is re-enforcing in the kid's brain that dad is ok and dad is fun. Leave the kid to work out if mum is talking crazy. He will.
I'm guessing you have a primary school aged child? My kids eventually worked out that dad's house was fun and happy but mum's house was stressful. They worked it out for themselves...
What happens if or when the mother withholds the child ? She hasn't yet, but if she does, how many times is she allowed to do it before you can apply for a contravention order?
Can a third party person be charged for helping the mother withhold children?
Can a third party person be charged for helping the mother withhold children?
How many times? As many as you want to tolerate. If the tolerance threshold is zero, then she can contravene once and you can take action.
There's two ways a contravention order can be 'excused' - the parent had a reasonable excuse for the contravention, or the parent had a genuine fear for the child's safety, but the contravention only lasted for a reasonable time.
Can a third party be 'charged'? No, for two reasons. First, family law matters are civil matters and contraventions are quasi-criminal, not criminal, so nobody gets 'charged' with contravening an order. They simply have a contravention order made against them. Second, contravention proceedings can only be brought against the parties to whom the parenting order applies. They don't bind any third parties.
There's two ways a contravention order can be 'excused' - the parent had a reasonable excuse for the contravention, or the parent had a genuine fear for the child's safety, but the contravention only lasted for a reasonable time.
Can a third party be 'charged'? No, for two reasons. First, family law matters are civil matters and contraventions are quasi-criminal, not criminal, so nobody gets 'charged' with contravening an order. They simply have a contravention order made against them. Second, contravention proceedings can only be brought against the parties to whom the parenting order applies. They don't bind any third parties.