Parenting Arrangements and Children’s Matters
The law changed in May 2024. If your understanding of parenting matters was formed before then — including the idea of a presumption of equal shared care — it is out of date.
Parenting arrangements under the Family Law Act are decided by what is in the best interests of the child. Amendments that commenced on 6 May 2024 removed the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility and replaced the previous list of best interests factors with a shorter set, with an additional consideration for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. There has never been a rule that children spend equal time with each parent.
What changed on 6 May 2024
The Family Law Amendment Act 2023 made the most significant change to parenting law in over fifteen years, and it commenced on 6 May 2024. The presumption of equal shared parental responsibility was removed, along with the requirement that flowed from it for a court to consider equal time or substantial and significant time.
This is widely misunderstood. There was never a rule that children must spend equal time with each parent — but the old structure did require the court to consider it, and that requirement shaped negotiations, sometimes as a starting assumption. That structure no longer exists. The question is now simply what arrangement is in the best interests of the child.
The long list of best interests factors was also replaced with a shorter set, directed at safety, the child’s views, the child’s developmental, psychological, emotional and cultural needs, the capacity of each carer, the benefit of a relationship with both parents where it is safe, and anything else relevant. Safety and the effect of family violence sit at the front of that list rather than among it.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children there is an additional consideration directed at the right to enjoy their culture and to maintain a connection with family, community, culture, country and language.
You usually have to attempt mediation first
Before applying to a court for parenting orders you generally must attempt family dispute resolution and obtain a certificate from an accredited practitioner. There are exceptions — urgency, family violence, child abuse, or where one party simply cannot participate — but the requirement is real, and applications are regularly returned because the certificate is missing.
This is not merely an administrative hurdle. Most parenting matters resolve without a final hearing, and an agreement the parents reached themselves is generally more durable than an order imposed on them. It also costs a fraction of a contested proceeding.
An agreement can be recorded as a parenting plan, which is written and signed but not enforceable as an order, or filed as consent orders, which are made by the court and are enforceable. The difference matters and is covered on our consent orders page.
Parental responsibility and time are different questions
Parental responsibility concerns making long-term decisions for a child — schooling, significant medical treatment, religion, name, and where they live. Time concerns who the child is with, and when. These are decided separately, and an arrangement in which a child lives primarily with one parent while both retain a role in major decisions is common.
Since the 2024 amendments there is no presumption about how parental responsibility is allocated. Where a court makes an order for joint decision-making it is expected that the parents will consult on major long-term issues and make a genuine effort to reach agreement, which is workable for some separated parents and not for others. The order should reflect which of those situations you are actually in.
Where there has been family violence
Safety is the first consideration. Where there are allegations of family violence or child abuse, the court’s task is to protect the child from harm, and that takes priority over the benefit of a relationship with both parents. Arrangements can be structured around it — supervised time, changeover at a neutral or supervised location, no direct communication between the parents, or no time at all in the clearest cases.
A protection order under Queensland law and a parenting order under the Family Law Act are made by different courts under different tests and can interact awkwardly. A Queensland court making a protection order has power to consider the effect on existing family law orders. If both are on foot, they need to be handled together — see our domestic and family violence page.