Get Your Free Account!
Family Law Express
Menu  ▼
  • NEWS
  • HOME
  • FAMILY LAW BRIEF
  • FREE RESOURCES
    • WILLS & TESTAMENTS
    • SAMPLE LEGAL DOCUMENTS
    • FACTSHEETS
    • RESOURCES
    • FAMILY LAW JOBS
  • FORUM
  • VIDEOS
  • COURT DECISIONS
  • CONTACT US
    • Contact Us
    • Seeking Entrepreneurial Legal Professionals
    • Advertisers
    • Content Syndication
    • RSS Feeds
 
 ADD TO MY FAVOURITES
child custody exchange
marriage, family and divorce -news
finding family law judgments
    Home  News   Family law reform outcome not as expected - 7,631 Total Views

Family law reform outcome not as expected


Published: September 17th, 2013 | Written By:  Australian National University  Follow @familylawxpress facebook subscribe   rss subscribe
Select to highlight: Tags | People | Institutions | Precedents |

family-law-researchSeparated families in Australia are living with less parental conflict, an outcome likely to have been brought about by increased relationship services, not parenting time arrangements.

Changes to Australia’s family law in 2006 encouraged a shift towards shared-time, or tag-team, parenting, where a child spends equal or near-equal time with each parent.

However, ANU Associate Professor Bruce Smyth says new data, compiled from a random sample of separated parents from across Australia, suggests differently.

“Surprisingly, we found that since the family law changes, the prevalence of shared-time parenting in Australia has plateaued at about 15 per cent,” he says.

Smyth says Government commitment in 2006 to fund and support mediation services is likely to have been the cause of this parental shift, especially among high-conflict families.

“The introduction of family relationship centres seems to have offered new opportunities for courts and community-based services to work constructively together for the good of the children of separation and divorce,” he says.

“A cultural shift for the better appears to have occurred, moving away from lawyers and the courts as a default starting position for many separated parents, and moving towards the use of community-based family relationship support services.”

The research found that equal time arrangements were ordered by judges in less than 10 per cent of Family Court cases in the past five years.

“Shared-time arrangements can work well for some families, but badly for others,” joint author Professor Bryan Rodgers says.

“Rigid arrangements between warring shared-time parents are likely to have a negative impact on children.

“So, the expansion of family support services, allowing families access to good information, is likely to have helped steer some entrenched high-conflict families away from shared-time arrangements.”

Smyth and Rodgers are researchers at the Australian Demographic & Social Research Institute. They were part of a team of four ANU researchers who compiled the study.

Associate Professor Smyth will deliver the findings of this Australian Research Council funded study today at the Australian Social Policy Conference in Sydney.

Stay Informed. It’s simple, free & convenient!

 

Related News

  • How the Federal Election will change Family Law in Australia
  • Wives' first move in divorce is costliest
  • Sweeping changes to family court announced
  • Family-law-reform'Safety must come first in family law': Legal groups reject merger plan
  • Government to review Family Court after pressure from Pauline Hanson
  • joint-committee-family-lawInvitation to make a submission - Inquiry into Australia's Family Law System
  • Will Family Law change under a Coalition Government?
  • What the Family Court shakeup really means for families
  • Calls For New Tribunal to deal with Family Violence
  • Australia's Family Law System in Crisis
  • Shared parenting law brings little change
  • High Court rejects shared parenting plan
  • One Nation Pushing for a Fairer Family Court System
  • No 50-50 split on time with parents
  • Australia Releases Family Law Reforms Evaluation
  • Tardy family lawyers could be forced to pay costs
Related Item  New school terms could impact child custody plans
Categories: Shared Parenting
Tags: equal time arrangements, Family Court cases, Family Relationship Centres, shared-time parenting


Article Sources

  • Source 1
  • Source 2

Visit Us On TwitterVisit Us On FacebookVisit Us On PinterestVisit Us On YoutubeVisit Us On LinkedinCheck Our FeedVisit Us On Instagram



Everything you need to know
about child custody, divorce and
family law in Australia.
Follow @familylawxpress

STAY INFORMED

Please wait...
You are successfully subscribed!
There was an error with subscription attempt.

Enter your email address:

join our family law forum

News Categories

open all | close all

Other News References

  •  Professionals in the News
  •  Institutions in the News
  •  Precedents in the News
  •  Keyword Listing

Most Common Keywords

divorce Family Court family law act domestic violence child-support child abduction family violence Centrelink superannuation Binding Financial Agreement Legal Aid High Court family law child custody euthanasia property settlement false allegations Australian Institute of Family Studies abortion IVF estate planning Child Support Agency inheritance pre-nups child abuse

Most Popular Articles Per Day

  • Nick and Kathryn Greiner... Former NSW premier Nick Greiner and his wife, Kathryn, have agreed to separate after more than four... 4 views
  • Notorious Australian Ince... In the decades before they were found living in a squalid bush camp and accused of inbreeding and ge... 3 views
  • Can your SMS Text Message... Can SMS Text Messages be used as Evidence in the Family Court? The short answer to this is YES, YES... 3 views
  • The adults ‘divorci... More adult children are “breaking up” with their folks, in what’s being described as an epidemic of... 3 views
  • Children Left Nothing Fig... A multi-millionaire property investor’s son, who was left nothing in his late father’s will, has bee... 2 views