No Contact Orders

If a Court is required to make an Order particularising the living arrangements for children subsequent to a relationship breakdown, the Order will generally ensure that children are regularly spending time with each parent. This may be on one of the following bases: 

• The children live with each parent on a week-about basis;

• The children live with one parent and spend time with the other parent from anywhere between 1 night and 6 nights each fortnight;

• The children spend time with each parent during the school holidays.

Can the court make no access parenting orders?

Sometimes the court makes an order for the children to not see one of the parents. However, a no-contact order will only be made in circumstances where the court believes that it is not in the best interests of the children to have contact with one of the parents at all.

The court may make an order for children not to see a parent when there are serious concerns about the care of the children when with that parent. These serious concerns may include:

• When children will be or have been exposed to significant family violence when in the care of a parent;
• When a parent has significant mental health issues and has not taken steps to address such issues;
• When a parent has an illegal substance addiction;
• When a parent has sexually abused a child of the relationship or engaged in conduct where the court believes that there will be an “unacceptable risk” for the children to see the parent.

What should I do if I think the children should not have contact with the other parent?

A parent concerned about whether their children should have contact with the other parent should do the following.

• Be clear about the reasons why the children should not see the other parent;
• Consider whether the other parent can do anything to address your concerns. This may include counselling, behaviour change programs or seeking medical assistance;
• Consider if the other parent can see the children whilst supervised by another person or through the use of supervised contact centre.

Before a parent decides that the children should not see the other parent and is considering asking a court to make such an order then they should obtain advice from a qualified family lawyer to discuss the specific circumstances of his/her family and the options available to minimise the impact on the children.

What are the alternatives to a no contact Order? 

Since the Court’s primary objective is to make parenting Orders in accordance with the children’s best interests, the Court is responsible for balancing the risk of harm to a child with the benefit to the child of maintaining a relationship with each of the child’s parents, which is a listed consideration under section 60CC of the act (‘the best interests test’). Therefore, if the Court finds it unsafe for a child to live with and/or spend time with one parent on an unsupervised basis, the Court can make the following Orders in substitution thereof:

1. For contact with the children to occur at a supervised contact facility where the visits will be overseen by private supervisors who are often experienced social workers who will remain impartial and maintain accurate records/notations in respect of the supervised contact visits. 
2. For the supervised visits to be overseen by a trusted third party, for example, a grandparent. 
3. For communication only to occur by way of telephone/video call or another form of indirect communication. 

If you need advice about any family law matter then Armstrong Legal have experienced family lawyers throughout Australia with Accredited Family Law Specialists in Melbourne, Victoria to provide you with the advice that you need.

If you require legal advice or representation in any legal matter, please contact Armstrong Legal.