Going through a separation is a difficult time for any person. If you’ve had some personal battles during your relationship, you might have some added worries as to how that will be considered in your family law matter, particularly when it comes to your children living with or spending time with you.
Personal battles can range anywhere from mental health difficulties to drug addiction and family violence. If your matter proceeds to court, the court will make orders that are in the best interests of the children. It will most likely take a cautious approach, at least in the first instance – until it knows the full history and can assess what risks (if any) your personal battles have on the children.
Just because you have faced some battles during your relationship and perhaps even following separation, it does not necessarily mean that you cannot spend time with your children. The court places great importance on the benefit of the children having a relationship with both parents where it is safe to do so. If required, the court may impose some conditions to make sure the children are safe, such as supervision or restraints against certain behaviour when the children spend time with you. The court is often reluctant to impose supervision on a long-term basis, however you will need to show to the court that you are not a risk in order for the court to remove such a condition.
If you have battled with abuse of illicit substances or drinking alcohol to excess, the first thing you should do is seek appropriate help so you can manage those addictions. You should be aware that you may be required to submit to hair follicle or urinalysis testing to understand the levels of consumption and on an ongoing basis to demonstrate that you are taking steps to reduce your consumption.
If there is a family violence order in place, such as an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (“ADVO”), the court will be concerned about making orders that are not inconsistent with those terms in most cases. In a lot of cases however, an ADVO may contain a condition that you may come into contact with the protected persons (such as the other party or children) for the purpose of implementing parenting orders. It is important to remember that if this is a condition in your ADVO, you must not contact the protected person(s) at any other time as this may be a breach of your ADVO – even if they contact you first. It is important that you seek advice from your family lawyer about what you can and cannot do if there is an ADVO in place.
It is important that you are up front with your lawyer about your personal struggles. Our job is to provide you with advice about how best to run your case and navigate the family law system. We cannot advise you properly unless we have the full history. It is far better for you to be up front about your struggles than for them to be revealed by the other party in your parenting proceedings.
Written by
Ashlea Taylor
Senior Associate
In most instances, it is important to speak to a family lawyer first. We have experienced solicitors in Newcastle and the Central Coast area that can help you through your family law matter.
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