The purpose of this blog post is to explain your legal rights if your partner is preventing you from seeing your children.
In family law it is in fact very common to see one parent unlawfully withholding access to children from another.
It Is in the Best Interests of Your Child to Maintain a Relationship with You
One of the most important parts of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) is Section 60CC(2)(C) because this section states that when a court is trying to determine what is in a child’s best interest it must consider:
“The benefit to the child of having a meaningful relationship with both of the child’s parents.”
If you’ve been denied access to your child, then it is likely your ex-partner is not acting in the kid’s best interests.
Call 13 14 LAW or fill out a webform to speak to one of our Townsville Family Lawyers now.
What You Can Do if You’re Denied Access to Your Child
If your ex-partner is preventing you from seeing your child, one of the most legally potent strategies available is to go to the Family Court and apply for a recovery order.
In many circumstances the courts will hear your application on an urgent basis – because there is a risk of psychological harm to your child as a result of being cut-off from contact with you.
This means the matter could be heard and resolved within weeks.
In cases where your ex-partner refuses to hand over the child the Australian Federal Police or other local authorities assist in getting them back.
Applications for recovery orders are more likely to succeed if they are filed shortly after you are first denied access to your child.
If you have not seen your child for some time you still have legal options and these are discussed below.
Call 13 14 LAW or fill out a webform to talk to our lawyers about a child recovery order now.
The Best Step if you Haven’t Seen Your Child for a Long Time
In many cases parents separate without putting any binding legal agreements in place.
And it is often in circumstances like these where we find a person has been denied access to their child for quite a long period of time.
If this is your case it is open to you to get lawyers to act on your behalf to negotiate parenting orders which will mean you see you child.
If your ex-partner refuses to negotiate then we can go directly to the Family Court on your behalf.
To get one of our Townsville Family Lawyers working on your parenting orders call 13 14 LAW or fill out a webform.
A Message from Our Key Family Lawyer Robert Ballais
Helping parents regain access to their children is one of the most meaningful things I do as a family lawyer.
Having acted in a number of urgent recovery applications I can honestly say there are few better moments than when a parent calls you to say thank you – as they’re holding their child for the first time in months.
I personally believe that in the vast majority of cases it is a good thing for children to see both their parents on a regular basis and that’s reflected in the law.
If you are missing your child because your partner is withholding access, please, get in touch for a free case appraisal by calling 13 14 LAW, or filling out a webform.