Advise on a parenting arrangement under the best-interests factors
Key facts
- Human involvement
- RedLawyer-led
- How AI is used
- From the arrangements the lawyer has already found, list the facts that go to each best-interests factor the lawyer identifies, including safety, any views of the child, and family violence. Do not write the advice and do not propose a time arrangement.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer advises on the parenting arrangement and gives the client the advice section 60D requires. The Attorney-General's factsheet says section 60CA still makes the child's best interests paramount, and section 60CC(2) now lists six non-hierarchical factors: safety of the child and of each person who has care of the child; any views expressed by the child; the child's developmental, psychological, emotional and cultural needs; the capacity of each person who has or is proposed to have parental responsibility to provide for those needs; the benefit of a relationship with the parents and other significant people, where it is safe; and anything else relevant to the child. Section 60CC(2A) requires regard to family violence orders and past family violence, abuse and neglect. Section 60CC(3) is an additional factor for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child's right to enjoy their culture. The presumption of equal shared parental responsibility in former section 61DA, and the mandatory equal-time pathway in former section 65DAA, have been repealed. Section 61CA encourages parents to consult on major long-term issues where it is safe and there is no order to the contrary. It is not enforceable. Section 61DAA requires consultation and a genuine effort to reach a joint decision where an order provides for joint decision-making. Section 63DA no longer requires an adviser to tell parents to consider equal time or substantial and significant time. The court will no longer make orders in the old equal-shared-parental-responsibility terms. The Federal Circuit and Family Court says the parenting framework applies from 6 May 2024 to new and existing proceedings, except where the final hearing had already commenced, and that section 61CA applies even if it had. Existing orders are not changed automatically. The lawyer checks the application provisions before advising on a matter that was part heard before that date.
- Written for / version
- US
Open a jurisdiction version of this task to see which instruments apply: US
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Supporting preparation only. From the arrangements the lawyer has already found, list the facts that go to each best-interests factor the lawyer identifies, including safety, any views of the child, and family violence. Do not write the advice and do not propose a time arrangement. The tool writes nothing into the document. Substantive advice, judgement and any restricted content remain with the responsible human. |
| Lawyer | Perform the substantive analysis and decisions. Independently check any permitted supporting work and approve the exact output for its intended use. |
Checklist
- Work through the six factors in section 60CC(2) and, where the child is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child, section 60CC(3). Do not revive primary and additional considerations.
- Do not advise that equal time must be considered because an equal-shared-parental-responsibility order is proposed. Those provisions have been repealed.
- Treat section 61CA as guidance that applies where it is safe. Do not describe it as an enforceable obligation.
- Where a final hearing had commenced before 6 May 2024, check the application provisions before applying the new factors. Apply section 61CA even in that case.
Sources
- Attorney-General's Department, Family Law Amendment Act 2023 factsheet for family law professionals · 2026-10-22
- Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, family law changes from 6 May 2024 · 2026-10-22
These are suggested working checks. Confirm the required checking with the responsible lawyer before work starts; the checking approach does not establish permission to use AI.