The Christmas school holidays can be exciting times for families. But if you haven’t been able to work out how the kids will spend time with each parent over Christmas, it can also be stressful.
How can I get time with my kids over the Christmas holidays?
Each year, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia deal with applications for parenting time. And each year, they set a deadline of the second Friday in November for an application to be filed for the Christmas school holidays. If you don’t file by then, you miss the deadline and may not be able to see your children for Christmas.
What do I need to do to apply to Court for Christmas holiday time?
The first thing you must do, before you can file in Court, is attend Family Dispute Resolution (Mediation) with a Registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner.
This is compulsory unless you meet a narrow range of exceptions
How can I organise mediation to work out Christmas holiday arrangements?
We offer family dispute resolution to help you work out these arrangements, and other parenting issues you need to work through, including:
– changeovers
– travel
– how time will be divided for Christmas day
– how the Christmas school holidays will be shared.
We use the Our Family in Two Homes resource package to help you focus on a range of issues that are important to you (including some you might not have thought of!)
We also offer child-inclusive mediation and child-focussed mediation which pairs a Mediator and a Child Consultant to offer insights into what arrangements are best for your children based on their age and development.
To make it easier for busy parents, we also offer mediation after hours and on Saturdays.