By Barbara Cartwright | CEO
On March 1st, 2021 new amendments to the Divorce Act 1985 came into force. The amendments shift the focus away from custody and access and instead put the best interests of the child first.
In determining the best interests of the child for the purposes of making a parenting order or a contact order with a child, the court now considers a list of factors set out in Section 16(3) including family violence and its impact.
Family violence is defined in Section 2 as:
“any conduct, whether or not the conduct constitutes a criminal offence, by a family member towards another family member, that is violent or threatening or that constitutes a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour or that causes that other family member to fear for their own safety or for that of another person — and in the case of a child, the direct or indirect exposure to such conduct.”
Specifically, the definition of family violence includes:
“threats to kill or harm an animal or damage property; and the killing or harming of an animal or the damaging of property”.
This change signals legislative recognition of the Violence Link. For example, in theory, where a spouse A has used threats to kill or harm a family pet as a means to control Spouse B, the court can take this into account in assessing the ability or willingness of Spouse A to take care of the child.
This is a welcome step in the right direction.
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