Federal Magistrates Court case- make the right application

In the recent Federal Magistrates Court case of Fitrakis and Douretas, an order had been made for the children to spend the first half of the holidays with the father. When they didn’t, the father made an application for a recovery order.

By the time the matter got to court, the first half of the holidays had come and gone, but still the father had not seen the children. The court found that the recovery order application was the wrong type of application, and dismissed it, but helpfully noting that the appropriate type of application was a contravention application.

Comment: It is often very difficult in dealing with an intransigent parent who puts up every roadblock to ensure that time with a parent does not occur. Sometimes there is no immediate relief, and it is necessary to be patient and bring the contravention application (which in any case will be after the holidays).

Most parents try to avoid breaching orders, because they know it’s wrong and leads to consequences. However, sometimes they still do that, and to bring a recovery order is often, as this case demonstrates, the wrong application.