Visitation rights

At Morava Legal Partners, we help you negotiate and secure practical, sustainable contact arrangements that prioritize your child’s well-being and protect your relationship with them.

Our Areas of Expertise

1. Structuring Contact & Parenting Time

We draft clear, unambiguous schedules to prevent future misunderstandings and ensure your child enjoys meaningful, high-quality time with both parents.

• Routine Contact Schedules: Establishing clear weekly or fortnightly timetables for school pickups, afternoon activities, and weekend overnight stays.

• Holiday & Special Occasion Allocations: Designing equitable rotations for school holidays, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day.

• Indirect Contact: Setting up structures for phone calls, video chats, and digital messaging to maintain strong relationships when physical distance or schedules keep you apart.

2. Supported & Supervised Contact

When there are concerns regarding a parent’s lifestyle, mental health, substance use, or past absence, the court may determine that contact must be introduced gradually or under supervision.

• Supervised Visits: Arranging for contact to take place at professional Children’s Contact Centres or in the presence of an agreed, trusted third party.

• Transition and Reintroduction Plans: Crafting “step-up” arrangements that gradually increase parenting time as trust is rebuilt and safety milestones are met.

• Supervised Changeovers: Establishing protocols for child handovers at neutral, safe locations to shield children from parental conflict.

3. Grandparents & Extended Family Contact

Children benefit enormously from relationships with their broader family network. Under the Family Law Act 1975, extended family members have explicit standing to seek contact.

• Grandparent Applications: Assisting grandparents in securing formal, legally binding contact arrangements to maintain their vital role in a grandchild’s life following a parental separation.

• Kinship Contact: Helping aunts, uncles, and step-parents establish formal communication and visitation pathways.

How the Court Evaluates Parenting Time

Following recent family law updates, the court evaluates contact arrangements through a streamlined focus on the best interests of the child:

• Safety First: The court’s primary consideration is to protect the child from physical or psychological harm, including exposure to family violence, abuse, or neglect.

• The Child’s Views: Depending on their age and maturity, the child’s own wishes regarding who they want to spend time with are given significant weight.

• Developmental Needs: Ensuring schedules are age-appropriate (e.g., shorter, more frequent visits for infants rather than extended overnight stays).

• Co-Parenting Feasibility: Assessing how well the parents can communicate and whether the proposed logistics are practical for the child’s schooling and daily life.

The Morava Difference: Protecting the Connection

We understand that negotiating parenting time can be incredibly stressful. Our Darlinghurst team focuses on achieving stability through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). By utilizing child-focused mediation and family dispute resolution, we help you secure agreements that protect your bond with your child while keeping your family out of protracted court proceedings.

“Every child deserves a secure, loving relationship with their family. We help you build the path to keep that connection strong.”