REGISTRATION OF OVERSEAS CHILD ORDERS

  1. If a person has an overseas child order [1]which, is not interim or ex parte, from Austria; New Zealand; Switzerland[2]; Papua New Guinea or a State of the United States of America (as set out in Schedule 1A Family Law Regulations 1984.That order may be registered in an Australian court by:
  • Sending the following documents to the Secretary of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department[3]
    • a certified copy of the order;
    • a certificate of enforceability from the relevant overseas authority
    • evidence that all interested persons and the child had an opportunity to be heard when the order was made and
    • evidence that the child; a parent of the child or a person having live with or spend time with or communicate with rights with respect to the child is ordinarily resident in Australia
  1. A person who has an overseas order concerning children made in a country which is a party to the Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children (the Protection Convention) and who wishes to enforce that order in Australia they shouldsend a copy of the overseas order to any of the following
  • The Commonwealth Central Authority
  • The State Central Authority which in NSW is FACS
  • Directly to the Family Court

If the orders

  • concern child welfare matters they should be sent to the State Central Authority. If they are sent to the Commonwealth Central Authority, they will forward them to FACS.
  • concern live withor spend time withorders they should be sent to the Commonwealth Central Authority. If they are sent to the State Central Authority they will be forwarded to the Commonwealth Central Authority
  • concern property of the child they should be sent to the Commonwealth Central Authority

It would be prudent to include with the copy of the overseas orders evidence of the matters set out in Article 23 of the Protection Convention and restated in section 23 (3) of the NSW Act.

[1]This is defined in Section 4 Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)and basically means a live with/spend time withorder and any variation of such orders

[2]Austria and Switzerland are also parties to the Protection Convention and consequently orders can also be registered under that process.

[3]The order can be sent directly to the Family Court/Family Court or WA or State Supreme Court but the registration in that case the Registrar has to decide whether or not the order meets all the requirements [Reg23(6)]