The six guides
Each guide is one row of the calendar, read in any order.
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Guide 1plans
Parenting plans
What goes in one, what it does to an existing order, and how Services Australia reads it.
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Guide 2orders
Parenting orders
What a court order can say, decision-making since May 2024, and following an order.
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Guide 3the court
What the court must consider
The child’s best interests in the court’s own words, and how safety and children’s views reach it.
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Guide 4support
How child support is assessed
The formula, care counted in nights, reporting changes and objecting to a decision.
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Guide 5moving
Moving with children
Relocating within Australia, overseas travel and passports, and if a child is taken.
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Guide 6help
Help for parents in Queensland
Who answers which question, from the advice line to Parentline and Kids Helpline.
Three ways families set arrangements
The court describes three main ways to make arrangements for a child after separation: informal arrangements, parenting plans, and parenting orders, including orders made by consent.
You agree
You can make a parenting plan, or ask the court to make your agreement into consent orders. See parenting plans.
You agree on some things
Dispute resolution or mediation can help with the issues still in dispute.
You cannot agree
Either of you can apply to the court for parenting orders. See parenting orders.
The court’s view is that, where it is safe, it is generally best for parents to reach their own agreement, which it says saves money, time and stress. It also notes that divorce is a completely separate process from arrangements for children.
What the court says a child needs
The court says children from separated families can develop and flourish just as well as other children, especially with a positive relationship with both parents and other important people, where that is safe. Its list of what both parents should do includes these, a selection in its own words:
- “allow your child the right to love both of you – don't make them choose”
- “tell your child that they are not to blame, and help them to discuss their feelings …”
- “keep your child out of your arguments with or about the other parent”
- “turn to other adults for emotional support, rather than to your child”
- “… keep your focus on your child's wellbeing, rather than on what seems 'fair' for you.”
Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Children: overview, a selection reproduced unaltered under the court’s CC BY-ND 3.0 licence; an ellipsis (…) marks where an item is cut short.
Changes from 6 May 2024
Most of the Family Law Amendment Act 2023 commenced on 6 May 2024. For parents, the Attorney-General’s Department highlights:
- a simpler list of best interests factors for courts deciding parenting arrangements
- the end of the “presumption” of equal shared parental responsibility
- Independent Children’s Lawyers being required to meet directly with children
- simpler compliance and enforcement rules for child-related orders.
The changes apply to new and existing cases, except where a final hearing had already begun, and existing orders are not automatically changed. The detail is in what the court must consider.
About this guide
Brisbane family law is a guide to children’s arrangements after separation, published by Dotto. Every rule, figure and phone number on it comes from an official page linked beside it and checked on 8 October 2026. It explains the rules as those pages state them; it cannot say how they apply to one family. For that, the services in help for parents in Queensland are the place to start.
Courts, the court process and dividing property after separation are outside this guide; the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia explains them on its own site.