How to Change Family Court Orders in Australia

You have final parenting orders in place, but life has moved on. Maybe someone wants to relocate, work has changed, a new safety worry has come up, or your ex keeps ignoring what was agreed. The orders that made sense back then do not fit anymore, and you want to know if you can change them.

The short answer is yes, you can. There are two ways. You can change orders by agreement, or you can ask the court to change them. If you both agree, it is fairly straightforward. If you do not, the court will not simply reopen final parenting orders on request. First you have to show there has been a significant change of circumstances, and that revisiting the orders is in the child’s best interests.

One thing to clear up straight away. This is federal law, not New South Wales law. Parenting orders are governed by the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and dealt with by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, wherever in the country you live.

Changing orders by agreement

If you and your ex are on the same page, you do not need to hash this out in a courtroom. Court is expensive. It is slow. It can be emotionally draining. So where you can agree, agreement is almost always the better first move, and mediation or family dispute resolution is usually where that starts.

There are two ways to record what you agree, and the difference matters.

A parenting plan is a written agreement the two of you sign. It is flexible and easy to change, but it is not enforceable. Think of it as a written handshake deal. If your ex stops following it, there is no order behind it to fall back on.

Consent orders are different. You put your agreement to the court, a registrar approves it, and it becomes a legally binding order. If it is broken, it can be enforced. That is why, when things are stable and you want them to stay that way, turning an agreement into consent orders is the stronger option. You can read more on our consent orders page, and on how family mediation works before any application.

Here is where the difference bites in practice.

Let me give you a quick example. We had a client at our office, let’s call her Anna for anonymous sakes, and she had a parenting plan in place with her ex. Things were going well until he got into a new relationship, and suddenly the pickup times were all off, holiday schedules were completely ignored, and the agreement wasn’t being honored. We then got involved and helped her turn that agreement into consent orders.

Anna’s plan worked right up until it did not. Because it was only a plan, she had nothing to enforce when her ex stopped honouring it. Converting it to consent orders gave her something the court would actually stand behind. The lesson is simple. If an arrangement matters to you, get it into a form the court can enforce, not just a form you both signed.

The current test: section 65DAAA

If you cannot agree and you want the court to change final parenting orders, there is a gate you have to get through first. The court does not reopen final orders just because you ask.

Since 6 May 2024, the rule that used to come from the case of Rice & Asplund is written directly into the Act at s 65DAAA of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). Rice & Asplund (1979) FLC 90-725 is not a new idea, just a long-standing principle now set out in the legislation itself.

The test has two limbs. Before the court will reconsider final parenting orders, it must be satisfied that:

1. there has been a significant change of circumstances since the orders were made, and
2. it is in the best interests of the child to reconsider them, weighed against the best-interests factors the Act sets out.

Both limbs have to be met. And the Full Court has since confirmed that the court must actually find a significant change has occurred, not merely consider whether one might exist. That keeps the bar meaningful.

The two-limb gate sits in s 65DAAA of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), the best-interests factors in s 60CC, and the Full Court’s confirmation in Radecki & Radecki [2024] FedCFamC1A 246 and Rice & Asplund [1978] FamCA 84; (1979) FLC 90-725.

What counts as a significant change?

This is where a lot of people get caught out, so let me be blunt about the misconception I hear most.

Parents often tell me their child has said they want to live with the other parent, and they assume that settles it. It does not, at least not on its own. A child’s stated preference is one factor a court can weigh, but it is not, by itself, the significant change the gate requires.

You can’t apply to change orders just because you don’t like them anymore. The court wants some kind of stability for the children, so it’s not a constant tug of war in court every time you’re upset about something.

That stability point is the whole reason the gate exists. Children do better when their arrangements are not relitigated every time a parent is unhappy. So the change the court is looking for is one that genuinely shifts the picture the original orders were built on. In my experience, the changes that clear the gate tend to be concrete: a real relocation, an escalating pattern of the orders being ignored, or a genuine shift in a child’s safety or needs. The ones that do not tend to be a parent’s frustration, a single argument, or a child simply saying they would prefer the other house.

Reasons that qualify

The most useful way to think about it is by example. Each of these can amount to a significant change, always measured against the child’s best interests, never as an automatic trigger.

• The child’s needs have changed. As children get older, schooling, health, and day-to-day needs shift, and arrangements set years ago may no longer make sense.
• A parent is relocating. A genuine move that makes the current schedule unworkable, for work, family support, or a new relationship.
• Family violence or a safety concern. A new or newly revealed risk to the child’s safety.
• A parent can no longer meet their obligations. Illness, incapacity, or a change that means a parent cannot do what the orders require.
• Consistent breaches of the orders. A sustained pattern of one parent ignoring the orders, not a one-off.

None of these is a guaranteed pass. Each is a starting point the court tests against the two-limb gate above.

How to actually change your orders

Once you know which path you are on, here is how it runs.

If you agree, you file an Application for Consent Orders with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. A registrar checks the orders are in the child’s best interests and, if so, approves them. No hearing needed.

If you do not agree, the usual sequence is:

1. Attend family dispute resolution first, unless an exemption applies. An exemption specific to these types of matters is if the parenting orders have been made in the last 12 months, and one parent is showing serious disregard for them.
2. If that does not resolve it, file an Initiating Application to change the orders.
3. Your application then has to clear the s 65DAAA gate before the court will reconsider the parenting orders themselves.

Contested applications take time. A final hearing can be a long way off, and there is a way to hold things steady in the meantime.

Let’s say you’ve applied to court and now you’re waiting for a final hearing, and that could be one or two years away. What happens in the meantime? You can ask the court for interim orders, which are temporary orders that can stabilise things.

Interim orders are temporary orders that keep the situation workable while you wait for the final decision. For the court’s own guidance on the forms and steps, see the FCFCOA on changing parenting arrangements, and for a plain-English walkthrough, Legal Aid NSW. If you want a hand working out which route fits your situation, that is what our child custody lawyers do.

Changing financial and child support orders

Not every order runs through the same door. Property and spousal maintenance orders are varied on different grounds again. If your situation is financial rather than parenting, start with our property settlement page.

Child support has its own pathway too, largely through Services Australia rather than the court. One practical trap to know about: if you change a parenting arrangement, you generally need to notify Services Australia within 28 days so your child support assessment stays correct. Miss that and your assessment can drift out of step with your actual care arrangement. Our child support page covers how that works.

Where to from here

If your orders no longer fit your life, you have options, and none of them require you to work it out alone. If you and your ex can agree, we can help you turn that into consent orders that actually hold. If you cannot, we can tell you honestly whether your change is likely to clear the gate before you spend money finding out the hard way.

Reach out to me and my team. Book a free discovery call on 1300 614 732 or send us a message, and we will walk you through where you stand and what your next step looks like. No pressure, no judgment, just clear advice.