If you are feeling helpless, scared, or unsure what to do next, you are not alone. When your ex ignores a parenting order, withholds the children, or does not return them after a visit, it can feel like the order was never worth the paper it was written on.
Here is the short answer. The formal word for a breach is a contravention. You report it by filing an Application – Contravention with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and there is no fee to lodge it. For parenting matters, you usually have to attempt family dispute resolution first, unless an exemption applies. The rest of this page walks you through what counts as a breach, the steps to take, what the court can actually do about it, and the faster path if your child has been taken.
Let me give it to you plainly, no legal waffle.
What actually counts as a breach
Not every broken arrangement is a contravention. In plain terms, a person contravenes an order when they intentionally fail to comply with it, or make no reasonable attempt to comply, having taken no reasonable steps to follow it. Turning up a few minutes late to a changeover is not the same as refusing to hand the children over at all.
The rules sit in the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), Part VII Division 13A. You do not need to memorise that. What matters is the test the court applies: was there a genuine attempt to comply, or not? The Federal Circuit and Family Court sets out what counts as a contravention in the same terms.
One important exception. If the order that was broken is an AVO or a family-violence intervention order, that is a separate, police-enforced regime, not a contravention application. Our guide on breaching an AVO covers that path.
Do you have a reasonable excuse?
Here is the tricky bit. Not every failure to comply gets punished, because the law recognises a reasonable excuse. A reasonable excuse is not the same as a good reason to be annoyed. It is a genuine reason the court will accept, and it can include real safety concerns for the child, or a reasonable belief that not following the order was necessary to protect someone’s health or safety.
If you are the one who did not comply, this is where honest advice matters most. If you are the one reporting the breach, expect the other parent to raise a reasonable excuse, so your application needs to deal with it head on rather than hope it will not come up.
What you need before you start
Before you file, get four things together:
- Your section 60I certificate from family dispute resolution, or, where an exemption applies, an Affidavit – non-filing of FDR certificate.
- A clear affidavit that sets out exactly what happened, in order.
- A copy of the orders that were breached.
- The Application – Contravention form.
There is no filing fee.
How to report a breach, step by step
Step 1: Gather your evidence
Your affidavit is the most important document you will file. It has to be clear and factual, and set out exactly what happened in chronological order, with headings, so anyone who reads it can follow the story from start to finish. Opinions are not evidence. Dates and facts are. Keep a record of every missed changeover, every message, and every time the order was not followed.
Step 2: Attempt family dispute resolution
For parenting matters, you usually have to attempt family dispute resolution before you can file, unless an exemption applies for urgency, family violence, or a genuine risk to a child’s safety. A section 60I certificate is issued where family dispute resolution does not resolve the matter, where the other party will not attend, or where the practitioner considers mediation inappropriate, and that certificate is what lets you file. If you are required to file a certificate and you do not, the court may stay your application.
Step 3: Prepare your application documents
The document you file is an Application – Contravention. It sets out the orders, the breaches, and what you are asking the court to do. Get the form right. Filing the wrong application is one of the most common ways these matters stall before they start.
Step 4: File the application
There is no fee to lodge an Application – Contravention. You file it with the National Contravention List, by email to the court’s contravention list, and then arrange for the other party to be personally served.
Step 5: Go to court
At the hearing, the court decides first whether a contravention has been established, and if so, what to do about it. Bring your evidence, stick to the facts in your affidavit, and be ready to respond to any reasonable excuse the other side raises.
What the court can order
If the court finds a contravention, it has a wide range of responses, not one automatic punishment. Depending on how serious the breach is, and whether it has happened before, the court can order:
- additional (make-up) time with the child
- a parenting program
- a bond
- compensation for reasonable expenses you have lost
- community service
- a fine
- imprisonment, in the most serious cases
The range of penalties runs from a light touch to real, quasi-criminal weight at the top end. Where a breach lands depends on how serious it is and whether it has happened before.
What you have to prove
The standard of proof shifts with what is at stake. Generally, a contravention is decided on the balance of probabilities, the ordinary civil standard. But where the court is considering a punitive sanction, such as a fine or imprisonment, it has to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, the criminal standard. That is why a clear, factual affidavit matters so much. The more serious the outcome you are seeking, the higher the bar your evidence has to clear.
If your child has been taken or won’t be returned
If the breach is your child being taken or not returned, do not wait for the contravention process to run its course. The faster path is often an urgent recovery order, a court order that authorises the police to find and return your child.
A lot of parents assume the police will simply go and get the child back on their own. They will not, and this catches people off guard.
A lot of people are of the belief that they can go to the police station and ask the police to recover their children for them. The police are not going to act unless they’ve received an order from the court, and that applies even if you do have parenting orders in place.
That is what a recovery order changes. It gives the police the authority to act. The Australian Federal Police can also add your child to the Family Law Watchlist to stop them being taken overseas, and a recovery order generally lasts 12 months. The court sets out how the process works in its guidance on recovery orders.
Here is what acting fast can look like.
We had a client, let’s call her Michelle, and Michelle had full-time care of her daughter, and the father had supervised time every second weekend, and after a visit the father didn’t return the child. He told Michelle he was going to keep her for good by way of text message, and she was completely distressed. We helped her file an urgent recovery order application, court heard the matter within 48 hours and granted the order.
The court heard it within 48 hours and granted the order that brought her daughter home. That speed was not luck. The application was urgent and the affidavit was clear.
And this is why speed matters so much.
Act quickly. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to get the orders. If you’ve waited months in order to get an order to return a child to another location, you have to think: the court needs to then disrupt this child’s life not one time, because they’ve moved to another location, but another time after that, and they might be hesitant or reluctant to do so.
The clock starts ticking the moment your child is not returned. The earlier you act, the more the court can do.
Enforcement application or contravention application?
One last thing, so you file the right document. An enforcement application is about compelling compliance, making someone do what the order already requires. A contravention application is about compliance plus a possible penalty for breaking the order. If you are not sure which one fits your situation, that is a good question to ask before you file, not after.
What to do next
Reporting a breach comes down to a few clear steps. Get your evidence in order, attempt family dispute resolution unless you are exempt, file an Application – Contravention with no fee, and let the court decide what the breach warrants. If a child has been taken, move faster and ask about a recovery order.
Me and my team help parents through this every week, and when a child has been taken, we act fast because every hour matters. If your order has been breached and you are not sure what to do next, book in a chat with our family court lawyers. We will walk you through where you stand and what to do about it. No pressure, no judgment, just honest advice. Call 1300 614 732 or send us a message.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you report a breach of a family court order in Australia?
You report it by filing an Application – Contravention with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. There is no fee to lodge it. For parenting matters, you usually have to attempt family dispute resolution first and obtain a section 60I certificate, unless an exemption applies.
Is there a fee to file a contravention application?
No. There is no fee to lodge an Application – Contravention with the court. You file it with the National Contravention List, by email to the court’s contravention list, and then arrange for the other party to be personally served.
Do I have to try mediation before reporting a breach?
For parenting matters, usually yes. You generally have to attempt family dispute resolution and obtain a section 60I certificate before you can file, unless an exemption applies for urgency, family violence, or a genuine risk to a child’s safety.
What counts as a reasonable excuse for breaching a parenting order?
A reasonable excuse is a genuine reason the court will accept, not simply annoyance or convenience. It can include real safety concerns for the child, or a reasonable belief that not following the order was necessary to protect someone’s health or safety.
What penalties can the court impose for contravening a family court order?
The court has a wide range of responses: additional make-up time with the child, a parenting program, a bond, compensation for reasonable expenses, community service, a fine, and imprisonment in the most serious cases. Where a breach lands depends on how serious it is and whether it has happened before.
What can I do if my ex has taken or won't return my child?
Do not wait. The faster path is often an urgent recovery order, which authorises the police to find and return your child. Acting quickly matters, because delay makes the order harder to get.
