Child custody in Australia

Each of the child's parents has parental responsibility for a child under 18, and keeps it after separation unless a court orders otherwise.

The same rule applies whether or not the parents were ever married. A parent's responsibility does not depend on marriage.

The unmarried father, in one line: Both parents have it, married or not, once the father's paternity is established.

Parents are encouraged to agree a parenting plan and to try family dispute resolution first. If they go to court, the child's best interests are the test. A 2023 reform removed the earlier presumption that equal shared parental responsibility is in the child's best interests, so the court now decides each case on its facts. The court looks at both the child's safety and the benefit of a meaningful relationship with both parents.

The court considers the child's views, given the child's age and maturity, often through a family report writer or an independent children's lawyer.

A parent who wants to move a long way with the child needs the other parent's agreement or a court order. Taking a child out of Australia without the consent of both parents can lead to an order or criminal charges.

Australia is a party to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention, which lets a parent ask for a child wrongly taken to another country to be returned. It works only with countries that have accepted its accession, so check the other country on the treaty status table.

Australia belongs to the Common law family. Family law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.

Read the Australia legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Australia? →
Divorce rate and trend in Australia →

• Attorney-General's Department, Australia: family law