The summer school holidays are just around the corner. If you are a party to a parenting agreement or parenting order and are planning to take your children on a summer holiday be sure to thoroughly review your Orders/agreement before making concrete plans. Most parenting agreements/orders include notice provisions requiring the parent seeking to travel to provide the other parent with a certain amount of days’ notice and travel information such as accommodation bookings, itineraries and return flight details. The agreement/orders may also specify on what dates or for how many days the parent is permitted to spend additional holiday time with the children outside of the regular weekly/fortnightly arrangements. Some parenting Orders may also include a provision permitting the children to only travel to “Hague Convention” listed countries. The Hague Convention is an international treaty whereby all participating countries are required to provide assistance to each other to facilitate return of abducted /illegally removed children between them. Given the above hurdles, it is recommended that co-parents arrange travel plans with the children (both domestic and international) well ahead of time so that all of the necessary requirements can be met and sufficient notice can be provided to the other parent.
If you a seeking some advice on travel with children after separation please contact our experienced Family Law team on (03) 9614 7111.