When two parents can't agree about who the children live with and who the children spent time with, a family law judge will decide.
The law tells a family law judge what to think about when they decide about the children. They have to decide what is best for the children.
- The law does not talk about ‘custody’ any more. It talks about where children stay and who they spend time with.
- The judge will decide who has parental responsibility for the children. This means they decide about things like where the children live and go to school.
- If you and the other parent cannot agree, and you have tried Family Dispute Resolution (FDR), you will need to go to the family court for a judge to decide who will have parental responsibility.
 Listen |
 Look |
 Read |
 Watch |
Who Can Help? (Service Providers)
 | Read |
| Arrangements for children |
| Northern Territory Law Handbook – Parenting After Separation: Parental Responsibility
This webpage talks about parental responsibility.
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| Family Law and Children
This webpage talks about family law and children.
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Glossary: What these words mean
| parental responsibility | Parental responsibility is the responsibility to decide big things in children’s lives, such as where they live and where they go to school. |
| family dispute resolution (FDR) | When two people are separating, family dispute resolution (FDR) can help them decide what happens with children, property and money. It is cheaper than going to court. |
| custody | Custody is when police hold you so you can’t leave. This is usually in prison while you wait to go to court. (Modified from the Plain English Legal Dictionary 2015) |