Family Dispute Resolution Resources
Our Family Dispute Resolution Resources will help you to prepare for Family Dispute Resolution with Interact Support.
Parenting and General Resources
Did you know that exposure to toxic stress as a child can limit your child’s potential by causing structural changes in their brain? Resolving conflict in your family is one of the best things you can do for your child.
Resources include:
- a guide to family dispute resolution
- the Interact Support Standard Family Dispute Resolution Agreement to Mediate
- the Interact Support Post Separation Parenting Guide
- the Interact Support Parenting Plan Worksheet
- Interact Support – Preparation for Legal Advice
Online Post Separation Parenting Course
New Ways for Families is a low-cost online post-separation parenting course with the option of individual or group coaching available.
Interact Support Client File
This 10 page word document is used to collect the basic information for all Interact Support client cases.
Sections include
- General Information about the form and it’s use as well as other resources
- Your Personal Information
- The other person’s personal information
- Current Family Law needs and issues
- Safety
- Children
- Property (skip if not relevant or you have already completed your property settlement)
- What have you tried up to now, who else are you working with and where to from here
Family Dispute Resolution Information Booklet
This 29 page guide contains more information about the Interact Support Family Dispute Resolution Services
Topics include:
- General Information about Family Dispute Resolution
- What types of issues can I bring to FDR?
- Confidentiality and Inadmissibility
- When is FDR appropriate?
- Parenting Family Dispute Resolution
- Property Family Dispute Resolution
Family Dispute Resolution Agreement to Mediate
The 10 Page standard Agreement to Mediate is a contract between you and the mediator that makes clear what is and isn’t OK during Family Dispute Resolution with Interact Support Standard Family Dispute Resolution Service.
Topics Include:
- Who will be involved in the mediation process and purpose of the session
- Confidentiality and Inadmissibility
- What the participants agree to do
- What the mediators agree to do
- Legal advice and self-determination
- If Agreement is and isn’t reached
- The FDRP’s qualifications, feedback and complaints
- Fees
- Groundrules and signature block
Parenting Plan Worksheet
This comprehensive Parenting Plan worksheet is designed to help parents to reach agreement on their co-parenting arrangements.
Contents Includes:
- Documentation of previous Parenting Plan or Court Orders
- The Parents and the Children
- Parenting Time with the Chidren
- Changeovers
- Children’s schedule of Weekly extra-curricular activities
- Supervision of the children
- Other relationships
- School / daycare
- Schedule for School Holidays
- Special Days
- Safety Rules
- Religious upbringing
- Cultural heritage
- Parental behaviour and child development
- Medical
- Communication
Post-Separation Parenting Guide
This comprehensive Post Separation Parenting Guide is designed to help parents to understand their options under Family Law with regards to parenting and to provide information on child development needs.
Contents Include:
- Mandatory Family Dispute Resolution (FDR)
- Making parenting agreements enforceable
- Types of parenting arrangements
- Social media and the separated parent
- What the term “Best Interests of a Child” means in Family Law
- Mandatory information about Parenting Plans
- Shared Parental Responsibility and time with children
- Your responsibility to support your child
- Consent Orders
- The three Co-parenting styles
- Children’s developmental needs
- The four parenting styles
- How Interact Support can help
Preparation for Legal Advice
Do you know the likely best and worst case scenario if you took your case to court?
Do you know how long it may take and what sort of costs you’ll be facing?
Our Preparation for Legal Advice Guide is designed to help you to get good quality legal advice about your family law matter.
Contents Include:
- Getting Advice
- Parenting
- Preparation Templates
- Property
- Preparation Templates
- Legal Advice recording templates
Parenting Orders Review Program
Do you have Parenting Orders that need tweaking?
Our Parenting Orders Review Program is a comprehensive package that can help.
Contents Include:
- Why review your Parenting Order?
- What is a Parenting Plan?
- Can I do the same thing with my Property Orders?
- What is the legal status of a Parenting Plan?
- What can be included in a Parenting Plan?
- Parenting Plans, Child Support and Centrelink
- Can I include other things in my Parenting Plan?
- Post Separation Parenting help
- New Ways for Families
- Our Family Wizard
- How we can help
- What does it cost?
- Discounts and hardship provisions
- How to get started
Books and other suggested reading
Below is a list of some books and studies you might like to review. We’d love to hear of any others that you have found helpful.
- When Parents Part – Penelope Leach (2015) New York. Albert.A.Knopf (Link goes to Amazon)
- Because It’s For The Kids – Jennifer McIntosh – (2005) Children Beyond Dispute – http://childrenbeyonddispute.com/parentsycids/because-its-for-the-kids-e-book/
- Don’t Alienate The Kids – Bill Eddy,LCSW,JD (2010) HCI Press – Canada (Link goes to Amazon)
- Splitsville – Clarissa Rayward – 2015 – Paradigm Print Media – Singapore (Link goes to Amazon
- Post separation parenting arrangements – Patterns and developmental outcomes: Studies of two risk groups Jennifer McIntosh, Bruce Smyth, Margaret Kelaher, Yvonne Wells and Caroline Long https://aifs.gov.au/publications/family-matters/issue-86/post-separation-parenting-arrangements
- Measuring Post Divorce Living Arrangements – Theoretical and Empirical Validation of The Residential Calendar An Katrien Sodermans, Sofie Vanassche, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513X12464947?journalCode=jfia
A word of warning.
There are some excellent books written overseas but remember that each countries family law system is unique.
Information relevant to other countries may not be relevant in Australia so make sure that you access Australian Information or better yet book in for an Interact Consultation or Legal Advice and Strategy session.
The New Ways for Families Post Separation Parenting Course also has information about the family law system and how to get a court to decide about your parenting if you and your co-parent can’t work it out yourselves using mediation or negotiation strategies.
Property
These resources will help you if you have to work out the best way to divide up any assets and debts that you accumulated during your relationship or brought into the relationship.
Financial Settlement Calculation Template
This five tab excel spreadsheet is designed to assist in determining your asset pool and to help with calculations when participating in Family Dispute Resolution with an Interact Support trained Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner.
Tabs Include:
- Introductions – Basic Principals for Financial Settlements
- Mediation Worksheet
- Agreement – For Orders
- How the court decides
- Discussion Points