Very frequently, we see clients who are in a situation where they need a recovery order, or they anticipate they may need a recovery order.
The need for a recovery order arises where one party to parenting orders breaches those orders by failing to make the children available for time with the other party on a permanent basis.
Often this is because a party relocates the children a long way away from the other party, or because they hold concerns about the safety and wellbeing of the children in the other party’s care.
It is possible to obtain a recovery order even if you don’t already have parenting orders. It is important to obtain legal advice in this situation.
A recovery order empowers the Federal Police to recover the children from the party who has relocated or stopped the children’s time with the other party, if they do not return the children to the other party voluntarily. If the Federal Police do become involved, the party with the recovery order will be required to work with the Federal Police and arrange flights, accommodation and other things necessary in the process of actually recovering the children.
Thankfully, when a recovery order is issued, it is more often the case that the party who withheld the children complies with the order and returns the children to the other party without the involvement of the Federal Police. While the Federal Police are only doing their job, it is not child-focussed to expose children to a situation where police need to be involved.
Contact us at Freedom law about recovery orders or any other family law problems for an in person or e-consultation.