Moving home to Perth with two daughters who disagreed

Ms and Mr Picard married in 2010 and separated in 2015. Both their daughters were born in Perth, where Ms Picard grew up, but in 2014 the family moved to a city in Queensland. Final orders made in 2017 had the girls living with each parent equally, and both agreed it had worked well.

By 2024 Ms Picard's parents in Perth were in poor health. An only child, she decided to move home to be near them, with or without the girls, and asked to take the girls. Mr Picard opposed the move. He said that if she chose to leave, the girls should stay in his care.

Because final parenting orders were already in place, the court first had to find a significant change in circumstances under s 65DAAA of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). Judge Bertone found the change obvious: once Ms Picard moved, the old orders could not work. She did not need to show "compelling reasons" for wanting to go.

The girls disagreed. The elder, 13, told the family report writer she wanted to stay. The younger, 11, wanted to move to Perth. The judge weighed the elder's views, noting she had never lived away from her mother. Applying the s 60CC best-interests factors, the judge found it would be detrimental to both girls, and very detrimental to the younger one, to live full-time with their father with their mother in Perth. Ms Picard had shown a greater capacity to meet the girls' emotional needs, the judge found, and Mr Picard had kept her in the dark about things the younger girl had raised.

Mr Picard told the court that if the girls went to Perth, he would move too, and the judge found he was highly likely to find work there and could afford it. The orders let Ms Picard move the girls to Perth from 31 January 2025. Until any move by their father, they would spend the 2025 Easter and mid-year holidays with him, and if he moved, equal time would resume. Her bid for the costs of an earlier hearing failed.