Family Law Act: Analyzing Violence and Child Welfare in a Case

This case study examines the application of the Family Law Act in the context of the Patsy-Sebastian family, focusing on issues of domestic violence, child welfare, and asset division. It highlights Sebastian's violent behavior and potential drug abuse, contrasted with Patsy's struggles with PTSD. The analysis includes relevant provisions of the Family Law Act, emphasizing child protection and fair property distribution. Interim parenting orders are discussed, advocating for Patsy to have guardianship to ensure the children's safety and well-being. The study also references social science literature, recent violence-related cases, and the importance of considering the best interests of the children in legal proceedings. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and resources for students.

Running head: family act 1
FAMILY ACT
[Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]
[Institutional Affiliation(s)]
Author Note
[Include any grant/funding information and a complete correspondence address.]

family act 2
FAMILY ACT
INTRODUCTION.
1) Family laws are put in place so as to help people in the country resolve their
family disputes under guidelines of the law in order to reach a common yet
mutual understanding. Family laws also seek to protect the best interest of the
child in case of parents not seeing eye to eye on matters concerning the family.
ISSUES IN THE PATSY-SEBSTIAN FAMILY.
2) Patsy has been a stay a home through out her kids birth and growing up stages
being that she stopped working to address her PTSD (post traumatic stress
disorder) that she gained while working in the homicide department. 2 months
before her Luke’s birth, she was admitted into a mental health hospital to get
treatment for her condition to which she would be discharged one month prior her
son’s, Luke birth in September where has been placed on a test program since
then to now There is the issue of Sebastian trying to discredit Patsy by alluding
that Patsy doesn’t follow her treatment plans.
3) There is also the issue of Sebastian poor control over his temperament and his
violent acts against Patsy during the marriage. There is also the issue of verbal
abuse against Patsy from Sebastian since they moved in together, owing to his
poor anger management capability. He is recorded to have anger management
issues dating from the cohabitation years. He has physically abused Patsy by
[1]pushing her against a door frame causing her bodily injuries, locking her out
the 1door in the presence of their kids.
1
Common wealth Government of Australia, "Family law act 1975," Legistlation Australia:
Common wealth Government of Australia, p. 200, 2016.

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More to that he is also recorded to have drug abuse issues as he is recorded to take
marijuana that causes his mood to be irritable as he sends off the kids to the room
and he is also a drunkard from his unconscious moments at his couch causing the
kids to fend for themselves as the older sibling has to prepare food for his himself
and his little sister while at their dads. There is also the issue of asset division
between both couples in consideration of the children’s welfare.
RELEVANT AND CURRENT PROVISIONS IN THE FAMILY LAW ACT
AND THE FAMILY LAW RULES THAT APPLY.
4) According to the family act of 1975 domestic violence us referred to as violent
threatening behavior that controls a member of the person’s family to be fearful.
Patsy and her kids are well afraid of her husband and father due to his
uncontrollable random acts of violence that are controlled by a few stress points.
According to the law, regardless of the same sex or different sex relationships, as
long as the people together form a family, then any sort of violence within the unit
can lead to domestic violence that us addresses in the family act that sees the
domestic relationship to be within defacto relationships [1]. However, section 51
of the constitution saw an intensive power exchange that changed the cover of
defacto relationships in Australia that were once covered by the family act owing
to the presence and need for nexus and territory.
5) In the situation that shows risk of separation in a marriage, child protection is
initiated within the family law act to ensure that the best interests of the kid(s) are
kept in mind going forward and this includes measures like registering the child
or children with the child support agency in Australia. This will force one parent

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to take up responsibility of child support as dictated in the Child support
(assessment) act of 1989 that is follow up upon and administered by the child
support agency Australia2. All these measures are to ensure that the children are
able to enjoy meaningful presence of both parents in their lives.
6) There is cause for worry as unlike other countries policies, Australian division of
property isn’t done on a 50/50 kind of perspective upon a divorce but the court
goes further to take in the 27 statutory factors that determine a just and equitable
division of property and wealth. Mostly, the wife finds favor with this kind of
situation as she is taken to be the economically weaker spouse in the relationship
in most cases even though its faced with the constrain of time to allocate the
wealth. It may take up to 2 years for middle income earners3 and four years for the
rich and affluent in the society [3]. It’s the responsibility of both parents to ensure
that they support the child or children financially. The family act of 1975 places
special focus on responsibility of each parent so as to protect the child from harm
and create a meaningful relationship between parent(s) after separation or divorce.
RELEVANT SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERATURE, REPORTS OR GUIDELINES
ABOUT PARENTING, FAMILY VIOLENCE AND CONCERNING RELOCATION
THAT REINFORCE THE SUBMISSIONS FOR CLIENTS’ APPLICATION
2 AIHW, "Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia 2017," Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare (AIHW), p. 4, 2018.
3 M. Palin, "Domestic violence horror: Australia’s deadly and tragic cases," News, p. 1, 2017.

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7) The attorney general George Brandis on September 27th of 2017 gave
authoritative directive towards the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC)
so as to take a comprehensive review of the family law system since it
commencement in 1976. The commission is expected to finish its report on 31st
March 2019. The review was and has continued to be supported by many of the
key players in the family law even politicians. Though the march review is the
most anticipated reforms to the family act, the family act has been facing reforms
since 1975 with significant changes 4being made to not only the statute but also
the operations of courts that handle family cases as well as family disputes in
terms of resolutions and counselling services [4]. Among such changes is the no
fault divorce review that saw a significant change in determination of child cases
and also settling of property. Also, research bodies like AIFS (Australian institute
of family studies) were set up so as to ensure that the federal government is well
advised on policy and operational matters.
RELEVANT AND RECENT CASES CONCERNING CHILDREN WHERE
VIOLENCE IS INVOLVED, AND CONCERNING RELOCATION
8) Globally Australia is referred to as a safe country as there aren’t many cases
involving violence or even domestic violence as both women and men enjoy
equal rights. However, Australia is not exempted from domestic violence cases
where in the case of Monash University case study, a woman is killed by a partner
every other day in recent cases. In 2017 a woman was found trying to fight for her
life after her partner slit her throat in Sydney right inside her home. Rachael Lee
was wounded by her boyfriend Kevin Scroop and was denied bail at the
4 ABC News Editor, "Fact file: Domestic violence in Australia," ABC News, p. 1, 2016.

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Parramatta local court. This was due to the fact that Scroop slit his partner’s throat
during an argument [3]. The officers were able to stop the bleeding from Lee’s
throat. This was found to be the worst place for a woman as tragic deaths were
experienced. There has been a rise of such cases in recent times with most deaths
being attributed to acts of domestic violence during heated arguments.
9) Lance Michael the partner to Blair Dalton was charged with murder after he beat
and strangled her on September 26and faced life imprisonment though Karma got
to him first as he choked on a chicken sandwich right when the charges were
upgraded to murder. Blair was loved by her neighbors and society as she lived a
great life in Ettalong beach [4]. Another case is the Sarah Brown case where she
was stabbed to death by her boyfriend who at the time was estranged as he had
moved out of their home in Western Sydney where he was sharing a home with
the mother of five. She died at the scene and thus the paramedics couldn’t be able
to save her and thus Russell Wood was denied bail and had to await sentencing in
jail.
INTERIM PARENTING ORDERS
10) The perpetrators of violence such as Sebastian need to be charged under section
76 of the 2015 Serious crime act where a person commits coercive control
through:
a. Repeatedly engaging coercive or controlling behavior towards the other
person.
b. Having behaviors [5]personally connected at the time of behavior.
c. The behavior having serious effect on (b).

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d. A having knowledge of how behavior will seriously affect (b).
11) This law is limited to behavior between two couples in a current intimate
relationship. Sebastian should also be charged based on family protection act
of 2008 that describes family violence as any behavior that dominated a
family member and causes them to fear for their own lives and that of the
other family members and can be physical, sexual, psychological5 [6] and
economic violence6 or whereby a child bears witness to such behaviors.
12) Sebastian is guilty of all except sexual. There also needs to be a follow up on
the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 [2] to
ensure that the children under the best care possible alongside their mother
and that their father is present under guided supervision to protect the kids.
There should also be a conformation to section 4AA f the act to ensure that the
property is distributed fairly between the two parties and that the interests of
the children are met.
13) Guardianship should also be granted to Patsy under the general division of the
family court part seven in reference to the complaint made against the other
person. Consideration for the best interest of the children should be made
under subdivision BA [7] of part seven under section7 60CA and 60CD and
5 Parliament of Australia, "Domestic violence in Australia," Parliament of Australia, p. 5, 2016.
6 Common Wealth Government of Australia, "Family Violence act 2008," Common Wealth
Government of Australia, p. 56, 2016.
7 AIHW, "Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia," Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare (AIHW), p. 1, 2018.

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60CF so as to ensure that the children are in the hands of Patsy who is a safer
option amongst both parents.
REFLECTION ON CASE
14) The vastness of the family act of 1975 introduced me to the many clauses of
law and family affairs and the best navigation towards ensuring a secure yet
cordial separation between two previous partners after reconciliation and
guidance have failed. More to that there are numerous review done to the act
in many section and thus creating a whole new realm of ideas for laws that
can be used against Sebastian. Similarly, the preciseness of laws or acts or
reference to past court cases make one efficient in references made in forming
a case as there is detailed account of the acts and previous cases using
numbers and dates and also a detailed explanation of how the cases were
sorted or what is expected in certain laws. A good lawyer isn’t only identified
from his or her mastery of the law but also his ability to use the information at
hand to create a concise and precise argument that will help the client in
settling an issue and winning in a court of law based on presented facts.
Sebastian and Patsy case has blame on both sides as they both share a
common factor of suffering from different emotional traumas. Ebastian has
quick uncontrollable impulses whereas Patsy suffers from PTSD that causes
her depression and this affects their status as parents and thus its looking at the
fact that both kids need either one of the parents and the parent that best takes
care of most if not all needs of the children. This helps is ensuring that the
children live stable lives and thus Patsy by all means represents better growth

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chances for the kids as when compared to Sebastian who poses security risk
for Patsy but also the children as well. This is based on the presentation of
facts accumulated and being able to analyze word for word based on a
detailed account of events enables a lawyer to precise and composed when
arguing a case on behalf of the client [5]. This is a necessary quality in being
an effective lawyer.
References
[1] Common wealth Government of Australia, "Family law act 1975," Legistlation Australia:
Common wealth Government of Australia, p. 200, 2016.
[2] AIHW, "Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia 2017," Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare (AIHW), p. 4, 2018.
[3] M. Palin, "Domestic violence horror: Australia’s deadly and tragic cases," News, p. 1, 2017.
[4] ABC News Editor, "Fact file: Domestic violence in Australia," ABC News, p. 1, 2016.
[5] Parliament of Australia, "Domestic violence in Australia," Parliament of Australia, p. 5,
2016.
[6] Common Weath Government of Australia, "Family Violence act 2008," Common Weath
Government of Australia, p. 56, 2016.
[7] AIHW, "Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia," Australian Institute of Health