You're Separating. Your Kids Need a Plan — Not a Legal Battle.
You've been reading about parenting plans, consent orders, and mediation requirements until your head is spinning. The court website gives you blank forms but no guidance on how to fill them. Lawyer quotes are starting at $5,000 just for consent orders. And every article you find uses American terms that don't apply here — "sole custody," "visitation rights," "custodial parent" — none of which exist in Australian law.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Your children need stability now, not in six months when you've figured out the system.
The Parenting Arrangement Blueprint
The South Australia Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide is a complete step-by-step system for establishing parenting arrangements after separation — without paying thousands in legal fees. It translates the federal Family Law Act and South Australia's state-level processes into plain language, then walks you through every decision from temporary schedules to court-sealed Consent Orders.
This is not a repackaged brochure or a collection of links to free government PDFs. It is a structured blueprint that takes you from "we just separated" to "our arrangements are legally enforceable" — covering the exact sequence of steps, the correct Australian terminology, the specific forms and portals, and the drafting language that registrars look for when approving your orders.
What's Inside
- The Three-Phase Roadmap — because most parents don't know whether to start with a parenting plan, mediation, or court. The guide maps the correct sequence: stabilise first, then negotiate or mediate, then formalise through the Commonwealth Courts Portal.
- Australian Terminology Translator — a reference table that converts the US terms you keep finding online ("sole custody," "legal guardianship," "visitation") into their correct Australian equivalents ("parental responsibility," "lives with," "spends time with"). Written for the post-May 2024 reforms, not the old framework.
- Age-Appropriate Schedule Templates — detailed parenting time schedules for infants, toddlers, primary-school children, and teenagers, including 50/50 alternating weeks, 2-2-5-5 rosters, and long-distance arrangements. Each schedule includes South Australia school terms, Adelaide Cup, and public holiday rotations.
- Consent Order Drafting Guide — the exact clauses, structure, and language that Division 2 registrars evaluate when deciding whether to approve your application on the papers. Drafted against the streamlined Section 60CC best interests factors that took effect in May 2024.
- Child Support Formula Walkthrough — a worked example showing how Services Australia calculates child support based on care percentages, income, and the number of children. Includes the threshold where "regular care" begins (52 nights per year) and how overnight counts change the formula.
- Mediation Preparation Worksheet — a printable worksheet to walk into your first Family Dispute Resolution session with clear proposals for weekday routines, weekend schedules, holiday rotations, and expense-sharing. Designed for use with Relationships Australia SA, Centacare, or private mediators.
- SA Name Change Procedures — the state-level steps for changing a child's registered name through Consumer and Business Services SA (agreed changes) or SACAT (disputed changes), including residency requirements and current fees.
- Safety and Relocation Protocols — what to do if you need to relocate with your children, how Recovery Orders work, the international Family Law Watchlist, and when you can bypass mandatory mediation for urgent or without-notice parenting applications.
Who This Guide Is For
- Separating or divorcing parents in South Australia who want to establish parenting arrangements without full legal representation
- Parents preparing for their first Family Dispute Resolution session who want to arrive with a structured proposal
- Couples who have reached an informal agreement and need to convert it into legally enforceable Consent Orders
- Parents confused by the difference between US custody terms and Australian family law language
- Anyone navigating the post-May 2024 reforms and unsure how the new best interests test affects their situation
Why Not Just Use the Free Court Forms?
The Federal Circuit and Family Court provides blank forms and general brochures at no cost. But those forms don't tell you how to write a parenting plan that actually works — how to structure holiday rotations so they don't collapse at Christmas, how to split medical and school expenses without creating arguments, or what specific phrases registrars look for when deciding whether to approve your Consent Orders without a hearing.
Government tools like amica.gov.au can help with property consent orders, but they cannot generate parenting consent orders. Co-parenting apps like OurFamilyWizard cost up to $600 per year for both parents and require your ex to sign up too. Private mediation runs $500 to $1,000 per session before you've drafted a single document. A family lawyer's retainer in Adelaide starts at $5,000.
This guide sits in the gap between free-but-unguided and expensive-but-comprehensive. It gives you the structure, the language, and the step-by-step process for less than the cost of a standard name-change application.
Built for the Current Law
The Family Law Amendment Act 2023 (effective 6 May 2024) fundamentally changed how parenting arrangements are evaluated. The old presumption of equal shared parental responsibility is gone. The two-tier best interests test has been replaced with a streamlined six-factor assessment under Section 60CC. The Rice and Asplund threshold for varying final orders has been codified. Most online guides and lawyer blog posts haven't caught up. This one starts from the current law.
What You Get
- A 47-page guide covering every stage from temporary arrangements to sealed Consent Orders
- A one-page parenting plan starter checklist (23 items; also available as a free download)
- Seven printable worksheets: Parenting Plan Drafting Worksheet, Mediation Preparation Worksheet, Consent Order Preparation Checklist, Holiday Schedule Planner, Child Support Estimator, Expense Tracker, and Agency Communication Log
- Instant PDF download — start reading tonight
Get the South Australia Custody & Parenting Plan Guide →
The free checklist gives you a quick overview of the key steps. The full guide gives you the complete system — every chapter, every worksheet, every drafting prompt — so you can build parenting arrangements that protect your children's stability and hold up in court.
30-day satisfaction guarantee. If the guide doesn't help you build a clearer plan for your children's future, email us for a full refund.