Can a Child Choose Which Parent to Live With in the ACT?

The short answer: no child in Australia has an automatic right to choose which parent they live with, regardless of their age. There is no magic number — not 12, not 14, not 16 — at which a child's preference becomes decisive.

But a child's views do matter, and as they get older and more mature, those views carry increasingly significant weight in the court's decision.

How the Court Considers a Child's Views

Under Section 60CC of the Family Law Act 1975, the views expressed by the child are one of the core factors in determining the child's best interests. The court considers:

• Age and maturity. A 15-year-old's clearly articulated reasoning carries far more weight than a 6-year-old's stated preference, which the court recognises may be influenced by recent experiences (like who bought them a present that week).
• Cognitive capability. Can the child understand the implications of their preference? Do they grasp that living with one parent means seeing the other less?
• Freedom from parental influence. Courts are alert to coaching. If a child's stated preference echoes one parent's language or arguments verbatim, the court may discount those views. Court Child Experts are specifically trained to assess whether preferences are genuinely the child's own.

How Children's Views Are Gathered

The FCFCOA does not put children on the witness stand. Instead, a child's views are gathered through professional assessment by Court Child Experts — clinical psychologists and social workers working through the Court Children's Service at the Canberra Registry.

Child Impact Reports are shorter assessments conducted early in a case to identify immediate risks and developmental concerns. The expert meets with each parent and the child separately.

Family Reports are comprehensive assessments prepared for final hearings. They include interviews with both parents, the child, and sometimes extended family members, plus observations of parent-child interactions. The report concludes with recommendations about living arrangements and parental responsibility.

In some cases, the court appoints an Independent Children's Lawyer (ICL) — a lawyer whose client is the child, not either parent. The ICL advocates for what is in the child's best interests, which may or may not align with what the child says they want.

What Teenagers Need to Understand

For adolescents, the practical reality is that rigid parenting schedules become increasingly difficult to enforce. A determined 16-year-old who refuses to go to one parent's house creates an enforcement problem that courts recognise. Judges generally prefer to work with a teenager's expressed preferences rather than make orders that will be ignored.

That said, a teenager's preference is not a veto. If the court believes the preference is driven by one parent undermining the other's relationship with the child, or if the preferred arrangement raises safety concerns, the court will make orders based on the child's broader best interests — not simply their stated wish.

What This Means for Your Parenting Plan

If your child has expressed a preference about where they want to live:

• Listen, but don't use them as a messenger. Never ask your child to tell the other parent about their preference. That puts the child in the middle and courts view it extremely negatively.
• Document, don't coach. Note what your child says and when, but never rehearse statements or explain what they should tell the court expert.
• Consider developmental appropriateness. A 7-year-old saying they want to live with you because you have a pool is not the same as a 14-year-old explaining they need to be closer to school and their friend group.

If your child's views are a factor in your case, the ACT Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide explains how the FCFCOA assessment process works and how to prepare for Family Report interviews.

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