RE Patrick & the rights and responsibilities of sperm donor fathers in Australian family law

In the matter of Re Patrick, Guest J of the Family Court of Australia held that a sperm donor, known to the lesbian mother of the child, had a right under Australian law to regular contact with the child to the extent that this was in the child's best interests. However, his Honour also held that due to the way in which particular provisions of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) are drafted, a sperm donor cannot be regarded as the "parent" of the child, and accordingly called for legislative reform to recognise the rights of known sperm donors wanting involvement with the child. In this article, the authors will first explore the facts and decision in Re Patrick, and then outline a proposal to amend the Family Law Act 1975 so that sperm donors can apply for an order to be a 'parent' under the Act.

Family law in Australia: re Patrick and the matter of Child A

In Re Patrick, Guest J of the Family Court of Australia dealt with the issue of whether a gay sperm donor, known to the lesbian mother of the child, had a right under Australian law to regular contact with the child. Justice Guest held that the sperm donor was allowed contact with the child to the extent that this was in the child's best interests. His Honour did, however, find that due to the way in which particular provisions of Australia's Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) are drafted, a sperm donor cannot be regarded as the 'parent' of the child, and accordingly called for legislative reform to recognise the rights of known sperm donors wanting involvement with the child. In this article, we discuss the matter of Re Patrick, comparing it with the strikingly similar matter of Pursuer Against Defender in the Case of Child A, decided recently by Sheriff Laura Duncan in the Glasgow Sheriff Court. We will then outline a proposal to amend the Family Law Act 1975 so that sperm donors can apply for an order to be a 'parent' for the purposes of the law, and therefore have the same rights and responsibilities as any other parent. In response to the tragic ending to the matter of Re Patrick, we conclude by stressing the need for an educational programme to be established, so that lesbian women who are considering parenthood may do so in the knowledge that the sperm donor does have the status of 'father', and in some jurisdictions 'parent', rather than merely being a 'donor'.

Family law

This series comprises a range of student texts, each adopting a problem-solving approach within a discrete area of the law. This text is designed as an easily accessible account of the legislative and judicial principles contained in Australian family law.

Child focused and child inclusive family law dispute resolution : one year findings from a prospective study of outcomes

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Family violence : key findings from the evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms

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How information technology can support family law and mediation

In Australia, before a divorcing couple can have their case heard by the Family Court, they must undertake mediation. Thus it is useful to develop information technology tools to support negotiation and mediation in family law. Most negotiation support systems focus upon integrative bargaining. In doing so, they tend to ignore issues of fairness. In Australian Family Law, the interests of the children, as opposed to those of their parents/guardians, are paramount. We investigate the use of providing BATNAs and integrative bargaining in providing family mediation decision support. The discussion is highlighted with examples taken from the domain of Australian Family Law

AssetDivider : a new mediation tool in Australian family law

This article describes research in a new theory of decision support in negotiation in family law mediation. AssetDivider was based on the principles of Family_Winner. As a Negotiation Decision Support System Family_Winner takes ratings assigned to items by the parties involved and develops a list of allocations to each party; based on trade-offs inherently present in the dispute. Given advice provided from our industry partners Relationships Australia (Queensland) - RAQ, AssetDivider uses an ideal “percentage split” to guide the development of an allocation list for parties. The system has been tested informally by our contacts at RAQ, and we now look forward to extensive testing and evaluation by mediators at RAQ in the near future. We hope to report on a comprehensive evaluation which will report on the effectiveness of this program in practice.

The AIFS evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms : a summary

In 2006, the Australian Government, through the Attorney- General's Department (AGD) and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), commissioned the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) to undertake an evaluation of the impact of the 2006 changes to the family law system: Evaluation of the 2006 Family Law Reforms (Kaspiew et al., 2009) (the Evaluation). This article provides a summary of the key findings of the Evaluation.

Accountants and valuations in Australian family court proceedings

This paper investigates issues related to the role of accountants in presenting expert evidence in the form of share valuations in Family Court of Australia proceedings. By providing a background to the valuation rules applied by the Family Court and examining relevant cases, the paper emphasises that considerable ambiguity exists. The paper highlights some of the inconsistencies that are evident from reported decisions and stresses the difficulties that judges have experienced with valuations presented by accountants in Family Court cases. It is evident that the courts, despite the legal precedents, continue to have considerable difficulty with valuation issues and methodologies. By exploring issues related to accounting based valuations in the context of Australian family law cases, the present paper examines accounting in a particular social and institutional setting. The paper is interdisciplinary in nature, in that issues extending over accounting, finance and legal boundaries are considered.

Family breakdown, the best interests of the child concept, and the legal system

It appears that the legal system's response to the issues relating to family breakdown and "the best interests of the child" concept can sometimes be inadequate. There also appears to a lack of consistency with regards to enforcing the best interests of the child concept in legal proceedings concerning children.