Registration of Overseas Parenting Orders (Applicant)

Purpose of this Guide: Use this plan when your client wants to register and enforce a parenting, custody, or access order made by a court in a prescribed overseas country (such as New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria, Papua New Guinea, or most US states). This guide is for family law practitioners representing the applicant. It helps you successfully navigate the administrative registration process to convert a valid foreign decree into an enforceable Australian court instrument.

Jurisdiction: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA), applying the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and Family Law Regulations 2024 (Cth) under Regulation 72. Two forks exist: Non-Prescribed Jurisdiction - Mirror Orders Pathway (for countries without bilateral agreements or treaty status), and 1996 Hague Convention Country - Central Authority Pathway (for countries covered under the 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention).

The Process at a Glance: The process starts by obtaining a certified copy of the foreign order and a Certificate of Enforceability from the foreign court, followed by a certified translation if the documents are not in English. The practitioner gathers evidence of the child or a parent's presence or imminent arrival in Australia (e.g. flight tickets, visas, lease agreements). The request is sent to the International Family Law Section of the Attorney-General's Department (AGD); section 72 speaks of the certified copy and certificate being received by the Secretary from the prescribed overseas jurisdiction. If there are reasonable grounds for believing that the child, a parent or a person with rights under the order is ordinarily resident in, present in or proceeding to Australia, the Secretary must send the documents to a court having jurisdiction under the family law (s 72(2)). The relevant Registrar must register the order by filing the certified copy and the certificate and noting the fact and date of registration on the certified copy (s 72(3) and (4)). The registered order is then enforceable throughout Australia until the registration is cancelled (s 72(7)) and has the same force and effect as an order of that court (s 70H of the Act). Section 72 does not provide for a notice of registration or for service; the respondent is told of the registration, safely, before the order is relied on.