Navigating Recent Legislative Change, Court Orders, Rights, Obligations and Domestic Violence Concerns
| Date | 19 February 2026 |
| Time | 12.00pm-3.00pm AEDT (Syd / Melb time) |
| Format | Live Online & Recorded - recordings available for viewing until 19 March 2026 after which access expires |
| Pricing | Webinar Pricing: $275 Price includes GST |
| Sector | All Schools |
| PD | Addresses 7.2 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers |
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Program
12.00 LawSense Welcome
12.05 Chairperson’s Introduction
Kerrie McLeish, Legal Counsel, Keysborough, Haileybury
12.10 Understanding and Interpreting Family Court Orders, Rights and Obligations Where There Are No Court Orders and Navigating, Subpoenas, DVO’s/AVO’s/IVO’s
Rights and Obligations Where there are No Court Orders
- Understanding parent rights and responsibilities where there are no court orders or any written agreement/arrangement
Understanding and Interpreting Court Orders
- Outlining how Family Court Orders can dictate:
- the obligations of parents, including consequences of non- compliance
- school obligations
- Understanding and interpreting Family Court Orders and parenting agreements including:
- Interim Orders
- Final Orders
- the difference between Family Court Orders and Parenting Plans
- orders regarding parental responsibility and living with/spending time with one parent or the other
- responsibility for day-to-day and longer-term decision regarding the child
- Learning from examples of different Court Orders and Parenting Plans
Recent Law Changes Regarding Objecting to Subpoenas
- Understanding the new option to object to a family court subpoena based on “protected confidences”
- Examining how a school could object to producing notes or files based on them containing protected confidences
DVO’s, AVO’s IVO’s and Other Orders
- Understanding the different types of apprehended or domestic violence orders and key provisions to be aware of
- Inconsistency between Family Court and Domestic/Apprehended Violence Orders – which orders take precedence?
- Learning from examples of different Orders
Wendy Kayler-Thomson, Founding Partner, Forte Family Lawyers; Accredited Family Law Specialist, Law Institute of Victoria; Leading Family Lawyers, Melbourne, Doyles 2025 Guide to the Australian Legal Market.
1.20 Break
1.30 Effectively Managing Separated Parents in Schools: Navigating a School’s Obligations in Practice and Learning from Case Studies
- Outlining key laws and duties applying when dealing with separated parents and families including duty of care, privacy, enrolment contract and court orders
School Obligations – Court Orders, Parents and Families in Conflict
- Managing your obligations:
- understanding a school’s obligations to seek information about Court orders
- following Court Orders
- dealing with drop-offs and handovers; what if a student does not wish to go with a parent, despite Court Orders?
- managing conflict:
- between parents (on or outside school grounds)
- between families
- from new partners and in blended families
- Understanding the extent to which you should investigate and act
- Parents attending school or activities in breach of parenting arrangements, Family Court, or other Orders – what should you do?
Consent to Counselling, Activities, Camps and Excursions
- Navigating consent, including where one parent consents, but the other parent does not
School Obligations – Providing Information to One Parent or the Other
- Examining factors dictating what information can be provided to a parent or withheld from a parent
- Understanding the role of the students wishes/consent:
- when should student consent be sought in releasing information to parents
- when do student wishes about parent information access override parent requests
- understanding how student wishes should be documented where information is going to withheld from one parent or another
School Obligations – Providing Information to Non-Parents
- Understanding rights and obligations in providing information to:
- step-parents or grandparents; should you pass on messages to the student from grandparents?
- lawyers for the parent or Independent Children’s Lawyer
- family professionals providing reports, including Family Report Writers
School Obligations Family Violence / Coercive Control Suspicions and Information Received
- Exploring family violence and coercive control and how it may manifest in schools
- Understanding your duties where:
- you suspect domestic violence or coercive control regarding a parent or other person in a student’s life – to what extent should you make enquiries/investigate?
- parents provide information or make allegations related to family violence or coercive control
- Conducting risk assessments regarding family violence or coercive control following suspicions, information or evidence
Eve Bignell, Senior Counsel, Xavier College
2.50 Chairperson’s Conclusion
2.55 Event Close
Presenters / panelists include:
Wendy Kayler-Thomson is a founding partner of Forte Family Lawyers and has practised as a lawyer specialising in family law for over almost 30 years. Wendy is recognised as one of Melbourne’s leading family lawyers in Doyle’s 2024 Guide to the Australian Legal Market. For more than 14 years, Wendy was a member of the Executive of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, the peak body for Australian family lawyers, and was Chair of the Family Law Section from 2016 to 2018.
Eve Bignell is a specialist education lawyer, with experience in providing practical and strategic legal advice to schools across all areas of law impacting interactions with students, families, staff and regulators. Starting her career in business roles in the defence and aerospace sector, Eve worked as a junior lawyer in private law firms practicing medical negligence, discrimination, employment and insurance law. Eve then moved to government law at the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office, practicing primarily in employment law and human rights, before specializing in education law. Eve was an in-house lawyer at the Department of Education for 12 years.