Family Court of Western Australia (Orders of Registrars) Act 1997

A reference in this Act to an ineffective order is a reference to a purported order described in subsection (2), or provisions of a parenting plan described in subsection (3). This has effect subject to subsections (4) and (5) as they affect the meaning of a reference to an ineffective order in the context of a particular case.

An order that a Registrar has purported to make, before the commencement of the corresponding Western Australian Act, is an ineffective order if it was made:

in the exercise or purported exercise of the federal family jurisdiction of the Family Court of Western Australia; and

by way of a judicial determination that was not reviewable (otherwise than on appeal).

Provisions of a parenting plan that a Registrar has purported to register under section 63E of the Family Law Act 1975, before the commencement of the corresponding Western Australian Act, are an ineffective order if they would have had effect under section 63F or 63G of the Family Law Act 1975 as a particular kind of order if the decision to register the plan had been a decision made by the Family Court of Western Australia.

If a court or Registrar has purported to vary, revoke, set aside, revive or suspend an ineffective order, the reference is, subject to subsection (5), a reference to the order in the form in which, and to the extent to which, it purports or purported to have effect from time to time.

Note 1: In the case of an ineffective order of the kind referred to in subsection 4(3), this subsection applies to a purported variation, revocation, setting aside, revival or suspension of provisions of the parenting plan as they had effect as an order (rather than a purported variation, revocation, setting aside, revival or suspension of the provisions as provisions of an agreement).

Note 2: This subsection applies if a court has proceeded on the basis that an ineffective order was valid. The situation where a court has proceeded on the basis that an ineffective order was or might have been invalid is dealt with in section 8.

If clause 2 of Schedule 2 to the Family Law Reform Act 1995 would have applied to an ineffective order if it had been an order made by the Family Court of Western Australia in the exercise of its federal family jurisdiction, then, so far as the reference relates to a time after the commencement of that Schedule, it is, subject to subsection (4), a reference to the order as it would have, or would have had, effect if that clause applied to it.