Session 12.1 The importance of home after a separation
Tracks
Track 1: Room LG19
| Wednesday, July 30, 2025 |
| 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM |
| LG19 - The Arthur Goodhart Lecture Theatre |
Overview
Chair: Suzanne Paynter, Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre, Australia
Panel Session for the first 70min
Moderator: Professor Nicola Taylor, University of Otago, New Zealand
From One Home to Another: Supporting Children of Divorce During Parental Changeovers
Panellists:
- Dr Sarah Calvert, Clinical Psychologist, New Zealand
Handover locations and children’s transition routines, objects, and people after divorce: Children’s, parents’ and family law professionals’ reports
- Professor Michael Saini, University of Toronto, Canada
Transitions Across Parenting Plan Arrangements: A Case Law Review on Court Approaches to Managing Handover Logistics and Child Well-Being
Individual Abstract for 20min
Housing security for children in South African divorce law: A comparative analysis with England and Wales
Ms Louisa Maitisa, Rhodes University, South Africa
Details
This interdisciplinary panel comprises three interconnected papers that explore the critical issue of children’s changeovers (i.e., handovers, exchanges or transitions) between homes after divorce. While various family law and divorce websites provide suggestions for separated parents to manage handovers effectively, there remains little empirical evidence to guide parents and family law system professionals. To address this gap, each paper will offer unique insights from different socio-legal perspectives into how handovers can impact child well-being and adjustment. The session will be of interest to family law system professionals, including judicial officers, lawyers, mediators, and counsellors.
The first paper examines parents’ reports and residential calendar data to highlight the many practical and emotional challenges children face during handovers between parents. It emphasizes the importance of handover locations, routines, objects and people that help to provide a predictable and low stress environment for children. The second paper analyzes judicial approaches to managing transitions within parenting plans through case law. It discusses how courts address the frequency and logistics of handovers while prioritizing children’s emotional well-being. The findings reveal judicial trends that can inform family law system professionals in crafting parenting plans that minimize conflict and enhance children’s stability. The third paper presents insights from children and parents regarding the transition process, drawing on data from specialist reports on contested separations. It emphasizes that children have distinct perspectives on what facilitates or complicates their transitions, highlighting the need for individualized strategies that consider the complexities of each child’s situation. Together, these papers encourage professionals and parents to focus on children’s needs during handovers and provide practical recommendations to improve children's emotional security and well-being as they transition from one parent’s home to the other’s.
The first paper examines parents’ reports and residential calendar data to highlight the many practical and emotional challenges children face during handovers between parents. It emphasizes the importance of handover locations, routines, objects and people that help to provide a predictable and low stress environment for children. The second paper analyzes judicial approaches to managing transitions within parenting plans through case law. It discusses how courts address the frequency and logistics of handovers while prioritizing children’s emotional well-being. The findings reveal judicial trends that can inform family law system professionals in crafting parenting plans that minimize conflict and enhance children’s stability. The third paper presents insights from children and parents regarding the transition process, drawing on data from specialist reports on contested separations. It emphasizes that children have distinct perspectives on what facilitates or complicates their transitions, highlighting the need for individualized strategies that consider the complexities of each child’s situation. Together, these papers encourage professionals and parents to focus on children’s needs during handovers and provide practical recommendations to improve children's emotional security and well-being as they transition from one parent’s home to the other’s.
Speaker
Ms Suzanne Paynter
Group Director of Business Growth
Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre
Chair: The importance of home after a separation + to email Nicola & co re title and session changes
Biography
Suzanne is the Group Director at Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre, leading its Business Growth & Innovation. She also serves as a Board member for Sexual Assault Services Victoria.
Over the last two decades she successfully delivered flagship initiatives advancing Australian industry capability, accelerating net-zero transition and building a more resilient and sustainable future for Australia. She has a diverse professional background - including having practised as a criminal solicitor - and has a proven track record in trade and economic development, technology commercialisation and government.
She has served in several Senior Executive roles, including as COO of the Federal Government’s Accelerating Commercialisation Program, CEO of the Future Business Council, and as Ministerial Adviser to the Treasurer of South Australia.
Suzanne holds an MBA from Monash Business School and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Adelaide and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Professor Nicola Taylor
Professor of Family Law
Faculty of Law, University of Otago
Moderator: From One Home to Another: Supporting Children of Divorce During Parental Changeovers
Biography
Professor Nicola Taylor is the Professor of Family Law and Director of the Children’s Issues Centre in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She also holds the Alexander McMillan Leading Thinker Chair in Childhood Studies. Nicola has qualifications in both law and social work, a PhD, has been admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, and is a qualified mediator. She is a leading socio-legal researcher and has undertaken many studies with children, parents and professionals on family law and children’s rights issues including post-separation care arrangements, relocation, international child abduction, children’s views and participation, child-inclusive practice, family dispute resolution, children’s identity issues in international family law contexts, relationship property division and succession law. Nicola’s research findings have been invaluable in informing legislative, legal policy and professional practice developments within New Zealand and internationally.
Dr. Sarah Calvert
Clinical Psychologist
Private Practice
Handover locations and children’s transition routines, objects, and people after divorce: Children’s, parents’ and family law professionals’ reports
Abstract
Using non-identifying data from a sample of 100 specialist reports written for the New Zealand Family Court, this paper looks at what children and parents involved in contested parental separations think about and say about transitioning between parental households. It will consider whether the nature of the parenting/care arrangements, the process of transition, the availability of transitional objects or the degree of conflict between the parents appear to be of significance to the children in particular. The paper will use the voices of children to consider how transitions work (or do not work) in helping children to navigate the complexities of their post-parental separation families. The paper demonstrates that children develop very clear views about this process but that the complexities of their situation mean that ‘one size does not fit all’.
Biography
Sarah Calvert, PhD, is a registered clinical psychologist, and has worked for the New Zealand Family Court since its inception. She has also worked for many years in various roles for Oranga Tamariki (NZ’s statutory child welfare organisation). She was an expert witness for the NZ Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care (2022), and has worked in private practice and as an internationally recognised researcher in areas such as child development and women’s mental health. In 2018 she was made a Distinguished Scholar of Waikato University in recognition of her research and her clinical work. Sarah is a report writer for the New Zealand Family Court and for the Coronial Courts. She is a member of the AFCC Committee preparing a Bench Book for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (USA) on the use of ACES in working in Family Courts.
Prof. Michael Saini
Professor
University of Toronto
Transitions Across Parenting Plan Arrangements: A Case Law Review on Court Approaches to Managing Handover Logistics and Child Well-Being
Abstract
This paper examines how courts have navigated the complexities of transitions in various parenting plan arrangements, focusing on shared-time parenting. Through an analysis of case law, we explore how courts address handovers' frequency, logistics, and emotional impact between parents’ homes and how these transitions affect children’s well-being. Special attention is given to cases where the courts have considered the child’s best interests in determining the number and nature of transitions and how these decisions reflect psychological insights on the stress and stability of children. Additionally, we analyze how courts have endorsed or rejected using specific transition objects, routines, or handover locations. This review highlights critical judicial trends and offers guidance for family law practitioners in creating parenting plans that ensure smoother transitions, reduce conflict, and support children's emotional security in post-separation arrangements.
Biography
Michael A. Saini PhD is a full professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and cross-appointed with the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. He holds the endowed Factor-Inwentash Chair in Law and Social Work and is the Co-Director of the combined J.D. / M.S.W. program. Professor Saini has over 200 publications, including books, published articles, and book chapters that address the well-being of children and their families in systems governed by law, especially family law and child welfare. He is the President of the American Association of Family and Conciliation Courts; a Board Member of Access for Parents and Children of Ontario; Family Mediation Canada; and the Canadian Coalition of the Rights of the Child. He is also an Associate Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers. In 2019, he was awarded the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts’ Stanley Cohen Distinguished Research Award.
Ms Louisa Maitisa
Internship
Rhodes University
Housing security for children in South African divorce law: A comparative analysis with England and Wales
5:10 PM - 5:30 PMAbstract
Despite the formal commitment to children’s “best interests” in South African divorce law, processes to ensure stable and secure housing for children after parental separation hinder this goal. A procedural separation allows spouses to resolve care, contact, and maintenance matters independently from the division of matrimonial property. Although this expedites care-related determinations, it often leads to prematurely selling or losing the matrimonial home before courts can fully consider its importance for children’s post-divorce accommodation needs. This fragmented approach leaves children vulnerable within the legal process and forces primary caregivers, predominantly women, to rely on an under-resourced maintenance system. Simultaneously, the matrimonial home, a fundamental security source, is treated merely as one of the divisible assets.
This problem is exacerbated by South African property laws, which recognise ownership primarily in individual or nuclear family terms. In contrast, many African communities traditionally treat family homes as communal assets that provide shelter for extended kin, including women and children. This disconnect means that women, who often do not hold formal ownership, along with their children, are especially vulnerable to eviction and displacement, particularly when property decisions are controlled by male family members.
This paper proposes a reform to the South African law based, in part, on comparative insights from England and Wales. Unlike South Africa, this jurisdiction allows courts to issue orders that postpone the sale of the matrimonial home, enabling a holistic resolution of care and property issues. In adapting this framework for the African context, this paper ultimately argues that South African courts will be able to prioritise children’s housing stability while equitably balancing spouses’ property rights, embedding housing security as a central element of the best interests principle.
This problem is exacerbated by South African property laws, which recognise ownership primarily in individual or nuclear family terms. In contrast, many African communities traditionally treat family homes as communal assets that provide shelter for extended kin, including women and children. This disconnect means that women, who often do not hold formal ownership, along with their children, are especially vulnerable to eviction and displacement, particularly when property decisions are controlled by male family members.
This paper proposes a reform to the South African law based, in part, on comparative insights from England and Wales. Unlike South Africa, this jurisdiction allows courts to issue orders that postpone the sale of the matrimonial home, enabling a holistic resolution of care and property issues. In adapting this framework for the African context, this paper ultimately argues that South African courts will be able to prioritise children’s housing stability while equitably balancing spouses’ property rights, embedding housing security as a central element of the best interests principle.
Biography
Ms Louisa Maitisa serves as a Nurturing Emerging Scholars Programme (NESP) intern under the mentorship of Professor Helen Kruuse. She earned her Master of Law (LLM) with distinction from Rhodes University, where she wrote a thesis titled Special Provisions Dealing with Matrimonial Homes in South African Divorce Law: A Case for Gender Equality, supervised by Prof Helen Kruuse and examined by Prof Madelene de Jong. She also wrote a distinguished LLB mini thesis that examined legal protections for intersex children in South Africa. At this conference, Ms Maitisa will present a chapter from her LLM research highlighting how the South African divorce law treatment of matrimonial homes leaves children vulnerable. Above all, she aspires to advocate for children's rights, a goal she will pursue through her upcoming doctoral research.
