Section 67Q — Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)

A recovery order is an order made by a court doing all or any of the following:

(a) requiring the return of a child to:

(i) a parent of the child; or

(ii) a person with whom the child is to live under a parenting order; or

(iii) a person with whom the child is to spend time under a parenting order; or

(iv) a person with whom the child is to communicate under a parenting order; or

(v) a person who has parental responsibility for the child;

(b) authorising or directing a person or persons, with such assistance as he or she requires or they require, and if necessary by force, to stop and search any vehicle, vessel or aircraft, and to enter and search any premises or place, for the purpose of finding a child;

(c) authorising or directing a person or persons, with such assistance as he or she requires or they require, and if necessary by force, to recover a child;

(d) authorising or directing a person to whom a child is returned, or who recovers a child, to deliver the child to:

(i) a parent of the child; or

(ii) a person described in subparagraph (a)(ii), (iii), (iv) or (v); or

(iii) some other person on behalf of a person described in subparagraph (i) or (ii);

(e) giving directions about the day‑to‑day care of a child until the child is returned or delivered to another person;

(f) prohibiting a person from again removing or taking possession of a child;

(g) authorising or directing a person to arrest, without warrant, a person who again removes or takes possession of a child.

Note 1: Section 122A deals with the use of reasonable force by certain persons in making an arrest, and Subdivision B of Part 14 deals with what is to happen to a person arrested without warrant under a recovery order.

Note 2: If a recovery order authorises a person to recover a child, the person is authorised to recover the child on each occasion that it is necessary to do so while the order remains in force: see subsection 67W(3).

Related sections

• s 67N — Provisions about Commonwealth information orders
• s 67NA — Persons who are related to a child for the purposes of paragraph 67N(9)(b)
• s 67P — Information provided under location order not to be disclosed except to limited persons
• s 67R — How recovery orders authorise or direct people
• s 67S — How recovery orders to stop and search etc. name or describe vehicles, places etc.
• s 67T — Who may apply for a recovery order

Research how courts apply s 67Q

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